SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

not sure if it's worth having a seperate section for this but I'm always fascinated by the more unusual street names in cities. bradford has hall ings for example which sounds very exotic until you find out that an ings is a small stream (if I remember correctly)I was doing my usual walk to the train station today from my mates and was pondering on the derivation of call lane and the call and then I noticed, at the junction with briggate a small backroad called pitfall lane. anyone know anything about these 3 names or have and other perculiar leeds street names?

Not unusual names per se but unusual naming.I have often pondered why East Parade runs almost South to North at the WEST end of South Parade which runs roughly west to east (park Row) almost at the NORTH end of both

As mentioned on another post, i used to live on Fillingfir drive when i was a kid. A great name i thought until i looked on the 1854 map and found out that the woods behind our house were called the Fillingfir Thicks. Now i regard myself as one of the "Thicks". (Incidentally i don't recall any fir trees in the woods at all!)

haha I know your pain - I grew up on 'Berks'well road in Birmingham.

Hi, I always wondered about the Boggart Hills off Easterly Rd/ Wetherby Rd. Now I know that a "boggart" is a spirit (household spirit at that) I have to wonder even more at the naming of the streets!Some more info on WIKIPEDIA.Troll.

Where the heck did the Raynville (LS13) name originate? Sounds French, with the "ville", but what is a "rayn"? Possibly french from Rennes settled there after 1066?

Some strange sounding names have prosaic meanings, for example:Delph Lane is the lane leading to a 'delve' which is a small quarry or mine, sometimes called a bell pit.We may have some strange names in Leeds but we're a shadow of Bingley. they've got 'Treacle Cock Alley'. What's that about?

one that has always interested me is "Coal Road"It starts in Wike (i think!) just at the bottom of "Forge Lane", then becomes "Bay Horse Lane".After it crossed the A58 Wetherby Road it becomes Coal Road again, running through Whinmoor where it just stops abruptly at the A64 York Road and Seacroft Tesco roundabout.is it just a name or does anybody know anything interesting about it? the oldest map i can find is on that ponies website http://www.ponies.me.uk/maps/osmap.html, and i dont think it is old enough to show anything really cool

Hi,When I was at college we did a history of Briggate The area where Briggate meets the river at Leeds Bridge is where the original medieval settlement was.We were told that the streets around were named after the particular types of animal left grazing in them. ie Swinegate, Boar Lane and The Calls. The first two are obvious, but it was said that the calls came from 'cows' and over the years has mutated into calls. Dunno what you think of that.

The Coal Road dates back a long way and only came to its abrupt end in seacroft with the building of the Ring Road and its extensions.I remember it being said that it was used to transport coal from TempleNewsam pit to Harewood house. This extract from, 'Memories of Seacroft as a a Village' by Alan Noble, seems to lend weight to its naming:'Every Thursday my mother would take my brother and myself along the Coal Road to visit her mother and father at Bay Horse Farm, Shadwell, of which my Grandad was tenant farmer under Lord Harewood.Grandma and Grandad had sixteen children, thirteen girls lived and one son. They had their own pew in Shadwell Church and were all very religious. Every evening one had read a passage of the Bible. Part of Grandad’s tenancy was when harvest was finished he had to cart so many loads of coal from Barnbow Pit to Harewood House. Hence "The Coal Road’. Passing in to York Road, he had a toll of 1/2d wheel to pay at the Toll House [which as a lot of people remember, is where Mrs Ibbotson (who is still around at 93 and often talks to me about my mother) lived]'