Retaining Wall To Leeds Zoological And Botanical Gardens

The retaining wall to Leeds Zoological and Botanical Gardens, built in 1838 with late 19th-century coping, is now used as a garden wall. It is likely designed by William Billington and constructed from coursed squared gritstone. The wall stands approximately 2.5 meters high and stretches about 25 meters, rounding the corner with Chapel Lane. It features a former entrance marked by piers that have an added modillion cornice and square capstone, with plain walling in between. The entrance is flanked by paired recessed panels on the left and two recessed panels divided by a pilaster on the right. In total, there are six shallow pilasters and later coping. This wall is the most significant remnant of the boundary wall that once enclosed 17 acres, and the gardens were developed around the same time as those in Manchester, following the gardens in Sheffield (1833) and Liverpool (1836).