Old Graffiti in Meanwood

LS13 · Post by **LS13** » Fri 23 Mar, 2007 8:03 pm

Not the spray paint of today but carvings in rock--First, the name Kate Scholes is carved in a rock in a field next to the woodland path between Dunny Hill and Tongue Lane with the year 1884. I've not seen it for years but remember it as a deep, neat carving which must have taken our Kate some time. Who was she? Maybe a servant at Meanwood Hall which became Meanwood Hospital?Next, a carving I've never managed to find but have read about. Apparently its a memorial to HTW Hancock, a young man from London who shot himself in meanwood woods after apparently being spurned by a Leeds lass he'd come to try and woo. In a book on Meanwood from the 80's by Arthur Hopwood, the stone is described as being 'in the wall, beside a path beyond Hustlers row'. One stone says HTW Hancock and the word 'shot' appears on an adjacent stone. Hancock was 26 and shot himself on 11/9/1892. His body was stored at the Myrtle pub before being buried in Meanwood church yard. Anyone seen this stone or know anything about the suicidal cockney?

rikj · Post by **rikj** » Fri 23 Mar, 2007 11:42 pm

Fascinating stuff LS13, will keep my eyes peeled next time we're up that way. Lots of history in that area. Sad story but would be nuice to find the carvings and record them.

liits · Post by **liits** » Sun 25 Mar, 2007 5:01 pm

I remeber seeing these when we did cros-country runs from school [Cardinal Heenan]

Hats Off · Post by **Hats Off** » Fri 30 Mar, 2007 1:45 pm

LS13 wrote: Not the spray paint of today but carvings in rock--First, the name Kate Scholes is carved in a rock in a field next to the woodland path between Dunny Hill and Tongue Lane with the year 1884. I've not seen it for years but remember it as a deep, neat carving which must have taken our Kate some time. Who was she? Maybe a servant at Meanwood Hall which became Meanwood Hospital?Next, a carving I've never managed to find but have read about. Apparently its a memorial to HTW Hancock, a young man from London who shot himself in meanwood woods after apparently being spurned by a Leeds lass he'd come to try and woo. In a book on Meanwood from the 80's by Arthur Hopwood, the stone is described as being 'in the wall, beside a path beyond Hustlers row'. One stone says HTW Hancock and the word 'shot' appears on an adjacent stone. Hancock was 26 and shot himself on 11/9/1892. His body was stored at the Myrtle pub before being buried in Meanwood church yard. Anyone seen this stone or know anything about the suicidal cockney? Hi, according to the Yorkshire BMD there was a Kate Scholes born in 1872 in Kirkstall. She is the only one in the time frame of 1884 so I assume that it is the same girl. Then on the 1881 census she is seen as living at 29 St Mark's Road which is in Woodhouse. She lived there with her mother Elizabeth (48 ) who was a Masons wife and two brothers Herbert (12) and Benjamin (10). The head of the house was John Crosland (36) a printer along with his wife Elizabeth Crosland (28 ) and a lodger called Richard Brook (27) a traveller. I wonder if she carved her name whilst on an outing all those years ago as she would have been about 12 years old at the time ? I also wonder where her father was on the night of the census ? Little did she know of the interest her and her carving would have 123 years later.Regards.

rikj · Post by **rikj** » Fri 30 Mar, 2007 11:49 pm

Fascinating info Hats Off. How strange to think that we can find out this about her after all these years? If she lived in Woodhouse, then Meanwood would undoubtedly be the playground for a 12 year old girl. Along the beck, into the woods, maybe using her fathers tools to carve her name!

munki · Post by **munki** » Sat 31 Mar, 2007 12:54 pm

Hat's off to HatsOff, this is exactly the kind of stuff we want to see on Secret Leeds.Wouldn't be nicer to think that someone else carved Kate's name? A childhood sweetheart whose love is still remembered 123 years later..? Can anyone get us a picture of this carving, so that she is remembered even longer, & in a way in which the carver could never have begun to imagine?

Hats Off · Post by **Hats Off** » Sat 31 Mar, 2007 2:28 pm

Well, after a bit more research I have located Kate Scholes father on the night of the 1881 census. He was staying at a tavern at 7 Essex Road, Middlesex. He is down as John Scholes (45 ) Lodger born in Leeds, married and his occupation is a Mason. There is also a bricklayer from Leeds staying at the inn so it looks like they were working down in Middlesex or that area.Regards.

LS13 · Post by **LS13** » Mon 02 Apr, 2007 9:28 pm

Thats all amazing info and I really hope the detail you've provided is on 'our' kate!. From memory, the carving was pretty deep and the letters neat and well formed. If she did that at 12 years old, she'd obviously inherited her fathers skills! More likely I think that it was her father who carved it in her name, as someone suggested, maybe on a hike from the industrial areas of woodhouse to what would then have been countryside. Regarding getting a picture, I don't get over that way much but can provide more detail of where the carving is (though its probably 25 years since I saw it!)- park your car in the lay by half way down dunny hill, near the cottages, cross the road and enter the woods with the Meanwood hospital boundary wall on your right. Walk through the woods for about quarter of a mile. Eventually you come to a field on the left, which used to be behind a barbed wire fence. The carving is on a rock in the top corner of the field-used to be visible from the path but may now be overgrown.I'd be interested to know if the rock and carving are still there--a challenge for someone to get a picture!

pid · Post by **pid** » Sun 08 Apr, 2007 11:14 am

i got some pictures of it yesterday and will post them shortly i hadnt been ther for years either and someone has added their name in 1994

pid · Post by **pid** » Sun 08 Apr, 2007 1:30 pm

mmmmm ireally do have a picture but its a right good laugh trying to upload it on here isnt it ill just have a quiet word with my p c and try again in a bit