Our next point of interest is the 1842 Crown Point Bridge, built by the aforementioned George Leather junior; it was widened in 1994 and has recently been repainted to wonderful effect. A bomb disposal team was recently called to the bridge after magnet fishermen recovered an 18lb mortar shell dating from the Boer War from the river; the device was detonated remotely the same afternoon in East End Park.
Crown Point Bridge
Once through the shadow of the bridge, we see 1990s apartments to our right on the site of a former power station which provided current to the city’s tramway system up to 1959.
On the left are the shops and restaurants of Brewery Wharf; as the name suggests it, served Joshua Tetley and Son, whose Hunslet Lane Brewery had produced the finest ales from 1822. The business developed a visitor attraction in the 1990s complete with Victorian pub and stabling for the company’s famed Shire horses; sadly, commercial pressures led to its closure along with the brewery and all that remains of the brewery site itself is an attractive 1930s office block which house art space and a café; the Toad in the Hole is highly recommended but the displays of breweriana don’t really compensate for the fact that Tetley’s Bitter is now brewed in the Midlands…
We pass under the centenary footbridge which was designed by Ove Arup and which connects the Brewery Wharf on the south, to the Calls on the north.
The Calls is one of the city’s most historic streets and takes is name from the Roman “Callis” meaning “beaten path” and led to the original river ford, close to the present Leeds Bridge.
The building we see on our left hand side is the refurbished flyboat warehouse which was converted by Tay Homes into apartments in the late 1980s; one of the city’s first waterfront regeneration projects. We can see where the boats left the main waterway into a covered wharf for unloading.
Centenary Bridge
To our right is Fletland Mills which is played a significant part in the development of the Leeds Industrial Co-operative Society. The citizens of Leeds had endured what was known as the “solk” for many hundreds of years; the effect was that all the town’s residents were compelled by law to have their corn ground at the King’s Mill; the only exception being members of the Knights’ Templar whose properties were distinguishable by the display of a Maltese cross. The Corporation bought out the solk in the 1820s for a sum of £13,000 which enabled independent millers to set up on their own account.
It soon became apparent that unscrupulous millers were adding Plaster of Paris to their flour to make it go further; in response to this, a band of workers from Benyon’s Flax Mill formed an anti-flour adulteration society which evolved into the Leeds Industrial Co-operative Society. By the 1860s, the LICS had developed and diversified into the largest co-operative society in the country and the city’s major retailer; Fletland Mills was acquired around this time.
More recently the mill was developed into a restaurant and hotel, 42 The Calls, however this has recently closed.
Fletland Mills seen here prior to 1991 development into a hotel and restaurant
Check back in the next few days as John’s cruise continues…