Report - Masticator, Leeds - November 2012

jazzywheelz · Nov 3, 2012

Masticator, Leeds (Night visit) - November 2012

Visited with mstarmatt & WB

The Meanwood Beck, aka 'Masticator' has been on my list forever, but somehow I've never got around to doing it, so when Matt suggested an evening stroll I couldn't say no. For me this was about the open sections just as much as the culverted sections. There's a certain industrial romanticism about an engineered waterway winding its way through an urban setting.

History courtesy of Wikipedia:

The Meanwood Beck is a stream in West Yorkshire, England, which flows through Adel, Meanwood and Sheepscar into the River Aire in central Leeds. In older texts it was sometimes referred to as the Sheepscar Beck, however that term has fallen out of use.

The beck was previously a source of water for the village of Headingley and two of its earliest bridges led straight to it. The beck carries a much reduced volume of water over recent years as water is collected instead into the many drains in the centre of one of Britain's largest cities.

Meanwood Beck runs through Meanwood Park and Woodhouse Ridge. It provides water and drainage for Meanwood Valley Urban Farm.

In the 16th to 18th centuries it provided power for corn mills. In the 19th century it supplied water for a chemical works and tanneries, one of which, Sugarwell Court, is now a university hall of residence.

The visit consisted of a speedy walk along the beck, roughly two miles to the outfall. Plenty of fun with smoke bombs, sparklers, rockets and Thermite, before a slightly more leisurely walk back along the beck to the cars. Due to my impatience, high ISO was the order of the day. I didn't get as many shots as I would have liked, so no doubt I'll be returning some day.

On with the photographs...