Drainage in Roundhay

What the drains are like in Roundhay

Pipework and build eras

Roundhay filled up in stages rather than all at once. Grand houses from 1803, then the electric tram in 1891 brought mass suburban building, and by 1906 most of the plots north of Wetherby Road were taken. The between the wars period was the big one. By 1968 the Brackenwood estate finished it and there was no room left. Everything since has been infill and apartment blocks on brownfield plots rather than new estates.

How long we are

Straight down the A58 through Bardsey and Scarcroft, around nine or ten miles, coming in on Wetherby Road. The Oakwood and Street Lane junctions are where it backs up.

Access and parking

Ginnels. The terraced pockets at Gledhow, the Ravenscars, Oakwood and north of Street Lane are reached from the back on foot, and a fair number of the ginnels are in poor repair. The villa and interwar streets have drives, but parking is heavy and much of it is on the verges.

Areas that differ

Two conservation areas, Roundhay and Gledhow Valley. The Ravenscars are the oldest, stone built for quarry workers. Wyke Beck starts at the outflow of Waterloo Lake in the park and the valley has a long history of flooding. It rose over three feet in fifteen minutes in August 2008, and Yorkshire Water has since put storage tanks on it.