Secret Leeds

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phill

It’s amazing to think there are relics from W.W.II still to be found across the city of Leeds. Unbeknown to most people are the large public air raid shelters still under the recreation grounds across the city. These shelters were sealed up and the entrance ways filled in after the war. Most people walking their dog, or having a picnic have no idea they are on top of these long forgotten second world war time capsules.

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I wonder how many people have walked past this raised mound of earth on Woodhouse Moor oblivious to what lies beneath? This patch of concrete is really the only clue there could be anything under your feet here.

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This is a shelter been built on Buslingthorpe recreation ground in Chapletown 1938. The Leeds shelters were built one year before the war started. They must have smelt it coming! There were several of these shelters in the recreation grounds dotted around the city. The idea was to place them away from, but within easy reach of built up areas, Woodhouse Moor, Wortley, Cross Flats, Armley, Potternewton, East End Park, Chapel Allerton, York Road (Shaftesbury cinema) Roundhay Park (Soldiers Field) and Buslingthorpe recreation ground to name but a few.

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This is inside the Woodhouse Moor shelter in 2009, 64 years after the war ended. This is the view of the only entrance inside the Woodhouse shelter. The entrance is in the middle of the shelter and faces towards Hyde park road. A large amount of brick rubble had been tipped in when the war ended. Earth had been piled outside and grassed over to blend it in.

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You can see this section was for women and children only. Variable amounts of brick, and concrete rubble, lay scattered under the emergency exits. This must have been from when the hatches were concreted over.
These shelters can’t have been nice places to spend large amounts of time in, there very claustrophobic and cramped. It was fortunate the Germans underestimated what an important role Leeds played during the war years. The large factories at Barnbow, and Kirkstall forge were able to mass produce without the unwanted attention from the Luftwaffe. Leeds was raided nine times, only six of which were serious attacks. The worst raid was on the night of the 14th March 1941. The City museum, Town Hall and 4,600 houses were damaged.
Scars from this bombing raid can still be seen near the war memorial on the Headrow, and the Majestic cinema in city square.

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10 comments

  1. Wow – this is absolutely amazing. I love the full article.

    That’s pretty much blown my mind. Good work Phill!!

    1. Many thanks Alex.
      If you check out the link to the full story, you will see many more hidden war bunkers and relics around Leeds as well.

      Cheers 🙂

    1. Thanks Emma.
      Glad you like it.
      There are shelters all over Leeds.
      The ones i’m mainly concentrating on are the large public shelters uder the recreation grounds.
      The one at Armley is in Gotts park, it’s a little lower down past the bowling greens.
      There not easy to spot these days. All the entrances have been filled in and grassed over.
      There more or less forgotten about(By the council also)
      Look for suspicious mounds of flat earth in the parks.
      There’s always a reason for them 🙂

      1. There are two in Gotts park, there is a huge one near the Rose Garden along side Armley Ridge Road.

  3. I have been curious about the marks on the Majestic for a while now, I thought it might have been war damage but it’s good to know I was right.

  5. I’d love to find out more info on the chapel allerton one. I found a stone in the ground today with the word ‘entrance’ on it so I now realise it wasn’t just a myth!

  6. Good work Phil but wasn’t some of this also on the secret Leeds web site.

    If you are looking around and weren’t aware you might like these.

    Leeds WW2 Anti-aircraft sites:-

    http://tjblackwell.co.uk/lucid/?project=yeadon-anti-aircraft-defences

    http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=1472521&sort=4&search=all&criteria=%20ANTI%20AIRCRAFT%20BATTERY%20LEEDS&rational=q&recordsperpage=60

    WW2 and later local operations control centre

    http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/b/birkenshaw/index.html

    Leeds Cold war Bunker

    http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/top-stories/underground-leeds-the-city-s-secret-bunker-slideshow-1-3851302

    happy hunting

    Sour

    1. Hi John.
      It’s possible some of my work still remains on the Secret Leeds forum. I had hoped to have taken it all off that site, it’s not a forum I would recommend these days. It’s sadly gone downhill with regards moderating the behaviour of members. It’s more or less dead anyway, It’s down to around a dozen contributors. Such topics as ‘Where have all the Hedgehogs gone, where is the best place to pick Blackberries?, bus timetables, and does anyone want to buy a puppy? It’s not so much Secret Leeds these days really 🙂

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