SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

I did this for Barfly back in April, which traces the beck from Bradford.

Tracing back on the 1913 map it seems to spring up by the Phoenix Park golf course at the back of Thornbury Roundabout:

From there it is called Tyersall Beck, then becomes Pudsey Beck, and then Farnley Beck, and then Wortley Beck, then Low Beck and finally becomes Hol Beck before emptying into the Aire.

There were also a number of mill streams which fed the various mills en route.

Much of the beck seems to be underground on todays maps

I now think Hol Beck may be completely underground before it emerges at Water Lane. Searching other thread on here and having had another look at Google maps sattelite view it would appear Low Beck flows under, or just to the Gelderd Road side of, the M621 where it is joined by Mill Shaw Beck.
Its interesting what is highlighted as Holbeck on https://www.google.com/search?q=holbeck&oq=holbeck Which has the boundary of Holbeck running alongside the M621 all th way to the Leeds-Huddersfield/Manchester railway lines.

These are 3 photos that I took today (July 1 2015) on Water Lane of the open Hol Beck just before it is culverted for a short way before entering the River Aire. The first and second are downflow views and the third is an upflow view (shame about the litter!).

One thing that surprised me was that there were a lot of fish in the beck, ranging from small to at least 6 inches or more. There were also loads of fish (? trout) of all sizes in the first berthing area off the Leeds & Liverpool Canal just before that joins the river. If an heron finds them it will think Christmas has come early!

It was still possible to walk on the riverside path in front of the Direct Line building (a workman told me there is a delay in starting there) but access across the canal where there is work going on seemed to be restricted.

Not an expert on why the channel is split however I could hazard a guess based on the entrance to the culvert is also vertically split but presumably for a very short distance. When the beck is in full flow rather than the "trickle" the vertical split would catch most debris getting on for half the width of the channel or above. This reduces the risk of something wedging across the full width of the channel while it is culverted. It would be a lot easier to remove said debris from the entrance than it would be from underground particularly if the full flow is going to be for several days.

These are 3 photos of the flood defence work that I took on July 9 2015. There is now no public access on the immediate riverside path in front of the Direct Line building pending the start of work on that side of the River Aire.

Work started in early July on flood defence work on the side of the River Aire in front of the Direct Line building. This photo (which I took today, July 23 2015) shows some of that work (Victoria Bridge is in the rear). The already protected river bank here does though look tall, so I wonder how often that area has flooded? Perhaps the current work there may be more to do with stopping people falling into the river.

Eight years ago the Aire came about as near to flooding the city centre as it ever has. June 25th 2007 was just torrential rain all day; not only in Leeds but right over the catchment area of the river. Looking back at photos taken in the early evening the Hol Beck outfall into the Aire is completely underwater. Another inch or two and that would have been it. I'm sure that will be flood defence work there.

rikj wrote:Eight years ago the Aire came about as near to flooding the city centre as it ever has. June 25th 2007 was just torrential rain all day; not only in Leeds but right over the catchment area of the river. Looking back at photos taken in the early evening the Hol Beck outfall into the Aire is completely underwater. Another inch or two and that would have been it. I'm sure that will be flood defence work there.

Cheers for that rikj .

I now recall that flooding event which if I remember correctly either badly affected, or came extremely close to badly affecting, buildings in the Brewery Wharf area just a short way downriver from the Victoria Bridge area.

January 21 2008 is the one I remember the flooding from, even British Waterways was flooded

Thanks buffaloskinner for those photos . That was an even more impressive flood event than I recall.