In the middle of the ninetenth century Leeds needed a railway route to the east. As the railway station was on the western side of the town the council came up with the novel idea of building a series of arches across the town, through the Parish Church graveyard and out towards the York Road and the east. Some of the arches under the railway station were used as warehouses and workshops. Today there is a thriving community of craft shops, cafes and bookshops under the arches.

In the late nineteenth century some of the arches were used for more personal business transactions. This ballad enjoyed great popularity in the pubs of Victorian Leeds where the pleasures of the infamous Arches were well known. It was sung to the tune of a popular song of the time, 'Vilikens and Dinah'.

 As I walked out one day in the month of July
A pretty young damsel I chanced for to spy,
Singing Vilikens and Dinah, so blithe and so gay,
Down by the dark arches under the railway.

Then I stepped up to her so gay and so free,
And for the same ballad I paid one halfpenny,
Will you be my sweetheart to her I did say?
Down by the dark arches under the railway.

Oh no, my gay young man that cannot be,
There is a chap here in blue and he is a-watching of me,
And if he should see me, what would he say,
Down by the dark arches under the railway.

At last she consented, away we both went,
Five shillings in lobsters and oysters I spent,
Six drops of brandy for her I did pay,
Down by the dark arches under the railway.

Then in came a chap with a black eye and a stick,
He drunk up my brandy and broke my Pickwick
Pop goes the weasel to me he did say,
Down by the dark arches under the railway.

Then he squared up to me and pulled my watch out,
He spoiled my new beaver and damaged my snout,
He kicked me in the gutter and there I lay,
Down by the dark arches under the railway.

I lay in the gutter till four in the morn
As naked as ever a poor creature was born,
And when I awakened quite still there I lay,
Down by the dark arches under the railway.

Four bobbies came up and to my surprise
I found I had no shirt on to cover my thighs,
They put me on a stretcher and bore me away
From beneath the dark arches under the railway.

I sent to my mother for money and clothes,
Likewise to a doctor to patch up my nose,
You have not had fair play to me he did say
Down by the dark arches under the railway.

Now all you young chaps take a warning by me,
And never go a-courting when you are on the spree,
And never take those young ladies out of their way
Down by the dark arches under the railway.