A dark tunnel

rikj · Post by **rikj** » Thu 29 Mar, 2007 4:24 pm

Well, instead of myths and legends here's a real tunnel for a change!When the owners of a certain grand house sat sipping their tea on the lawns, the last thing they wanted to see was us commoners traipsing along the lane at the end of the gardens.So, being an enterprising family, they had a tunnel built for the hoi-polloi to walk through. Generously, little skylights were put in the arched roof to provide at least a modicum of light.Today the house has gone, but the tunnel remains.More pics in the link below, but they are all pretty similar.

mourning_belle · Post by **mourning_belle** » Thu 29 Mar, 2007 6:14 pm

thats a beautiful tunnel, id rather be down there than sipping tea on a lawn and i adore tea so thats saying something....

bigpants · Post by **bigpants** » Fri 30 Mar, 2007 2:27 pm

i walk me doggy though there most weekends, its a beautiful estate full of interesting features. any time now the tunnel will be full of toads which is bizzarre as without the artificial lighting in the pic its very dark (hence its name - the dark arch). elsewhere on the estate is the triumphal arch - a replica of the arc de triumph (spelling) which alledgedly prompted the then king to turn round and go home when he was on a visit to the estate as he didnt like the pro us/anti british sentiments.

wsmith · Post by **wsmith** » Fri 30 Mar, 2007 2:33 pm

Where is it!?!

bigpants · Post by **bigpants** » Fri 30 Mar, 2007 2:36 pm

parlington estate between aberford ang garforth. its a very atmospheric place.

Diamondeyes · Post by **Diamondeyes** » Fri 30 Mar, 2007 11:46 pm

wsmith wrote: Where is it!?! Hi wsmith, Try this web address http://www.parlington.co.uk/index_h1.htmlIt's full of fascinating information and great pictures, there's a good one of the Triumphal Arch!

rikj · Post by **rikj** » Fri 30 Mar, 2007 11:57 pm

It's an area with all sorts of treasures and well worth a visit. I hope the author of the website will be joining us here.I didn't see any toads bigpants, but it was very wet! The lighting is entirely natural from the skylights. It was just using a long exposure, to the human eye it is virtually pitch black.Coincidentally I found out that that Brian the author of the excellent parlington website was responsible for trimming the vegetation above the skylights, so the lighting effects are thanks to him!!

parlington · Post by **parlington** » Sat 31 Mar, 2007 11:20 pm

Thanks to Rikj I found this new site and have already added a post on the subject of the Triumpahl Arch.But remaining with the subject here I can state that the tunnel was built between 1812-13 at the instruction of Richard Oliver Gascoigne, who inherited a lifetime interest in the estate some two years earlier in 1810. The roadway (Parlington Lane) was the main route for coal from the Gascoigne mines in Garforth, carried by horse and cart up to the coal staithes at Aberford, there is a wealth of information on my Parlington site as Rickj already stated, but the link to the dark arch stuff is http://www.parlington.co.uk/dark_arch_h6.htmlIn recent years vegetation on the ground above the arch has reduced the light through the vents and also made the ha-ha on the south side somewhat gloomy, all this has been cleared now and it is much brighter than the name suggests!!

parlington · Post by **parlington** » Sun 01 Apr, 2007 12:47 pm

This is a shot of the 5th vent/light in the tunnel roof, near the west end. Blocked up .... who knows when?

parlington · Post by **parlington** » Mon 02 Apr, 2007 8:54 pm

Just to give a perspective of the Dark Arch and Parlington Lane, I would like to put a couple of points into this thread.1) Early maps drawn around the 1730's seem to show a road leading to Leeds which by inference appears to be Parlington Lane, rather than Cattle Lane which is the present route via Barwick in Elmet and Scholes.This would confirm the view of the Dark Arch being designed to avoid the view of common folk struggling against all odds along the lane, troubling the residents of Parlington Hall.2) In direct opposition to this is some evidence from the nineteenth century, where Colonel F.C. Trench-Gascoigne requests of his estate manager to tell two employees Matthew Westerman & Chas Schofield; "You are requested by Colonel Gascoigne to turn back persons travelling on the road to and from the Colliery and Aberford except workmen going to and from their work." An extract from the Gascoigne Memorandums.So at this time, April 1876, the Gascoignes only allowed THEIR workers access along Parlington Lane and the Dark Arch.Had the main route to Leeds been ceded to The Barwick route by then, or was this policy the cause of the Barwick route being the main Leeds road??