[or-roots] "Disappearing Bits & Pieces"

[Chris & Bill Strickland]

from http://www.leedscivictrust.org.uk/bits.htm --

Our built heritage is all around us, not just in the architecture and 
the street pattern, but also in the small utilitarian objects which we 
tend to take for granted - the bits and pieces of the streets, yards and 
buildings of Leeds.

Gas lamps, cast iron corner protectors, street signs, stone channels and 
kerbs - these working examples of the urban fabric may be less 
glamourous than their more celebrated cousins, the sash window, ogee 
cornice and corinthian capital, but they are just as much a part of our 
built heritage.

A few of these items are protected - some early cast iron bollards and 
gas lamps are listed in their own right or attached to listed buildings. 
But most have no protection, and are prey to the blinkered bulldozer and 
the builder’s skip. If we are lucky, ignorance may leave them in a new 
and incongruous setting to serve as sad reminders of the past.

These examples of our heritage deserve to be remembered and retained 
where possible. They tell a story of the city’s past, not the recorded 
history of mayors and merchants, but of lamplighters, carters, and 
craftsmen.

This report highlights some of these bits and pieces of the past, and 
examines the issues involved in their future protection.
...
The evidence of the hard-wheeled traffic that ran on these surfaces 
remains in the grooves on kerb edges and stone or cast iron corner 
protectors. Without such protectors, the erratic turning and 
manouevering of the carts and coaches using these busy streets and yards 
could easily damage buildings with their whirling wheel hubs.
...
well, okay the English have funny names and spellings, but maybe there 
just isn't a neat name for these things

Bill