Old railway cutting at back of Crown Point Retail Park

[Reginal Perrin]

Phill_dvsn wrote: Are those two old earth moving machines still there Reggie? Any sign of the vegetation springing back now as well? I want to catch it as it returns to Mother Nature.The place was overgrown for years. A plant hire place had cleared it, they stored machinery in there for about 3 years. They seem to have vacated last summer.I have a load of pics, when the machinery was in there, some old archives of the cuttting, and goods yard in use. Scroll down the page herehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/309505604/             Not sure Phil. It sounds really stupid but i was momentarily stopped in my tracks by the fact it was there and I had never noticd it. Why do they spent so much money fencing these places off, why can't se walk them?Cracking pictures by the way.    

[jim]

The cutting you refer to was part of Leeds' first railway connection with London and so arguably it's first main line railway. It was preceded by the adjacent (at a higher level, but parallel, on a similar alignment) Middleton Railway, a private mineral only line, and by the Leeds and Selby railway of 1930. The latter was a passenger line, but until it's later acquisition by the York and North Midland Railway (1844) and later direct connection to the later North Eastern railway at Church Fenton was only of minor importance. The North Midland Railway was formed to link Derby with Leeds. Its original Act of Parliament (there were a number of later acts) was dated 4July 1836, and it was opened through to Leeds Hunslet Lane on 1 July 1840. The passenger station was at the still extant Junction Street (presumably the reason for the name), and closed to passengers "on or about" 28 February 1851, having been succeeded by the connecting line to the Leeds and Bradford'sWellington Station. Both lines were eventually part of the Midland Railway, itself later being part of the LMS.The layout of the station is to be seen in the Godfrey Edition "Leeds (Pottery Field) 1847 map, and it will be seen that the site at that time stopped at the point where Junction Street turns west. The site became a goods yard, and was extended north to Hunslet Lane,being considerably enlarged.The layout from that time (I believe the 1890s) was as shown in the Godfrey "South Leeds 1906" until final closure of the yard and it's rebirth as the Crown Point Retail Park. The dates I have given come from Volume 8 of David and Charles "Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain, South and West Yorkshire" by David Joy. I haven't quoted the closure date as I worked from this very yard from the early 1960s until the early 1980s, and I'm practically certain that the date given in Joy's appendices is wrong! As an interesting aside, the original engine shed of the 1840 station, a magnificent (as engine sheds go) structure, survived as a warehouse until the very end.    

[Phill_dvsn]

It was fenced off when the retail park was built. Obviously not a good place for mums, and dads trying to load the car boot with inquestive kids running about e.t.c. I think they used to tip there garden waste in there (which there would be a lot looking at the landscape planting around the area) The far side still leads to the mainline. So it's fenced off at that end too.But you can get a good view of it still. There's 3 or 4 bridges cross over it.

[jim]

Typo oops------Leeds and Selby Railway 1830. Sorry.

[Phill_dvsn]

Click the pic for the full size.This should be the full length of the cutting from the aerial view.Note those three viewing bridges Reggie     

[Si]

Phill_dvsn wrote: Note those three viewing bridges Reggie      According to the 1906 map, the middle bridge (Leathley Road) was called Pottery Bridge.

[Brunel]

"Pottery Bridge."Leeds Pottery was nearby.

[Cardiarms]

There's 'Stafford Pottery (disused)' right next to the bridge. Iron and Steel seems to have taken oover though.

[tilly]

Leeds pottery was were the two gas holders now stand.Ps This area was my old stomping ground when i was a kid the buildings in the bottom right of the picture were built on the site of another pottery and was grassed over in the fiftys we used to play football on this land.