Roundhay Park Waterloo Lake Fishing

From Leeds towards Oakwood on the A58. As you get to the traffic lights at the top of Oakwood, you may be able to go straight on towards Wetherby road, and there’s a car park on the left after a 1/4 of mile on the left. The water is up above behind the dam wall. Also at the traffic lights at Oakwood turn left and now 1st right, follow this road past the big houses either side, drop down the hill to the restaurant and the water is beside the car park. (yorkshirefishing.net)

A big park centreed around a lake, which you used to be able to fish in you may still be able to now . Many visitors stick to the path around the lake, however if you venture away from this there are lots of interesting things to stumble upon, like the ruined tower . Fun for kids to explore anyway. It's great to cycle around, has a little restaurant, and an ice cream van if it's cold. On occasion hosts concerts there, which sell out quickly but are worth goign to just for the experience. (yelp.com)

In 1803, Charles Stourton’s nephew, another Charles Stourton 1752 1816, sold the estate to Thomas Nicholson and Samuel Elam. Nicholson took the northern part which became Roundhay Park. Thomas Nicholson’s land had the remains of quarries and coal mines. He disguised these former industrial regions by constructing the Upper Lake and the Waterloo Lake. The mansion house was built between 1811 and 1826 with a view over the Upper Lake. Nicholson constructed a castle folly. The Nicholson family was accountable for building the Church of St John, almshouses and a school on the south side of the park. (flickr.com)

To secure the rocks in place the consulting engineer, Robert H Cuthbertson & Partners, proposed to use surface grouting with bituminous mastic. To ensure the end product was aesthetically satisfactory the grout was to be cleaned from the surface of the rock with a mechanical ‘brush’. The result was a secure revetment which from a distance appeared to be loose rock. (hesselberg-hydro.com)

Because it was the gathering place for troops in the 1st World War. Big playing fields beside the park which have hosted many big-scale yearly events like Leeds Mela, and the Love Parade. Aviation pioneer Robert Blackburn conducted test flights of his aircraft in 1909 and in 1919 established a small airport here, with flights to London and Amsterdam. There’s a golf course and tennis courts, also as the use of Soldiers’ Field and the Arena for sports events. (triposo.com)

Roundhay Park comprises over 700 acres of parkland, lakes and woodland. There are different good paths and trails to follow through the undulating parkland as well as a circuit of the lovely Waterloo Lake just over 1. 5 miles long . Buildings at the Park also include tennis courts, skateboard ramps, sports pitches, bowling greens, a sports arena, a golf course, and fishing. A lakeside restaurant overlooks Waterloo Lake. (goodrunguide.co.uk)

The Mansion House is a big stone two- and three-storey house in Greek Revival style with a view over the Upper Lake, built from 1811 to 1826. It was built for Thomas Nicholson and his wife Elizabeth, who took up residence in 1816. It had three cart houses and stabling for 17 horses. It was bought by the City of Leeds in 1871, and the sale document noted that the principal rooms on the ground floor were 13 feet high, and on the 1st floor were 17 bedrooms and 2 water-closets. It was leased out by the Council as a hotel and restaurant, being a well-liked place for weddings, receptions and dances till its closure in 2004 for renovation, with a view to conversion into Council offices. (ghumakkar.com)

Roundhay was previously a hunting park for the De Lacy family of Pontefract Castle. Coal and iron were once smelted here, and once that was exhausted the area turned to farming. Roundhay was just a small Hamlet up till the early 1900 s when the park was bought by James Nicholson who started a period of landscaping and built the Mansion. A programme of housing construction then steadily began. Roundhay Park was bought by Leeds City Council in 1872 and opened as a public park by Prince Arthur. Now the park was mainly inaccessible to the most of Leeds inhabitants caused by the distance and poor access from the major suburbs. (dwell-leeds.com)

Roundhay Park now covers over 700 acres of parkland, lakes and woodland and is one of the biggest urban parks in the world. The Park has a scented for the blind, National Plant Collections, Canal Gardens, the Monet and Alhambra Gardens, plus Tropical World aka Butterfly Gardens and Butterfly World which attracts visitors all year round. Newly opened in 2005 is the Friends Garden, located alongside Canal Gardens and the Rainbow Garden.  . (freewebstore.org)

My 1st love was a mixed race Irish/Afro-Carribean girl in Chapeltown. She was called Beverly. I have spent my adult life trying to find another Beverly. At the time that I lived in this mixed community some Mr Enoch Powell MP made his 'Rivers of blood' speech at the General Meeting of the West Midlands Area Conservative Political Centre, as a minority white child of 7 years old, I noticed the tensions it produced in the community. Chapeltown Road was the 'red light' district, as a child I remember talking to some of, the most white, prostitutes. They could wear their hair high with lots of hairspray and informed us that they had put razor blades inside their hair to stop anybody trying to drag them by it. (panoramio.com)