Think of a river in Leeds and no doubt the Aire comes to mind.
You may also be familiar with some of the Aire's tributaries: Meanwood Beck, to the north of the city; and Wyke Beck to the east.
Leeds has several more natural watercourses; it's just they're hidden away today.
Before the Industrial Revolution, these rivers and streams ran as open courses through what was still countryside before joining larger tributaries of the Aire and the Aire itself.
By the time the mid-19th century, these streams had become unsanitary eyesores.
The streams and becks, once teeming with fish and wildlife, became dead, open sewers where the city's rapidly expanding population and industry would discharge their waste.
To reduce their risk to public health and enable further development these watercourses were culverted deep below street level.
Here are three of Leeds' lost rivers.
Meanwood Beck
You'll have probably walked the upper course of Meanwood Beck along the Meanwood Valley Trail which is one of urban Leeds' principal natural green spaces.
As Meanwood Beck – also known as Adel Beck, Lady Beck, Sheepscar Beck and Timble Beck depending on which section you're at – approaches the city centre it disappears into a culvert.
The river isn't seen again until it discharges into the Aire, near Leeds Dock.
Urban explorers from Leeds Historical Exploration Society have, however, walked that two-mile culvert, including under Leeds City Bus Station, which you can watch above (click to open the interactive content).
Stoney Rock Beck
According to an Ordnance Survey (OS) map of Leeds from 1847, Stoney Rock Beck (marked as 'Stony Rock Beck') rises in Harehills – then in the countryside – and flows southwest to Burmanstoft where it seems to disappear at Nippet Lane, presumably joining a larger tributary of the Aire.
On an OS map from 1890, Stoney Rock Beck has disappeared altogether and appears to be culverted underneath Beckett Street Cemetery and then housing as it flows towards the centre of Leeds. Stoney Rock Lane still exists which follows the course of the stream.
Gipton Beck
Another lost stream in Harehills, maps from the late 19th century show this stream running from Moor Allerton through Gledhow Wood and through Harehills, roughly parallel to Roundhay Road.
Eventually, it flows into Sheepscar Beck which eventually meets the Aire at Leeds Docks.
Photos from the Leeds Library archives from the 1940s and 1950s show Gipton Beck running through Harehills in the 1940s and 1950s albeit in a sorry state, full of rubbish and bricks from collapsed and demolished buildings.
Nowadays all traces of it beyond Gledhow Park are all but gone.
