The Old Bear Pit
THE OLD BEAR PIT, CARDIGAN ROAD
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1255678
- Date first listed:
- 05-Aug-1976
- List Entry Name:
- The Old Bear Pit
- Statutory Address:
- THE OLD BEAR PIT, CARDIGAN ROAD
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1255678
- Date first listed:
- 05-Aug-1976
- List Entry Name:
- The Old Bear Pit
- Statutory Address 1:
- THE OLD BEAR PIT, CARDIGAN ROAD
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- THE OLD BEAR PIT, CARDIGAN ROAD
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Leeds (Metropolitan Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SE 28037 35517
Details
LEEDS
SE2835NW CARDIGAN ROAD, Headingley 714-1/64/725 (East side) 05/08/76 The Old Bear Pit
II
Bear pit in the Leeds Zoological and Botanical Gardens. Mid C19, restored mid C20. Rock-faced rusticated masonry. 2 circular castellated turrets with round-arched entrance in left and right returns, linked by a wall with Venetian-type gateway, voussoirs to central round arch. On the E side the circular bear pit is brick-lined and is linked to the turret wall by 2 tunnels; on the W side a paved area and low retaining wall, curved at ends. The Gardens were opened in 1840, the designers were William Billington, a Wakefield engineer, and Edward Davies, a landscape gardener. The bears were viewed from the top of the turrets. After several changes of ownership the Gardens were divided into building plots and sold off from 1869. The structure was measured and recorded in 1987. (Thoresby Society Miscellany: Trowell, F: Speculative Housing Development in the Suburb of Headingley: 54; Douglas, J (Victorian Society) pers. comm.; West Yorkshire Archaeology Unit: Measured drawing (plan, elevation, section), ref. WYAS.87.ACS: 1987-).
Listing NGR: SE2803735517
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 465760
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Trowell, F, Speculative Housing Development in the Suburb of Headingley, (), 54
Thoresby Society Miscellany in Thoresby Society Miscellany, ()
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 08-Jun-2026 at 11:14:35.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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