A very old Establishment down the Skulls head yard (Part 1)

[cnosni]

Phill_dvsn wrote: Infact the pitched roof is missing from that drawing too. Yeah it was renovated,1940's i think

[Si]

cnosni wrote: Those are faces rather than skulls,however,it does seem odd that a chapel has faces like that on a gable end,i havent seen that before.Could this add weight to the skulls being from Clavells chapel,possibly adorning the gable end? No, they're not skulls, but could still be possibly faces of the dead, to remind the congregation of their own mortality. The eyes look like they are meant to be shut. I can't tell whether these are older than our skulls - they're both bloody old!It certainly does add weight to the theory.Well done, Geordie-exile.

[Steve Jones]

todays announcement regarding the redevelopment of lower Kirkgate, might have a slim chance of getting the lads moved back to their rightful spot if the passge could be re-opened. the press announcement specifically mentions restoring architectural features in the area,although putting them back woul stretch the definition of Kirkgate<G>!

[Steve Jones]

as said elsewhere,the hoardings are finally down on the Old Cloth hall on Kirkgate and you can once again look down the passage next to the furniture shop.might be worth keeeping an eye on this as it is supposedly haunted by an old lady!

[cnosni]

Steve Jones wrote: as said elsewhere,the hoardings are finally down on the Old Cloth hall on Kirkgate and you can once again look down the passage next to the furniture shop.might be worth keeeping an eye on this as it is supposedly haunted by an old lady! Noticed that last night,told digger and hes going to pop along and take some snaps

[Si]

cnosni wrote: Steve Jones wrote: as said elsewhere,the hoardings are finally down on the Old Cloth hall on Kirkgate and you can once again look down the passage next to the furniture shop.might be worth keeeping an eye on this as it is supposedly haunted by an old lady! Noticed that last night,told digger and hes going to pop along and take some snaps That'll be very interesting. Are the old Gelder's signs now visible?Must try and bob down for a nosey.PS Has anyone checked to see if the skulls are still on Buslingthorpe Lane recently?    

[cnosni]

Si wrote: cnosni wrote: Steve Jones wrote: as said elsewhere,the hoardings are finally down on the Old Cloth hall on Kirkgate and you can once again look down the passage next to the furniture shop.might be worth keeeping an eye on this as it is supposedly haunted by an old lady! Noticed that last night,told digger and hes going to pop along and take some snaps That'll be very interesting. Are the old Gelder's signs now visible?Must try and bob down for a nosey.PS Has anyone checked to see if the skulls are still on Buslingthorpe Lane recently?     No ,dont remember seeing any signs as i was to busy looking into the first floor window of the north wing,could see interior walls.Definiteley looks badSkulls were still there about a couple of months ago

[Si]

cnosni wrote: Si wrote: cnosni wrote: Steve Jones wrote: as said elsewhere,the hoardings are finally down on the Old Cloth hall on Kirkgate and you can once again look down the passage next to the furniture shop.might be worth keeeping an eye on this as it is supposedly haunted by an old lady! Noticed that last night,told digger and hes going to pop along and take some snaps That'll be very interesting. Are the old Gelder's signs now visible?Must try and bob down for a nosey.PS Has anyone checked to see if the skulls are still on Buslingthorpe Lane recently?     No ,dont remember seeing any signs as i was to busy looking into the first floor window of the north wing,could see interior walls.Definiteley looks badSkulls were still there about a couple of months ago Good.

[chameleon]

Reasonable article on the White Cloth Hall in the YEP today:A 300-year-old building which played a key role in the growth of Leeds as a centre of commerce is to be restored. Peter Lazenby reportsJust 15 per cent of the first White Cloth Hall to serve the growing Leeds textile industry remains at its location in Kirkgate, next to the city's Victorian market.Built in 1711, the remains are hidden behind a facade of semi-derelict shops.AADVERTISEMENT second White Cloth Hall was built in Meadow Lane in 1755, and a third in 1775-76 which still stands behind the Corn Exchange at the end of Boar Lane.Each hall was bigger than its predecessor to meet the needs of the fast-expanding cloth trade in Leeds.The buildings were named White Cloth Hall because they were centres of trade in undyed cloth, which was brought in from communities across the old West Riding.The original White Cloth Hall disappeared as new structures were added during the Georgian and Victorian eras of the late 1700s and the 1800s.The remains were discovered more than 20 years ago behind the frontages of 98 to 100 Kirkgate. In 2005 they were given listed building status.The Kirkgate frontage is today an eyesore of delapidation.The block is now owned by property firm City Fusion, and Harewood-based investment firm Vektor Investments is planning the restoration of the White Cloth Hall. Using the 15 per cent of the original building which remains, engineers and architects have recreated plans of the original building.Now work has begun to restore and recreate the hall as a centre of commerce for the city.Paul Nathan-Geary of Vektor Investments referred to the building as "one of the city's heritage jewels."He said: "Working closely with English Heritage and Leeds City Council, painstaking research of the surviving building fabric has been undertaken by renowned local conservation architect Ian Tod and specialist heritage engineers Giffords.Jigsaw"This has enabled the owners to piece together the heritage jigsaw and produce an accurate recorded design of the original structure for the first time."The detailed site investigations have revealed there is only 15 per cent of the extant 1711 fabric intact within the current building structures and most of this is located at first floor level."The original Cloth Hall has been radically remodelled over the intervening years with significant Georgian and Victorian interventions during which floor and wall structures have been completely rebuilt often in a haphazard fashion."Consequently much of the surviving original fabric has been damaged during this process and has ultimately contributed to the building's current demise, posing an extremely challenging restoration project. City Fusion has inherited a collection of buildings that are structurally unstable and a dangerous working environment to attempt a traditional refurbishment restoration."The project will involve some demolition of adjoining buildings, and work is already under way.Leeds City Council has secured Lottery funding towards the project.Leeds Civic Trust gave a guarded welcome to the proposal"We have all been concerned about the fate of this building, and clearly the Civic Trust is desperately keen that a renovation should go forward," said Trust Director Dr Kevin Grady. "But we are concerned that there is demolition of adjacent buildings without an agreed scheme or timetable for the reconstruction of the White Cloth Hall."The days when cloth was kingTHE TRADING of cloth was a significant factor in the rapid expansion of Leeds as a centre of commerce in the 1700s and 1800s, though the industry pre-dates that period by several centuries.Its history has been investigated and recorded by Leeds Civic Trust, the guardian of Leeds's architectural and industrial heritage.The surviving, third, White Cloth Hall, behind Leeds Corn Exchange, is site for one of the Trust's Blue Plaques which mark out buildings of special historical interest and significance to the city.Trust director Dr Kevin Grady and co-author Peter Dyson write about the industry in their authoritative book Blue Plaques of Leeds.They said: "The bulk of the undyed woollen cloth made by the clothiers of the West Riding during the 17th and 18th centuries was brought here on packhorses on Tuesdays and Saturdays."They were sure of a ready sale in Leeds because of its efficient, enterprising and highly successful cloth merchant community."In 1765 between 4,000 and 5,000 clothiers attended the Leeds cloth halls each week. In the 1770s there were more than 70 firms of cloth merchants in the town."One-third of all woollen cloth exported from England was handled by Leeds merchants, amounting to some £1,500,000 a year at a time when a worker's cottage cost about £40 to £50."The building of the world's first large woollen mill by Benjamin Gott – Park Mills at Bean Ing in Leeds – began in 1792.In addition to the White Cloth Halls which were centres of commerce for undyed cloth, in 1758 a Coloured Cloth Hall was erected – a magnificent building overlooking City Square

[cnosni]

Well i can see why Kevin Grady is being a little reticent,but this is the situation we had i the past.If this building and those next to it continue to rot then 15% of nothing will be nothing.I seem to remember the owner of Hills telling us that there was no chance of saving their building.bit of a picture on this linkhttp://www.thebusinessdesk.com/yorkshire/news/ ... _section=7