Woodhouse Ridge is "a strip of woodland on the South West hillside of the Meanwood valley in urban area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England". It was "set aside for leisure activities from at least 1846", and it has two main entrances; from Headingley and Meanwood. Basically, it's an old park with long paths on a ridge.
The shelter itself was not well documented, with no surviving markings. I make the assumption that it's a wartime shelter, as the design looked kinda similar to the underground WW2 shelter that was preserved in Nottingham.
The entrances to Woodhouse Ridge was surprisingly well guarded by CCTVs. This effort did not persist into the park itself.
In the middle of Woodhouse Ridge, with the entrance hidden from the normal Woodhouse Ridge path, thanks to the mound the bunker was built into concealing it. The entrance was right in perfect view of some houses, but the area seemed quiet. Pulling this area on Google Maps shows that in summer, this entrance would also be concealed from these houses.
I entered the bunker, which was “U” shaped. The entrance had trash bags to the side, and needed me to crouch to enter.
My weak flashlight proved useful as despite the dimness, it was more than adequate. It was maybe 2 meters wide, 2 meters tall near the center, and 10-15 meters before a turn to the right opened up, with the dead end right ahead dominated by the graffiti of a guy stuck behind bars. The trash was thankfully, only limited to the entrance.
After turning though, I encountered a homeless man’s tarp, and held back for a bit, unwilling to disturb the man.
There was a faint pungent smell, not enough to be annoying but enough to be noticeable. It turned out there was no homeless man, and the dimensions between the next right turn and the entrance was maybe 10 meters. That tarp did look like someone’s using it. Still, I didn’t wanna step on their stuff. So I pulled back.
On the way back, I revisited the flattop site, and found it was another shelter, which looked like an octagon with 10 meters of distance between one end and the other . Inside was more trash near the entrance, followed by graffiti inside. More of that guy with the bars.
The shelter itself was not well documented, with no surviving markings. I make the assumption that it's a wartime shelter, as the design looked kinda similar to the underground WW2 shelter that was preserved in Nottingham.
The entrances to Woodhouse Ridge was surprisingly well guarded by CCTVs. This effort did not persist into the park itself.
In the middle of Woodhouse Ridge, with the entrance hidden from the normal Woodhouse Ridge path, thanks to the mound the bunker was built into concealing it. The entrance was right in perfect view of some houses, but the area seemed quiet. Pulling this area on Google Maps shows that in summer, this entrance would also be concealed from these houses.
I entered the bunker, which was “U” shaped. The entrance had trash bags to the side, and needed me to crouch to enter.
My weak flashlight proved useful as despite the dimness, it was more than adequate. It was maybe 2 meters wide, 2 meters tall near the center, and 10-15 meters before a turn to the right opened up, with the dead end right ahead dominated by the graffiti of a guy stuck behind bars. The trash was thankfully, only limited to the entrance.
After turning though, I encountered a homeless man’s tarp, and held back for a bit, unwilling to disturb the man.
There was a faint pungent smell, not enough to be annoying but enough to be noticeable. It turned out there was no homeless man, and the dimensions between the next right turn and the entrance was maybe 10 meters. That tarp did look like someone’s using it. Still, I didn’t wanna step on their stuff. So I pulled back.
On the way back, I revisited the flattop site, and found it was another shelter, which looked like an octagon with 10 meters of distance between one end and the other . Inside was more trash near the entrance, followed by graffiti inside. More of that guy with the bars.
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