The Old Bear Pit is a Grade II listed building in the Leeds local planning authority area, England. First listed on 5 August 1976. Bear pit. 4 related planning applications.
The Old Bear Pit
- WRENN ID
- heavy-courtyard-candle
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Leeds
- Constituency
- Leeds Central and Headingley MP: Alex Sobel (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 5 August 1976
- Type
- Bear pit
- Address
- The Old Bear Pit, Cardigan Road, LS6 1DW
- OS grid reference
- SE 280 355
- Coordinates
- 53.8152, -1.57566
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Old Bear Pit is a bear pit located in the Leeds Zoological and Botanical Gardens, dating from the mid-19th century and restored in the mid-20th century. It features rock-faced rusticated masonry and includes two circular castellated turrets. Each turret has a round-arched entrance on the left and right sides, connected by a wall with a Venetian-type gateway and voussoirs to a central round arch. On the eastern side, the circular bear pit is lined with brick and linked to the turret wall by two tunnels. The western side has a paved area and a low retaining wall that curves at the ends. The Gardens were opened in 1840, designed by William Billington, a Wakefield engineer, and Edward Davies, a landscape gardener. Visitors could view the bears from the tops of the turrets. After several changes in ownership, the Gardens were divided into building plots and sold off starting in 1869. The structure was measured and recorded in 1987.
Local climate
The Old Bear Pit receives an average of 870 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 62% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 56% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 41 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 79% of listed buildings. Of these, 22 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 4 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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