Episode 9 - Four guinea pigs, one racoon, a bear pit and loads of bread

Welcome one and all the No Heathen Land.

This episode is a chat with Leeds Librarian extraordinare, Helen Skilbeck.

Helen takes us through the construction and subsequent deconstruction of two very different but equally as iconic lost Leeds oddities; The Botanical and Zoological Gardens and the bread arch on Commercial Street.

Both stories are full of intrigue, mystery, animals, charity and are both pretty weird and very short lived!

You can find photos of the 'bear pit' from the long lost gardens on Leodis here:

https://www.leodis.net/SearchResults/YmVhciBwaXQ/?page=1

(or just search for 'bear pit' on the site)

you can see posts about, and images of the plan of the Botanical and Zoological Gardens on the Secret Library blog here:

https://secretlibraryleeds.net/2020/01/03/leeds-zoological-and-botanical-gardens-brief-history/

and here:

https://secretlibraryleeds.net/2020/11/27/a-garden-through-time-headingley-zoological-and-botanical-gardens/

You can still see the bear pit today, with a plaque and explanation now on display from the Leeds Civic Trust.

Photograph of the bread arch on Leodis:

https://www.leodis.net/viewimage/123806

You can also see the beautiful art work that was made to be a calendar featuring the bread arch in this blog post:

https://secretlibraryleeds.net/2016/02/24/from-bread-to-ghosts-speed-dating-library-treasures/

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