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Rachael Unsworth

@leedstours.bsky.social

1.8K followers 1.6K following 880 posts

Urban geographer & walking tour guide in Leeds 🌍 - local, in a global setting https://www.leedscitywalkingtours.co.uk/ Researcher, writer ('Leeds: Cradle of Innovation'), presenter, Leeds Phil & Lit, musician 🎻 European Professional chat posts only

www.leedscitywalkingtours.co.uk

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Rachael Unsworth @leedstours.bsky.social · 3d

Simon Shama on learning from history:

Rachael Unsworth @leedstours.bsky.social · 4d

It's a public restaurant now.

Rachael Unsworth @leedstours.bsky.social · 4d

The only gents I’ve been in was back in the days of The Leeds Club in Albion Place when the establishment was just for gents. The grandest such facilities in Leeds? Even featured as a destination for Heritage Open Days. Now unisex for the 21st century business that took over the building.

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Rachael Unsworth @leedstours.bsky.social · 5d

The gardening publican there is a star.

Don't know about the Burnley links - do tell.

Rachael Unsworth @leedstours.bsky.social · 5d

Obvs no 1970s view from Centenary Bridge (1993) but this is upstream from Crown Point Bridge in the 1960s. Admittedly B&W emphasises the drabness, but there have indeed been significant changes.

Rachael Unsworth @leedstours.bsky.social · 5d

That's what I was aiming for. Unfortunately, with a camera, you can't do what he did as an artist and arrange the moon to be wherever you want it to be.

Reposted by Rachael Unsworth

Darren Leathley @dmleathley.bsky.social · 5d

New in Lidl, in the obviously for-Christmas food: Irish mussels in stout sauce.

Best before 25 October.

Not suitable for home freezing.

Ho ho no.

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Rachael Unsworth @leedstours.bsky.social · 5d

Even an iPhone isn’t good enough but I like the symmetry of the brilliantly lit patch of sky and the LED streetlight-illuminated tunnel of Gledhow Wood Road.

Taken at 21:32 on 6.10.25

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Rachael Unsworth @leedstours.bsky.social · 5d

Looking upstream from Centenary Bridge. The River Aire Navigation tranquil before a surge during the first named storm of the season.

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Rachael Unsworth @leedstours.bsky.social · 5d

I took this the other evening - up Assembly Street towards the 1860s Corn Exchange.
In 1869, the railway viaduct (foreground) sliced through the middle of the Third White Cloth Hall - opened 250 years ago this year.
The Assembly Rooms on the right here were above the north side of the cloth hall.

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Rachael Unsworth @leedstours.bsky.social · 6d

3/3
The site of Chapeltown (later Chapel Allerton) School on Harrogate Road had remained undeveloped ever since the public hanging of three men on this spot in 1664 – plotters during the Civil War.
More than 200 years later, the land was pressed into use and the school opened on 6 October 1879.

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Rachael Unsworth @leedstours.bsky.social · 6d

2/3
Starting with 76 children, rising local population meant that 220 children were registered by 1889.
Throughout the late C19 & early C20, it was a struggle to keep up with education provision in the growing suburbs.

Our book on Chapel Allerton - out soon:
leedscivictrust.org.uk/chapel-aller...

Rachael Unsworth @leedstours.bsky.social · 6d

OTD 1879 the first pupils started lessons at the new Chapeltown Board School.
Designed by architect Richard Adams (1840-1883), employed by Leeds School Board for the last 10 years of his life.
The school became known as Chapel Allerton Primary School.
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leedscivictrust.org.uk/chapel-aller...

Rachael Unsworth @leedstours.bsky.social · 8d

It's tough that similarly subversive & ruthless techniques cannot be adopted by those who value the stipulations of the Constitution.

BUT:
🕊️ peaceful protest & withdrawal of co-operation by millions
😄 comedy showing up absurdity, hypocrisy & corruption

Rachael Unsworth @leedstours.bsky.social · 9d

I had to look them up to make sure they weren't AI-generated. I'm not sure I'm quite convinced even now. Astonishing.

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Reposted by Rachael Unsworth

Alan Stanley @ackersstan.bsky.social · 16d

open.substack.com/pub/writesbr...

Time to share this again! @writesbright.bsky.social is spot on here!

Where are the BBC or Sky in informing people of the truth about immigration?

These two charts expose Nigel Farage’s immigration myths

The migration debate is based on blatant, provable falsehoods.

open.substack.com

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Reposted by Rachael Unsworth

GenXer-71 @genxer-71.bsky.social · 14d

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Rachael Unsworth @leedstours.bsky.social · 11d

Was same here in Leeds.
Sending you a gleaming hesperantha.

Reposted by Rachael Unsworth

Ursula K. Le Guin Bot @leguinbot.bsky.social · 15d

A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight. By using words well they strengthen their souls.

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Rachael Unsworth @leedstours.bsky.social · 15d

I hesitate to use 'pedestrian' as a critical word, but as an adjective, it does describe a tendency in urban planning to be so aware of limited degrees of freedom & penalties for challenging status quo, that creativity, paradigm challenge & inspirational outspokenness can too easily be suppressed.

Reposted by Rachael Unsworth

The Bear @bearlypolitics.co.uk · 15d

To note:

I didn’t actually say I would be voting for the Greens (or Lib Dems which this post leaves out), but they offer a compelling alternative.

But of course, dissent is not allowed.

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Rachael Unsworth @leedstours.bsky.social · 15d

As I was on my way to perishing through lack of appropriate pace and quality of publications, according to C21 criteria, I decided to FRO long ago.
I’m ’a geographer at large’ doing lifelong learning & teaching. 😊

🌎🌍🌏

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Reposted by Rachael Unsworth

Hex Anderson @dexanderson.com · 16d

Cuomo could never.

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Rachael Unsworth @leedstours.bsky.social · 15d

With 62 likes (and counting), I think you can leap straight to "Everyone's saying this is the most beautiful book ever published".