
Tour titles since 2019
I take special requests for these and other themes.
Many titles are given either as a walking tour or a presentation.
City centre tours:
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Walking through the centuries: from origins to 21st century – how a riverside hamlet became a city
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Waterways and bridges of Leeds – criss-crossing the waterways, central to the story of Leeds over the centuries
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Leeds & York – a route in each city that brings out similarities, linkages and contrasts between the two places
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Leeds and Europe – a walking tour of continental connections
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Women in & of Leeds Part I – how women have gained more rights & prominence - an inspiring route in the city centre showcasing women's struggles and achievements
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Ace architects of Victorian Leeds – the main designers and their legacy
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Public art – subjects, media, artists, funding, attitudes & engagement
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What a lot of terracotta – decorative tiles and whole schemes for building façades, late 19th century, early 20th and a few examples from the 21st
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Art Deco – architecture of Leeds between the wars
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Rooftop Leeds – view the city from on high, and while at street level look up to rooftop styles and features. Finishes with a cocktail in a lofty place.
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The warehouse district of Leeds west end – how a Georgian residential neighbourhood was transformed
- Tippling or Temperance? Brewing, drinking & the alternatives in the history of Leeds
- Watt to wireless – power, transport and communications from steam to digital
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Time in Leeds – a thought-provoking consideration of layers, duration, measuring, value
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Light in Leeds – how has light been sourced, maximised & used through the ages?How have economic and cultural evolution been influenced by access to light?
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A continuing yarn: textiles, clothing and fashion in Leeds – sites of significance for cloth and garment making and trading
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A long yarn presentation/online only – wool and woollen cloth in the history of Leeds
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Protest & riot – exploring the reasons for and sites of uprisings & disorder
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Hidden gems and curious corners of Leeds city centre – fascinating features that you might not normally notice
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How green is our city? – towards resource efficiency + wellbeing for people & nature
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Spreading the word – writing, printing, publishing and reading in Leeds
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Backsides of Leeds: dressed up in front and bare behind – exploring the less respectable sides of the city centre
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Leeds Town Hall presentation/online only (our most striking historic building, but not accessible for now) – the making of a Victorian landmark and how it's been adapted down the decades
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City Square presentation/online only – how has this prominent civic space changed over the centuries? (A fascinating story but hardly a walking expedition, so to cover the detail I developed a presentation)
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Roll up, roll up: Leeds, a trading city – from hand-made cloth to high end fashion ... and beyond
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Leeds in the 1820s – life in a late Georgian town
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Death trap to digital hub: diseases, treatments and healthcare since the 18th century – health challenges and responses over 250 years
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The emergence of the office district – from quills in chambers to purpose-built premises
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East End, West End – the expansion of Leeds in the early industrial period
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Grit and grime to exotic cladding: the building stones of Leeds What is the city made of and why?
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Modernist architecture: dreams and nightmares? Part I – Leeds city centre; Part II – education and health
- Lost Leeds: demolished gems and vanished dreams – a ghost tour of sorts to some sites where the sights are not what they once were and to places where radical changes were not implemented
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A geographer’s reflections on architecture: reading the city – buildings in their setting and how to make sense of cities​
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The making of Wellington Place – from meadows to rails to retail to offices
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Beyond the old city centre:
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Local college to global campus – the making of the University of Leeds
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Cradle of Innovation: Holbeck & Hunslet – the industrial heartland south of the River Aire
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Leeds South Bank – invention & reinvention from pre-industrial to industrial and onwards. The tour can have a more or less historic/contemporary & futures focus.
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Chapel Allerton: hamlet to suburb – an open-air exhibition of suburbanisation
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Roundhay Park – from Medieval deer park, to private pleasure grounds, to 'the people's park'
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The changing face of Woodhouse – an ancient hamlet that has seen intense waves of change
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Gipton – an idealistic housing development of the 1930s
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Colourful Kirkstall: from Wellington Bridge to the viaduct – discover where dyeing, tanning, foundries and terraces used to be and what's there now
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Coming soon:​
- Women in and of Leeds Part II – beyond the city centre
- Leeds in the 1920s – tracing elements of society & economy between the wars
- Hunslet – centuries of change

The view from Leeds Bridge, looking downstream.
The River Aire was made more navigable back in the early 18th century so that valuable cargoes of woollen cloth could reach the markets of mainland Europe more quickly. Time is money.