Join me on my merry trek of old ruins, cinemas, railways and things that just catch my attention around Yorkshire and the UK. John.
View this post on Instagram Entrance to bear pit, Leeds Zoological and Botanical Gardens. This was the highlight of the zoo, there were also monkeys, eagles and swans(?!). Not enough money was raised when opening to get any really large animals, the trustees were told they could buy a pair of lions for a thousand pounds but would have to also pay for a keeper so they settled on a brown bear. Visitors would ascend by the spiral stair in the left turret and look down at the bear in its pit from the platform between turrets and could throw down bananas, they would then descend by the right hand turret. The left stair and turret had collapsed by the 1950s but fortunately was restored. The zoo was never a great success, it was too expensive - sixpence (2.5 new pence) when a worker's wage might only be ten shillings (fifty new pence) it was built too far out (the zoo was in the countryside when built and the nearby railway and station hadn't been built when it opened), it was closed on Sundays and the animals were a bit lacklustre, so it only lasted from 1840-1848 #leedszoologicalandbotanicalgardens #urbex #leedszoo #bearpit #folly #heaingley #leeds #spiralstaircase A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Aug 21, 2019 at 1:17am PDT
Entrance to bear pit, Leeds Zoological and Botanical Gardens. This was the highlight of the zoo, there were also monkeys, eagles and swans(?!). Not enough money was raised when opening to get any really large animals, the trustees were told they could buy a pair of lions for a thousand pounds but would have to also pay for a keeper so they settled on a brown bear. Visitors would ascend by the spiral stair in the left turret and look down at the bear in its pit from the platform between turrets and could throw down bananas, they would then descend by the right hand turret. The left stair and turret had collapsed by the 1950s but fortunately was restored. The zoo was never a great success, it was too expensive - sixpence (2.5 new pence) when a worker's wage might only be ten shillings (fifty new pence) it was built too far out (the zoo was in the countryside when built and the nearby railway and station hadn't been built when it opened), it was closed on Sundays and the animals were a bit lacklustre, so it only lasted from 1840-1848 #leedszoologicalandbotanicalgardens #urbex #leedszoo #bearpit #folly #heaingley #leeds #spiralstaircase
A post shared by John | Exploration and history (@merrytrek) on Aug 21, 2019 at 1:17am PDT
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