Mysterious monument

stevief · Post by **stevief** » Sun 09 Dec, 2007 11:22 pm

tyke bhoy wrote: The Grange on Becketts Park was bought by a banker called beckett, hence becketts bank (wetherspoons) on park row albeit too far up. It is thought he believed Queen Victoria would stay at the Grange when she came to officially open the Town Hall. The monument was therefore built to be shown during the "after dinner walk". The Queen stayed elsewhere and presumably never saw the monument.It is probably no coincidence that we have Queenswood drive, Queens wood and Queenswood house the residence of the current VC of LeedsMet. On the other side of the campus is church wood and churchwood house which was used as the residence of a former VC (or principal at the time) Christopher Price Thanks tyke bhoy.Fancy building a monument on the off chance she'll stop at your gaff.I've been trying to find out a bit more about Beckett Park,apparently it was a military hospital and training camp in WWII.

LS1 · Post by **LS1** » Sun 09 Dec, 2007 11:23 pm

cross post there i think. I was gonna add that this is why the Queenswoods are so called but was beaten to it! Did beckett own this at this time?I remember once I think it was on Heritage Day years ago, touring the manson there and there are some interesting underground cellers with a secret passage that was either blocked up or didn't go anywhere. the tour guide did mentionthe brick was different blocing up part of the tunnel. Does anyone know more on this? It was years since I went there.

LS1 · Post by **LS1** » Sun 09 Dec, 2007 11:26 pm

stevief wrote: tyke bhoy wrote: The Grange on Becketts Park was bought by a banker called beckett, hence becketts bank (wetherspoons) on park row albeit too far up. It is thought he believed Queen Victoria would stay at the Grange when she came to officially open the Town Hall. The monument was therefore built to be shown during the "after dinner walk". The Queen stayed elsewhere and presumably never saw the monument.It is probably no coincidence that we have Queenswood drive, Queens wood and Queenswood house the residence of the current VC of LeedsMet. On the other side of the campus is church wood and churchwood house which was used as the residence of a former VC (or principal at the time) Christopher Price Thanks tyke bhoy.Fancy building a monument on the off chance she'll stop at your gaff.I've been trying to find out a bit more about Beckett Park,apparently it was a military hospital and training camp in WWII. Look on Leodis, there are some pics on there I think of the open air hospital during WWI rather than II (not that it wasnt used in WWII). there were also some nissan huts there at one point, and there was a stream or some watercourse that ran over the lawn adjacent to the house. You can stil make it out on aerial views i think. when I went onthe tour the guide gave out some sheets with loads of pics of soldiers convalescing there and all sorts so they do exist. I cant remember what I have done with them now

Post by **tyke bhoy** » Sun 09 Dec, 2007 11:40 pm

definitely cross posting LS1.Yes it was Beckett that owned the estate at the time of Victoria's visit. The WWI hospital has also been covered on a thread on Secret Leeds. It was also on standby for a WWII hospital but was stood down as casualties weren't as high as expected.As I understand it the ridge across the acre marks where a walled (terraced) garden was. The Acre also separated the male and female dormitories when Becket Park originally became a college in 1907.

LS1 · Post by **LS1** » Sun 09 Dec, 2007 11:43 pm

Thats right, the ridge, was for the terrace you are right, i forget!I had a look just now on google earth and cant seem to see the ridge anymore. What was the building to the left of the grange if you look on google earth? I beleive this part of thr grange was quite old, poss 17th Century. Certainly there are parts of the present grange that are built in from earlier buildings.

Post by **tyke bhoy** » Sun 09 Dec, 2007 11:48 pm

original thread http://www.secretleeds.com/forum/Messag ... ighLight=1

Post by **tyke bhoy** » Sun 09 Dec, 2007 11:56 pm

beckett definitely made changes to an existing building (the grange). The building to the west of the grange is now known as the coach house but I don't know how historically accurate that is.The ridge is still there although probably not all that visible on aerial views. I have played cricket on the acre in the past and the ridge has a 3 foot (1m) drop in not much more.The acre is now regularly covered with a giant marquee and I have heard anecdotal evidence that it originally led to complaints from the civil aviation authority as pilots used the acre as a marker on final approach to Yeadon

LS1 · Post by **LS1** » Mon 10 Dec, 2007 12:04 am

Thanks for that tyke bhoy. the pics on the original threads are the ones I remember.I'll try to dig about for some more info on the grange, and particularly the cellars...

The Parksider · Post by **The Parksider** » Sat 26 Jan, 2008 11:18 pm

Victoria stayed at one of the big houses in little woodhouse the one opposite Hyde Terrace which may be Woodsley House.Beresford notes the stay and house in his book. Can't find my copy.Below the house on Clarendon Road is Victoria Street.The big knobs must have all been falling over themselves to have her stay.Empress of half the world and all that!!!So falling over themselves they build monuments like this one.Superb observation/thread...........