Temple Newsam Trail?

[tbuckland4]

Hi everyone.

Legend tells of an ancient (2005) off road trail running somewhere through Temple Newsam in Leeds. I walk my dog there quite often so I’m familiar with the area, but after spending an hour riding in circles this afternoon I couldn’t find it (or any evidence of it) anywhere.

On the off chance that anyone is familiar with this trail, can anyone tell me if it still exists and where it can be accessed from?

Equally it may not be up to much these days, in which case I just need to brave up and head to the trail centre (I’m still a bit of a novice so have been working up to it).

[thirdcrank]

If nobody on here knows, there are two places you might ask

https://en-gb.facebook.com/groups/SecretLeeds2/about

https://www.secretleeds.com/

Both "Secret Leeds" but AIUI the facebook was set up following some sort of dispute on the internet forum.

I'm a Leeds Loiner but I don't really know anything about riding off road. If you don't already know, before the A1/M1 Link was built and more recently the new route of the A63 was developed, the land between the Temple Newsam estate and the river was occupied by the old Skelton Grange power station, Knostrop sewage works and a lot of waste land.

(With apologies if you knew all this already.)

[Paulatic]

Have you looked at the YouTube video of it?
Should help you identify it, if you live near, as it’s all fairly wide tracks.

[thirdcrank]

I couldn't draw an accurate timeline, but Pontefract Lane, which is now the new route of the A63 used to be only a dirt track beyond the built-up part of Leeds. My memory is vague but it was referred to as the Black Road and emerged into the A 642 at Newsam Green which was just a few houses. AIUI, Leeds City Council had a long-term development wish list which only came to fruition when the M1 was extended on its current route (the original plan was to pass between Leeds and Bradford) and that broadly coincided with the decommissioning of the power station and water privatisation, when the newly-formed Yorkshire Water made a killing on the land they acquired.

[tbuckland4]

If nobody on here knows, there are two places you might ask

https://en-gb.facebook.com/groups/SecretLeeds2/about

https://www.secretleeds.com/

Both "Secret Leeds" but AIUI the facebook was set up following some sort of dispute on the internet forum.

I'm a Leeds Loiner but I don't really know anything about riding off road. If you don't already know, before the A1/M1 Link was built and more recently the new route of the A63 was developed, the land between the Temple Newsam estate and the river was occupied by the old Skelton Grange power station, Knostrop sewage works and a lot of waste land.

(With apologies if you knew all this already.)

Great idea, I’ll give both of these a try. I’m a relatively new arrival to Leeds so don’t know much about the local history. I cycle the canal past that site weekly and have caught sight of it from a distance. I hope they make use of it. A lot of the old coal pits in the area have been turned in to park land or sanctuaries (St Aidans for one which is a lovely ride) although I imagine there may be quite a clean up required first.

[tbuckland4]

Have you looked at the YouTube video of it?
Should help you identify it, if you live near, as it’s all fairly wide tracks.

Thanks, good idea. I’ve checked a couple of them out and may recognise one of the entrances, but a lot of the forest areas do look similar. I usually see a few people out on mountain bikes around there, but no one was around yesterday. Hopefully I’ll spot some next time I’m up there.

[thirdcrank]

If you are new to Leeds then it must be difficult to envisage how much change there has been in East Leeds, over and above the general modernisation that has affected most places. I've been trying to work out what your informant was describing. "Mountain biking" is a fairly recent pastime. Once upon a time, it was common for children to go "dirt tracking" on bikes anywhere where they wouldn't attract too much attention and I could easily imagine some of the less formal parts of the Temple Newsam estate being just like that.

Another vague possibility is the Leeds branch of the Transpennine Way. That joined the road network near Methley and then went round the back of beyond into the city centre. Memory vague on this but no sooner had the route been signed than long-term roadworks in connection with the A1/M1 link meant it was suspended and an even more circuitous diversion was signed. When it was all finished, I think the route you are now using was the result. The St Aidan's site wasn't a coal mine as such but part of a large area of opencast mining - most of which has been reinstated. There's a big area of land which has always been subject to flooding to the East of Leeds and a lot of what you now see is the result of attempts to prevent or manage that.

Prior to 1974, the boundary of Leeds County Borough was at Thwaite Gate on Low Road, Hunslet and just to the East of Temple Newsam. The A 642 was in the old West Riding. In 1974, Leeds was extended to its present boundaries, but the new West Yorkshire County Council became the highway authority. That remained the case till the virtual abolition of the county council in 1985. That led to a certain amount of discontinuity in policy, including things like cycle routes.
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PS Another good resource for seeing what Leeds used to be like is the Leodis archive. Here's an image of opencast mining at Temple Newsam, with loads of informative comments.

https://www.leodis.net/viewimage/116172

[nick12]

Not exactly sure of the route your after but if it went through skelton grange it's no longer possible. I fenced it off a few weeks back. The site is going to be a waste incinerator power plant if I'm not mistaken

[thirdcrank]

Leodis image here of Skelton Grange. The description mentions plans for the incinerator in 2011.

https://www.leodis.net/viewimage/118956

[drossall]

If you are new to Leeds then it must be difficult to envisage how much change there has been in East Leeds...

I went to take a look at the change not too long back. At least there's a decent cycle route up from the station. I was born in Halton/Cross Gates, many decades ago, and moved away while still a child, though I went back as a student, still some decades ago. My grandparents were in Garforth in my childhood. So it was great to go up there for work (before Covid) for a meeting in the new industrial area near Brown Moor, and get the chance to pedal my Brompton around my old hunting grounds.

Didn't notice an MTB track though, sorry!

[thirdcrank]

... the new industrial area near Brown Moor ...

We live and learn. In spite of having lived in Garforth (1969 - 1975) and worked there (1978 - 1979) I had to look that up.

[drossall]

Thorpe Park. The name slipped my mind. I was looking at an OS map.

[tbuckland4]

On the off chance there are any Loiners still following this thread, I tracked down Temple Newsam trail this afternoon.

It’s accessible from the small gravel car park near the north entrance and runs the length of the woods, but unfortunately it seems to be largely derelict these days. I couldn’t find the jumps which I suspect have become overgrown and are hidden behind dense patches of nettles. There is still a fairly fast downhill section which is accessible, although I think it’s technically closed to bikes…

Unless you’re passing in that direction, it isn’t really worth the trip. There are a few other trails dotted around Temple Newsam though, especially on the Bullerthorpe Lane side where you’re probably less likely to run in to pedestrians.