Briggate to Pack Horse Yard in Leeds

 

Nos.112-114 Briggate

Leaving Angel Inn Yard and continuing south down Briggate, the next building on my British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge was Nos. 115-120 (1898-1904) on the corner with King Edward Street, which is part of the development by Frank Matcham for the Leeds Estate Company.

Nos. 115-120 Briggate

 

As with the other façades fronting Vicar Lane, it is built with red brick and Burmantofts terracotta, but here it has a strong variation in colour that I don’t recall seeing before in this building material, which I have seen in the historic architecture of several cities.

 

Nos. 49-51 Vicar Lane

 

The next building on my Photo Challenge was Nos.18-26 King Edward Street and Nos. 49-51 Vicar Lane, which was originally a block of shops, offices and a restaurant that formed part of Matcham’s development of the Shambles meat market.

 

Nos. 2-16 King Edward Street

The use of red pressed brick and Burmantofts terracotta is a feature of all the buildings that form part of the development, as is the Baroque style with Dutch gables, which is seen at Nos. 115-120 Briggate, Nos. 2-16 King Edward Street and Nos.104-108 and Nos.110-114 Briggate.

 

Ns. 110-114 Briggate

Occupying a corner site, the early C20 No. 60 Briggate and Nos. 17-18 Albion Place are described by Historic England (HE) as shops and offices that are built with brick and terracotta – although from my photo it appears that sandstone ashlar is actually used for the dressings.

 

No. 60 Briggate and Nos-18 Albion Place

On the opposite side of Albion Place, Nos. 13-14 (1903), which includes No. 64 Briggate, are described by HE as a shop with offices above and built with stone and brown and green terracotta. I just took a single photo from a distance, from which I can see the green terracotta used for the columns that separate the windows, but I cannot distinguish the other materials.

 

Nos. 1-4 Albion Place and  No. 64 Briggate

Referring to my copy of Leeds Architects and Architecture, this Baroque style building was designed by Percy Robinson for Eveleigh Bishop – a printer, fancy goods importer, jeweller and silversmith – and built in a mixture of stone, red brick and buff, white and green faience. Furthermore, the Pevsner Architectural Guide for Leeds by Susan Wrathmell refers to Burmantofts faience used for cladding.

 

Nos. 19-23 Albion Place

The next building on my Photo Challenge was Nos. 19-23 Albion Place (1904), a row of shops with offices above that HE describe as being built with red brick and terracotta, when again the dressings appear to me to be made of sandstone.

 

Nos. 19-23 Albion Place

My background as a geologist and building stone specialist, with extensive experience in the building restoration industry in London, has provided me with a very good appreciation of the colours and textures of a wide variety of building materials – including brick, terracotta and faience.

 

No. 26 Albion Place

A little further down the road, the early C20 No. 26 is again described by HE as being built with terracotta but, enlarging the photos that I took, although terracotta is obviously used for the dressings, red brick with a very similar colour is used for the walling. It is thought that this building may have been the former entrance to the adjoining No. 6 Lands Lane (c.1900), which was built for Joseph Longley, a manufacturer of beds and a flock and feathers merchant.

 

No. 6 Lands Lane

Although the HE officers who write the listed building descriptions would not be expected to have my specialist experience, I have very often found them to have very basic errors, some of which Susan Wrathmell and Ruth Harman/John Minnis have reproduced in their Pevsner Architectural Guides, and perhaps HE should undertake further research on the buildings that they describe.

Nos. 8-9 Commercial Street

Nos. 8-9 Commercial Street, although not part of my Photo Challenge, is another very early C20 shop and offices built in red/brown terracotta, which formed part of the redevelopment of this part of Leeds, when Albion Place was extended to Briggate in 1903.

 

The Pack Horse public house

 

I then went to photograph the Pack House public house, which has nothing of interest to this Language of Stone Blog; however, it provides another example of a yard that developed from one of the burgage plots off Briggate and it was where Joseph Aspdin, who patented Portland cement, once lived and first sol this product in Angel Inn Yard.

 

A plaque in Pack House Yard

 

Vicar Lane to Angel Inn Yard in Leeds

 

A detail to the entrance of County Arcade on Vicar Lane

 

Having finished my lunch at Khao Gaeng Thai, after walking from York Street to Kirkgate Market, I continued with my British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge at Nos. 60-62 Vicar Lane which, together with No. 58 (currently occupied by Subway) forms part of a non matching pair of shops, offices and a Temperance Hotel. This was designed by W.H. Thorp and built in 1900, whose work I had previously seen at Oxford Place Methodist Church, Oxford Chambers and the City Art Gallery.

 

Nos. 60-62 Vicar Lane

 

Historic England (HE) describe it as being built with with brick, with stone lintels and terracotta panels beneath the third floor windows, which Susan Wrathmell repeats in her Pevsner Architectural Guide to Leeds. To my eye, all of the dressings are clearly made with the same sandstone, which is probably from the Elland Flags.

 

Views of Wrays Buildings

 

The adjoining Wrays Buildings (c.1900) and Nos. 50-56 are built with red brick, with terracotta dressings that are very obviously different in colour to the sandstone dressings at Nos. 58-62, although the terracotta on Wrays Buildings looks like it has been badly cleaned by hydrofluoric acid - as seen on the former Prudential Assurance Company building (1891) on Park Row. 

 

Coronation Buildings

 

On the opposite side of Sidney Street, Coronation Buildings (1902), is another red brick and terracotta building by Daniel Dodgson, who was an assistant to Thomas Ambler - the architect responsible for Nos. 1-13 Boar Lane (1872) and Westminster Buildings and St. James’s Hall (1877) on New York Street. 

 

The area around Vicar Lane on the 1893 OS map

 

As seen on the 1893 and 1908 editions of the Ordnance Survey (OS) map of Leeds, the area around Vicar Lane and Briggate was substantial redeveloped in the very late C19 and early C20, with the notorious area of slums around the old Shambles meat market being swept away.

 

The area around Vicar Lane on the 1908 OS map

 

In its place is the County Arcade and Cross Arcade (1898-1904) designed by Frank Matcham for the Leeds Estates Company, which involved the creation of King Edward Street and Queen Victoria Street and included two hundred shops, cafes, tearooms and a theatre. Now forming part of the Victoria Quarter, it is occupied by many prime retailers and is one of the reasons why Leeds is considered to be the premium shopping area in northern England.

 

The entrance to County Arcade on Vicar Lane

 

I took photos of the entrance to the arcade and the surrounding façade, including the premises of The Ivy restaurant, which is built with red brick and Burmantofts faience tiles, but I didn’t have time to look at the arcades in the Victoria Quarter, where marble and mosaic are used lavishly.

 

The Ivy restaurant

 

The next building on my Photo Challenge was No. 7 The Headrow which, apart from its stone slate roof, has no interest to this Language of Stone Blog (LSB) and I carried on until I arrived at Thorntons Buildings (1873. This is another red brick building with sandstone dressings, which HE suggest may be by the architect/builder George Smith for Charles Thornton, the owner of the Old White Swan Inn in Swan Street and the proprietor of the Varieties Music Hall.

 

Views of Thornton Buildings

 

Turning down Lands Lane, I stopped briefly to photograph the Grade II listed bollard at the west end of Swan Street and the old gas lamp post in Ship Yard – neither of which are of any interest to this LSB – before continuing to No. 26 Lands Lane (c.1900). 

 

No. 26 Lands Lane

 

This brick building, which HE states is probably steel framed, is most notable for its very large showroom windows, which take up most of the upper two floors, and is by Percy Robinson. The HE description of 22-24 New Market Street (c.1900) casts some doubt on Smith and Tweedale being the architects and refers to the style of the tall arches at Nos. 2-4 Duncan Lane (c.1904) and also its similarity to No. 27 Lands Lane.

 

A view along Angel Inn Yard

 

I then turned down Angel Inn Yard, where the late C18 Angel Inn was the next building on my Photo Challenge, although its interest is mainly for being another example of the development of the mediaeval burgage plots, rather than its architectural qualities or building materials.

 

The Angel Inn

 

York Street to Kirkgate Market in Leeds

 

Putti at Leeds Kirkgate Market

After spending less than 20 minutes photographing the various stones used for the sanctuary floor, ledger stones and the Victorian font in Leeds Minster, I crossed over to the north side of Kirkgate to take a photograph of the memorial to John Speed, which is made in a red granite that looks like the Balmoral variety from Finland. 

 

The memorial to John Speed

Continuing my British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge at the Classical style Nos. 46-48 York Street (c.1900), which is built in a Classical style, the matt glazed Marmo - designed to imitate marble - was produced by the Leeds Fireclay Company of Burmantofts up to WWI and can be seen in many fine buildings in Leeds. 

 

Nos. 46-48 York Street

Although quite an unimposing building, it is yet another reminder that most of the historic architecture in Leeds city centre, which is set on Coal Measures strata, are built with fired clay products - brick, terracotta and faience. 

 

Westminster Buildings

 

The next building on my Photo Challenge was the Grade II listed St. James’s Hall and Westminster Buildings, described by Historic England (HE) as “Temperance hotel, public hall and dining rooms, now shops and offices. 1877, enlarged 1884, altered C20”. 

 

St. James's Hall

 

The building was designed for William James Armitage, the owner of the Farnley Iron Company, by the architect Thomas Ambler who also designed the Temperance hotel at Nos. 1-13 Boar Lane. The materials used are red brick with sandstone dressings, which looks like the Elland Flags, and HE refers to polychrome brick but I did not notice these. 

 

Nos. 22-30 New York Street

On the opposite side of the road, on the corner with Harper Street, is Nos. 22-30 New York Street (c.1900), which HE describe as a warehouse, workshops and shops, but no mention is made of the architect. The materials are again red brick, with sandstone probably from the Elland Flags used for the dressings, as again seen at New York Buildings (1880) by J. W. Baxendall – originally used as a cocoa house, workshops and offices, but now occupied by shops and storerooms. 

 

New York Buildings

 

While photographing New York Buildings, I noticed that the road kerbs on Kirkgate are made of the dark variety of Shap granite from Cumbria, with its distinctive phenocrysts of pink orthoclase feldspar, which I have seen used very many times in the entrances of Victorian buildings – as seen in the entrance steps at Leeds Central Library – but I have never seen it used like this before. 

 

Dark Shap granite used for the kerb on Kirkgate

Continuing to the south entrance of the Grade I Listed Leeds Kirkgate Market (1904), by John and Joseph Leeming, I stopped very briefly to photograph the Baroque style putti that were carved by Joseph Thewlis and Co. in Eccleshill stone from the Elland Flags formation near Bradford. 

 

A putto at Leeds Kirkgate Market

Arriving at the market at just after 1 o’clock in the afternoon, and not stopped for any break since I had arrived in Leeds nearly two hours earlier, I decided that it was time to have some lunch and headed to the Khao Gaeng Thai stall. 

 

Khao Gaeng Thai

I first discovered this place in January 2019, when preparing my walk with the Sheffield U3A Geology Group to look at the building stones of Leeds, and I have visited it many times since. Finding all the tables busy I made my order and, after finding a seat on George Street, had another enjoyable meal in the autumn sunshine before continuing my Photo Challenge on Vicar Lane.

A meal from Khao Gaeng Thai

Leeds Minster Revisited

 

A view east along the nave

In October 2018, using my newly purchased Building Stone Heritage of Leeds by Francis. G. Dimes and Murray Mitchell, I had a walk around Leeds to look at some of the buildings mentioned in this – including Leeds Minster on Kirkgate, a part of the city that I had not visited before. 

 

The Building Stone Heritage of Leeds

 

During this visit, much of the time was spent being shown the main points of interest at the east end of the church, including the Leeds Cross and an effigy of a knight, but I didn’t have the time to properly explore its interior. 

 

The floor of the sanctuary

 

In the sanctuary, the floor is laid with a mixture of encaustic tiles, mosaic and various decorative stones, some of which I recognised as being Italian Carrara marble and serpentinite, with Connemara marble, Cork Red marble and Kilkenny marble from the Republic of Ireland. 

 

The stone library in the Redmires Building

 

My experience as a building restoration contractor in London, where the stone is imported from elsewhere, provided with me experience and interests in stone identification and matching – to satisfy an architect’s specification “to match the existing as closely as possible” – resulting in the production of the Triton Stone Library, which has since been transferred to Sheffield Hallam University and is now housed in the Redmires Building. 

 

London Illustrated geological Walks by Dr. Eric Robinson

 

With our work being very largely concerned with the external fabric, using publications such as the Natural Stone Directory and Dr. Eric Robinson’s London Illustrated Geological Walks - which was illustrated with black and white photographs but identified buildings where the large scale characteristic of a given stone could be clearly seen – I learned to identify the principal granites that had been used in the buildings that we were restoring. 

Decorative Stone The Complete Sourcebook

 

My experience of marbles, however, is quite limited and this prompted me to purchase Decorative Stone the Complete Sourcebook by Monica T. Price, which is largely based on the Corsi Collection at Oxford Natural History Museum. 

 

The standard layout in Decorative Stone The Complete Sourcebook

 

Although it provides a good introduction to decorative stones, is too large to easily read and it has more of a character of a coffee table book. Furthermore, the specimens in the collection are typically 145 mm x 75 mm in size and these provide very little idea of the true pattern and variation of colours and textures that can seen in a large slab used for panelling or columns in an interior. 

 

Various details of the sanctuary floor

 

Having walked from Swinegate to Kirkgate, as part of my British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge for Leeds, I visited Leeds Minster again to take some more photos of the sanctuary floor, but I could not identify any more stones than during my previous visit. 

 

The sanctuary floor

In the part of the chancel to the east of the sanctuary floor, several ledger stones are set into the floor and some of these appear to be polished Carboniferous Limestone, although I did not get down on my knees to look for fossils that would confirm this. 

 

Ledger stones to the west of the sanctuary

Walking along the nave, there are more of these ledger stones, including some with deeply carved family crests set into a roundel, which are very similar to those that I had previously seen at St. Mary’s church in Sprotbrough and quite recently at St. Mary’s church in Beverley and at Hull Minster. A guide at the latter informed me that the limestone for these ledgers was supplied by quarries at Tournai in Belgium – the source of the black ‘marble’ seen in many C12 fonts. 

 

A ledger stone in the nave floor

 

At the east end of the nave is a font (1883) which, in her Pevsner Architectural Guide to Leeds, Susan Wrathmell states was designed by William Butterfield, but which the Historic England description or Pevsner do not even mention. 

 

The Victorian font

 

The platform upon which the font is set is composed of veined 'Sicilian' variety of Carrara marble and a polished red stone that may also be Cork Red marble, but the lighting wasn’t particularly good in this part of the church and I was more concerned with trying to obtain a few decent record photos than studying the various stones in detail. 

 

Gastropods in the Kilkenny marble step

 

The second step is a polished black Carboniferous Limestone, which contains numerous gastropod fossils and is very similar to the stone seen in the steps of the pulpit at St. John’s church in Ranmoor and which I think is Kilkenny marble. 

 

The base of the font

 

I didn’t take a good photo of the first step but, looking at the base and main body of the font, which looks to me like the Belgian Rouge Royal limestone that features in my reference book, the Stones and Marbles of Wallonia, I think that it may also be made of this stone. 

 

The font

 

The upper part of the font is made out of a stone that reminds me of a polished Carboniferous Limestone from the Duke of Devonshire's estate, which I saw at St. Martin's church in Stoney Middleton, but there is nothing in Monica Price’s book that looks anything like this. As with the stone used for the colonnettes, I will have another look when I am next visiting this part of Leeds. 

 

An unknown stone used in the font