The Meanwood Beck is a stream

Stream

A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

 in West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, which flows through Adel

Adel, Leeds

Adel is a suburb in North Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is situated between Cookridge, Holt Park, Weetwood and Alwoodley. To the north are the villages of Arthington and Bramhope and the market town of Otley...

, Meanwood

Meanwood

Meanwood is a suburb and former village of north-west Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.-Origins and History:The name Meanwood goes back to the 12th century, and is of Anglo-Saxon derivation: the Meene wude was the boundary wood of the Manor of Alreton, the woods to the east of Meanwood Beck...

 and Sheepscar

Sheepscar

Sheepscar is an inner city district of Leeds in West Yorkshire England, lying to the north east of Leeds city centre. It is overlooked by the tower blocks of Little London and Lovell Park to the west, and gives way to Meanwood in the north-west, Chapeltown in the north-east and Burmantofts in the...

 into the River Aire

River Aire

The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England of length . Part of the river is canalised, and is known as the Aire and Calder Navigation....

 in central Leeds

Leeds

Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

. In older texts it was sometimes referred to as the Sheepscar Beck, however that term has fallen out of use.

The beck was previously a source of water for the village of Headingley

Headingley

Headingley is a suburb of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road...

 and two of its earliest bridges led straight to it. The beck carries a much reduced volume of water over recent years as water is collected instead into the many drains in the centre of one of Britain's largest cities.

Meanwood Beck runs through Meanwood Park and Woodhouse Ridge

Woodhouse Ridge

Woodhouse Ridge is a strip of woodland on the South West hillside of the Meanwood valley in urban area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Locally known as 'the Ridge', the area is notable as a significant area of mature woodland in an otherwise highly developed urban area...

. It provides water and drainage for Meanwood Valley Urban Farm

Meanwood Valley Urban Farm

Meanwood Valley Urban Farm is a City farm in Leeds established in 1980. The farm is sited on Meanwood Beck and occupies . The entrance is on Sugarwell Road, LS7 2QG. It demonstrates organic farming and sustainability to members of the public, and introduces schoolchildren to various aspects of...

.

In the 16th to 18th centuries it provided power for corn mills

Gristmill

The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...

. In the 19th century it supplied water for a chemical works and tanneries

Tanning

Tanning is the making of leather from the skins of animals which does not easily decompose. Traditionally, tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound from which the tanning process draws its name . Coloring may occur during tanning...

, one of which, Sugarwell Court

Sugarwell Court

Sugarwell Court is a hall of residence of Leeds Metropolitan University located off Meanwood Road in the Meanwood area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. There are currently 7 blocks based on site, which are alphabetically placed around the campus, called Airedale, Bishopdale, Coverdale, Deepdale,...

, is now a university hall of residence.

The Beck suffered a serious pollution incident on 29 March 1999 when an oil tank at the University of Leeds

University of Leeds

The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...

' Bodington Hall

Bodington Hall

Bodington Hall is a site owned by the University of Leeds, which contains the university's main playing fields and its largest hall of residence. It is also used for conferences. Known as Bod within the university, it is located between Lawnswood and Adel, approximately 4 mi north of the main...

 was overfilled and 10,000 litres of oil flowed into the beck. It is also a habitat for the indigenous European crayfish, which is currently threatened in the UK by a plague carried by the Signal crayfish

Signal crayfish

The signal crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus, is a North American species of crayfish. It was introduced to Europe in the 1960s to supplement the Scandinavian Astacus astacus fisheries, which were being damaged by crayfish plague, but the imports turned out to be a carrier of that disease...

 introduced from America. As well as the crayfish there is also bull head fish present which can be found easily with a net and a pair of waders; they generally are located on the stream bed in the mud and silt.

The Meanwood Valley Trail

Meanwood Valley Trail

The Meanwood Valley Trail is a waymarked footpath and annual footrace route in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It runs for a distance of from the statue of Henry Rowland Marsden, 1878, on Woodhouse Moor, close to the University of Leeds, through Headingley, Meanwood and Adel to Breary Marsh,...

footpath follows the line of the beck for much of its course.