Stunning pictures cast light on the medieval bridges hidden from view for a century under town centre

buffaloskinner · Post by **buffaloskinner** » Thu 12 Dec, 2013 4:51 pm

This looks like a job for ???Mail Online http://tinyurl.com/puq7pr8So similar to underground Leeds

shutthatdoor · Post by **shutthatdoor** » Thu 12 Dec, 2013 5:26 pm

Thanks Buffaloskinner, you just beat me to it. What a fascinating story and well worthy of a place on SL even if it is on t'wrong side o't border.How many other culverted streams exist throughout the UK I wonder. I have read widely about the London ones. This is a marvel that they are going to uncover these things. More I say!

Phill_dvsn · Post by **Phill_dvsn** » Thu 12 Dec, 2013 6:34 pm

We have some good contenders in Leeds, many of the original bridges are buried under these culverts. The hard part is getting hold of very old maps to date them. This is the old bridge that carried Wetherby Road across the Wyke beck near the Goats Farm. Many of you remember the old Lido baths, I doubt any will remember the Wyke beck being in the open in that location. Here's a view further back better showing the colour and type of stone used. It's a very narrow bridge compared to the width of Wetherby Road today. We know the Kirkstall Monks were quarrying in this very same area. It would be great to think this bridge was one of their constructions. If it isn't, then it's most certainly a rebuild of an earlier bridge built by them. The buttress wall holding up Wetherby Road was rebuilt when the overflow was remodeled several years ago. But in 1950 it was also strengthened to look like this. Both photos from Leodishttp://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIde ... Y=FULLI'll dig a few more Leeds oldies out later maybe. It would be great if anyone can get hold of some historic maps. Best I've found so far is 1850.

Phill_dvsn · Post by **Phill_dvsn** » Thu 12 Dec, 2013 6:51 pm

At the very bottom of North Street is this old bridge. It only appears on the 1850 map marked as Sheepscar Bridge.It doesn't appear on any maps later than 1850.

Loiner in Cyprus · Post by **Loiner in Cyprus** » Thu 12 Dec, 2013 9:26 pm

Phill_dvsn wrote: At the very bottom of North Street is this old bridge. It only appears on the 1850 map marked as Sheepscar Bridge.It doesn't appear on any maps later than 1850. What a fascinating photo

Jogon · Post by **Jogon** » Sat 14 Dec, 2013 11:27 pm

Weekend away Sir?I allus wondered why Fleet Street was so called..River fleetThe Fleet can be heard through a grating in Ray Street, Clerkenwell[6] in front of the Coach and Horses pub. The position of the river can still be seen in the surrounding streetscape with Ray Street and its continuation Warner Street lying in a valley where the river once flowed. It can also be heard through a grid in the centre of Charterhouse Street where it joins Farringdon Road (on the Smithfield side of the junction). In wet weather, and on a very low tide, the murky Fleet can be seen gushing into the Thames from the Thameswalk exit of Blackfriars station, immediately under Blackfriars bridge. Look for a ladder that descends into the water. (The tunnel exit shown in the picture can be seen much more clearly from directly above.)The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has proposed opening short sections of the Fleet and other rivers for ornamental purposes,[7] although the Environment Agency, which manages the project, is pessimistic that the Fleet can be among those uncoveredhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-203828 ... River.html

Phill_dvsn · Post by **Phill_dvsn** » Sun 15 Dec, 2013 12:12 am

Jogon wrote: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... River.html That's Jon Doe's stuff in the paper Jogon - great photos too. Jon always does a good write up on his photo stories. He knows more than anyone about the River Fleet. The rest of those Fleet photos are herehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/jondoe_264/sets/7 ... /?detail=1

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Sun 15 Dec, 2013 1:11 am

Talking of sewers (admittedly in London) I thought the following may be of interest. It is an extract from a book I have ‘Underground London’ by John Hollingshead (November 1861).“Feeling a desire to inspect a main sewer almost from its source to its point of discharge into the Thames, I applied to the proper authorities, and was obligingly told that they had not the slightest objection to gratify what they evidently thought a very singular taste. I was even asked to name my sewer. They had blood-sewers (a delicate article) running underneath meat-markets…where you could wade in the vital fluid of sheep and oxen; they had boiling sewers, which were largely used by sugar-bakeries, where the steam forced its way through the gratings in the roadway…and sewer-cleansers get something very like a Turkish bath at the expense of the ratepayers. They had sewers of various orders of construction; egg-shaped, barrel-shaped, arched, and almost square; and they had sewers of different degrees of repulsiveness, such as those where manufacturing chemists and soap and candle-makers most do congregate."I wonder how many ‘blood-sewers’ Leeds had (still has?).

BarFly · Post by **BarFly** » Sun 15 Dec, 2013 9:26 am

I'm not a fan of the people, but they did cover the Fleet:http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/uk- ... 013-a.html

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Sun 15 Dec, 2013 10:21 am

Leodian wrote: I wonder how many ‘blood-sewers’ Leeds had (still has?). Anywhere there's an abattoir!