Leeds Town Hall Memorials

[Kitchener's Bugle]

I was recently in Leeds and took the opportunity to look inside of the magnificent Town Hall.

The building is well worth a visit, being on an impressive scale and a real architectural jewel.

 

 

 

Edited 12 January , 2020 by Kitchener's Bugle

[Kitchener's Bugle]

Inside there is a long corridor that wraps around the building. It contains a number of War Memorial plaques.

The staff were helpful and directed me there.

They where not easy to photograph due to the lighting but as always, please take what you need. 

 

 

[Kitchener's Bugle]

[Kitchener's Bugle]

[Kitchener's Bugle]

This one is exceptional I thought.

 

 

[Kitchener's Bugle]

[Kitchener's Bugle]

[ilkley remembers]

Thank you for sharing these photographs, although, the first image is actually of the Central Library which is the other side of Calverley Street. I have been into the building many times and often thought about recording the memorials which have been saved from all over the city. Until recently there was a display of photo's of men from the city who fought in WW1. The main hall (Victoria hall), has a WW1 connection because it is where the Leeds Pals (15 WYR) began registration in September 1914 before attesting in front of the magistrates in the old Petty Sessions which is in the same building.

 

 

 

 

[Kitchener's Bugle]

Yes this is the town hall !!!

[Kitchener's Bugle]

Here is the City War Memorial Close by - 

 

 

[Kitchener's Bugle]

The city’s existing war memorial, which originally stood in City Square. The monument had been designed by H.C. Fehr and was dedicated on 14 October 1922. In 1936, changes to the traffic system in City Square meant that the memorial had to be removed, and it was decided in January 1937 to move it to the new Garden of Rest on the Headrow. It consisted of a bronze statue of a winged ‘Victory’ standing on a globe, holding a sword and a wreath, on a base of Portland stone. On opposite sides of the base were two other bronze figures representing War and Peace – to the right, St. George killing the dragon, on the left, ‘Invictus pax’, a hooded female holding a dove. There were four owls, the creature most synonymous with Leeds.

 

 

[Kitchener's Bugle]

The memorial suffered in the early years in the Garden of Rest. In 1940, a crack was found at the base of the statue, and it was taken down for repairs. Because of fears of bomb damage during the war, it was not replaced until 1946.

Wind damage caused the statue to be taken down again in 1965, and in 1967 the memorial was capped with marble.

"Winged Victory’ was removed to Cottingley Crematorium, where it remained until November 1988. 

The memorial remained without a statue until 1990, when it was decided that a replacement should be found. This was not to be a copy of the old ‘Winged Victory’, but a statue of an Angel of Peace. The sculptor was Ian Judd, and the statue was dedicated at a Remembrance Day ceremony on 10 November 1991.

 

Edited 16 February , 2020 by Kitchener's Bugle

[Don Regiano]

Thanks for the photos.  I lived in the Leeds area for 5 years back in the 1970s but never ventured inside the town hall.  However, I did frequent the Town Hall Tavern a few yards down, on Westgate, where an excellent pint of hand-pulled Tetley's was served.  Often frequented at lunchtimes by barristers, solicitors, office workers and building site workers!  Eclectic mix and run by a very formidable landlady - very unwise to cross.

[Kitchener's Bugle]

The Owls at the base is the recognized symbol of the City of Leeds.

 

 

[Kitchener's Bugle]

[Kitchener's Bugle]

Here is the war memorial tablet for St Georges Church Leeds, which is located close to the hospital.

 

 

[Kitchener's Bugle]

West Yorkshire Reg (Leeds Rifles) - Leeds Minster

 

Edited 16 February , 2020 by Kitchener's Bugle

[Marilyne]

Nice pictures, thanks for sharing!! 

 

M.

[ilkley remembers]

Leeds War Memorial is nicely illuminated at night and the photo is one I took a couple of weeks ago after attending  a concert by the Lille Symphony Orchestra in the Town Hall. 

 

Derek Boorman's 'At the going down of the sun' has a photo of the figure of Victory that use to adorn the top of the memorial when it was abandoned at Cottingley Crematorium. I'm not sure where it is now but it was clearly more substantial than the replacement. The memorial itself caused some controversy prior to its erection because of the poor response from  the city to financing it. Certainly its scale doesn't compare to other civic memorials in similar sized cities nor with other smaller towns in the West Riding like Huddersfield or Keighley

 

The owl motif is as you say the symbol of Leeds and is seen on the City's coat of arms and indeed on the cap badge of the Leeds Pals

[ilkley remembers]

11 hours ago, Don Regiano said:

However, I did frequent the Town Hall Tavern a few yards down, on Westgate, where an excellent pint of hand-pulled Tetley's was served. 

Still there, although, not the the rough hole it used to be in the 80s. Many of the old drinkers pubs have now gone from the city centre including The Whip, Britain,s last male only public house.

[eairicbloodaxe]

The Town Hall Tavern is now a Timothy Taylor's pub! A far better pint...

 

Regards

 

 

Ian