Round Corner

 

Round Corner, as I might call the building, was originally a tiny 19th century farm building. Leeming Bar was as industrious back then as it is now, only on a much smaller scale. As you can see from the maps, Leeming Bar has developed hugely; domestically and industrially. From an infrastructural perspective, it has hosted the A1 for a whopping 10,000 years! As we all know, traffic has increased at least 10 fold in the past century alone.

In the late 19th Century the Coach House was extended to the size it is today, forming a coach house and stable to be used as part of ‘Mattisons’ agricultural foundry.
The reason for its single round corner is to prevent horses catching their side whilst being led around the building – how considerate. 

 

The mid 1900’s made it a Farm again, that’s when the concrete breeze block filled it’s window and door openings and the building was no longer accessible from the North Side. In the meantime, the North side of the building was a hive of activity: ‘John H Gill’ took over ‘Mattison’s’ foundry, diversifying into farm machinery sales & repairs, later expanding into bicycles, equestrian, garden equipment… you get the picture.

In 2012, the farmer that owned the Coach House decided to sell his farm and fields to a property developer. All of a sudden, in the space of a few years, the buildings in the surrounding area dramatically changed. The Coach House stays still while ‘John H Gills’ former yard and some of their buildings are sold off or let out to local businesses. A ‘COOP’ convenience store and car park is built, the developer fills former fields with homes, farm buildings are demolished to create houses for families but the 140 year old Coach House stays still, unchanged.

2021 comes, and after a cheeky offer to the housing developer, I am made the very proud owner of a beautiful brick building in a car park.