'the gorge' Roundhay Park

The green spaces and places of Leeds
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beast
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Post by beast »

Someone is bound to know this, I often run up the gorge and then follow the bridleway to Shadwell. The stream in the gorge,where is its source ? does it link up with Wykebeck ? goes into a tunnel under the road and then just disappears .I know it runs into the smaller lake in Roundhay Park

Jogon
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Post by Jogon »

I thought it was partly a natural drain alongside the ring road and there must be some run off from the higher land bank that is West Pk Dr West + West Pk Dr East.Cannot recall if stream runs down the path from shadwell and under RRoad?Reminded of Cross Country mid 70's...    
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Phill_dvsn
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Post by Phill_dvsn »

Is this the stream with the dogs mouth spring in it? http://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/2426571336/
My flickr pictures are herehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/Because lunacy was the influence for an album. It goes without saying that an album about lunacy will breed a lunatics obsessions with an album - The Dark side of the moon!

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Leodian
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Post by Leodian »

I always thought the main water came from that draining from the Shadwell area but on looking at maps the main flow comes from Great Heads Beck that mainly runs from the west by the Ring Road. It is joined by some flow from the Shadwell area where the combined flow (I think still called Great Heads Beck) starts to run through the Gorge.It's many years since I last walked the Gorge, so it is definitely time I did it again. No doubt there is still a risk from balls when crossing the golf course near the Ring Road.
A rainbow is a ribbon that Nature puts on when she washes her hair.

raveydavey
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Post by raveydavey »

beast wrote: Someone is bound to know this, I often run up the gorge and then follow the bridleway to Shadwell. The stream in the gorge,where is its source ? does it link up with Wykebeck ? goes into a tunnel under the road and then just disappears .I know it runs into the smaller lake in Roundhay Park Surely the stream that runs through the gorge flows into Waterloo Lake (the main lake), not the smaller one? You're right in saying it comes down from the Shadwell area (in part at least, as there is a public footpath that follows it's course up the hill if you cross over the Ring Road although I've never followed it to it's source.However, it appears that this watercourse combines with Great Heads Beck which has run alongside the Ring Road from near the traffic lights at Shadwell Lane.Looking at the OS map on Bing, it seems that three becks combine to form the beck that joins Great Heads Beck and flows through the gorge, all of them starting before Shadwell is reached.http://snipurl.com/22pfcv2 (hope this works)The beck is called Wyke Beck when it leaves Waterloo Lake (flowing along Wykebeck Valley), so you are correct there. It's unclear why it's called Wyke Beck as it appears to go nowhere near Wyke...Gill Beck, which does flow past Wyke looks to head in the opposite direction towars the River Wharf. Jogon wrote: I thought it was partly a natural drain alongside the ring road and there must be some run off from the higher land bank that is West Pk Dr West + West Pk Dr East.Cannot recall if stream runs down the path from shadwell and under RRoad?Reminded of Cross Country mid 70's...     You didn't go to Braimwood did you Jogon? I was there in the early 80's and have memories of being chivvied through the woods, up the gorge (oo-er missus!) and along the Ring Road before heading back over the golf course by Mr Easton(?) and Mr Gillow. PE was definitely something that was done outdoors by the boys in those days and if it was too wet for football (or occasionally rugby) then it was off for a run...
Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act – George Orwell

grumpytramp
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Post by grumpytramp »

raveydavey wrote: You didn't go to Braimwood did you Jogon? I was there in the early 80's and have memories of being chivvied through the woods, up the gorge (oo-er missus!) and along the Ring Road before heading back over the golf course by Mr Easton(?) and Mr Gillow. PE was definitely something that was done outdoors by the boys in those days and if it was too wet for football (or occasionally rugby) then it was off for a run... ............. except on one of those rare and terrible days that Messers Gillow & Easton conspired with (?) Mrs Giles to bring both of the sexes together for an afternoons torture in the Gym, accopanied by an old record player, an hour of Country Dancing.Boys once side and girls on the other, studiously ignoring the request to find a partner until the afore mentioned trio, selected partners aparently at random (but one suspects as much for their own entertainment)Little did I know that one day, in the very early 90s, on beer fueled nights sampling the emergent ceilidh scene in Glasgow (Yes there was one and it was a hoot) that from the darkest recesses of my mind would emerge all the moves needed to execute a basic Polka ......... clearly time not wasted!Nothing to do with the Gorge of course!    

grumpytramp
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Post by grumpytramp »

Leodian wrote: I always thought the main water came from that draining from the Shadwell area but on looking at maps the main flow comes from Great Heads Beck that mainly runs from the west by the Ring Road. It is joined by some flow from the Shadwell area where the combined flow (I think still called Great Heads Beck) starts to run through the Gorge. You are spot on ........ the main drainage is the Great Heads Beck which swings west to drain the valley up to somewhere about where Shadwell Lane crosses the Ring Road, though there are small becks running down from Shadwell (even along the footpath running up to the Red Lion in Shadwell ........ from memory nearly thirty years ago)I suspect that if Great Heads Beck had not been impounded to form Waterloo Lake, then the beck running down the continuation of the same valley would have been still known as Great Heads Beck until its confluence with Roundhay Beck in the vicinity of Easterly Road. Wyke Beck begining at the confluence of theGreat Heads and Wyke BecksThe first time I have seen the stub of beck between Waterloo Lake and Easterly Road referred to as Wyke Beck is on the 1908 OS 1:2500 map raveydavey wrote: It's unclear why it's called Wyke Beck as it appears to go nowhere near Wyke...Gill Beck, which does flow past Wyke looks to head in the opposite direction towars the River Wharf. It is curious that. If you look back to the earliest OS maps [1853 1:10560 & 1893 1:2500] the beck is called "Wike Beck" only around 1908 does it become "Wyke Beck". I know from various bits of delving relating to other threads that there are have been a number of variations of spelling from various ye olde english references but all "sound" like 'Wike' or 'Wyke'There is clearly no relationship in terms of drainage between the hamlet of Wike to the north and Wyke Beck. I can only presume that the origins of the coincidence are related to what ever the name 'Wike' or 'Wyke' was derived from in it's original toponymy (Old English, Anglo Saxon, Norse etc)

Jogon
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Post by Jogon »

RaveyNo, I was never "Chivvied up the Gorge". Love that!Just used to run it to the Red Lion & back as a gangly youth in bad shorts.When mountain bikes came in I'd go early Saturdays via canal gardens do Gorge + both lakes and buy a fresh hot French Baguette from Turnbulls Bakers on Chandos Gardens on way home. Shower + back to bed with papers. Heaven on earth.    

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