The Dark Arch is a Grade II listed building in the Leeds local planning authority area, England. First listed on 8 June 2018. Tunnel.
The Dark Arch
- WRENN ID
- steep-column-larch
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Leeds
- Constituency
- Wetherby and Easingwold MP: Sir Alec Shelbrooke (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 8 June 2018
- Type
- Tunnel
- Address
- The Dark Arch, Parlington Lane, Parlington Estate, Aberford, West Yorkshire
- OS grid reference
- SE 423 359
- Coordinates
- 53.81831, -1.35854
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Dark Arch is a tunnel built in 1813 to hide coal traffic from Parlington Hall for Richard Oliver Gascoigne. It is made of coursed limestone, likely sourced from the estate's own quarries.
Located at the mid-point of Parlington Lane, the tunnel is set in a cutting several meters deep, making it less visible from the former site of the hall. The tunnel is approximately 75 meters long and follows the gentle curve of the lane. It features segmental-arched portals at both ends, with plain voussoirs that rise from quoined jambs. Inside, the walls are also made of limestone 'brick' and lead up to a segment-arched vaulted ceiling. The roof includes four surviving air grates.
On both sides of the tunnel portals, high limestone walls with rounded copings extend north-east alongside Parlington Lane and south-west towards Gamekeeper's Cottage, forming the walls of the cutting. A section of walling to the north-east that originally connected the Dark Arch to the nearby Light Arch has been removed, but some of the footings are still visible.
Local climate
The Dark Arch receives an average of 770 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 63% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 95% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 39 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 74% of listed buildings. Of these, 19 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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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- Sale history — 5 transactions since 2014
- No related consent applications matched
- 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
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Nearby listed buildings
- The Light Arch
- Triumphal Arch
- Parlington Home Farm, including farmhouse and farm buildings
- Wakefield Lodge, including entrance gate piers and attached estate wall, Parlington Estate
- Gascoigne Almshouses and Attached Wardens Cottage
- Hookmoor Lodges
- Lodge to Gascoigne Almshouses
- Front Wall to Grounds of Gascoigne Almshouses with Gatepiers at Each End
- The Cottage
- Milepost at Se432355