Abbey House Museum

Om museet

Abbey House Museum occupies the inner gatehouse of Kirkstall Abbey, an abbey founded in 1152. After Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries the gatehouse was blocked at both ends and turned into a house. It later served as a farmhouse and as the home of the Butler family, owners of Kirkstall Forge, and Colonel T. Walter Harding lived there from 1890 to 1912 and made changes to the building.

Leeds City Council bought Abbey House in 1926 and converted it into a museum, which opened to the public in 1927. The three Victorian streets inside the museum, Abbey Fold, Harewood Square and Stephen Harding Gate, were created in the 1950s and have been altered many times since. They give a picture of life in Leeds in the 1880s, with shops, homes and workplaces, from a pawnbroker's home to a traditional drinking house.

The museum is part of Leeds Museums and Galleries and concentrates on the social history of the city. Besides the streets it holds Leeds Burmantofts pottery, childhood galleries with toys, games and dolls from the 19th century onwards, and a collection of reconditioned penny slot machines that visitors can try with old-style pennies bought on site.

Højdepunkter

• Recreated Victorian streets with shops, houses and the Hark to Rover Inn
• Abbey Fold, a poorer residential district showing life and death in Victorian Leeds
• Childhood galleries with toys, games and 19th-century dolls
• Penny arcade with working slot machines
• Leeds Burmantofts pottery
• Former gatehouse of Kirkstall Abbey

Permanente udstillinger

• Victorian streets – Recreated streets, shops and houses show daily life in 1880s Leeds, from Stephen Harding Gate and the Hark to Rover Inn to the poorer district of Abbey Fold.
• Childhood galleries – Upstairs galleries with toys, games, memorabilia and 19th-century dolls, with toys and books for visitors to enjoy.
• Penny arcade – Reconditioned original penny slot machines, many still working, played with old-style pennies from a vending machine.

Grundlagt

1927

Ejer

Leeds Museums and Galleries (Leeds City Council)

Entrépriser & rabatter

Tickets are bought on site only. LeedsCard, LeedsCard Extra and Breeze Pass discounts apply. Admission is free for refugees and asylum seekers, carers, Max Card holders (the card holder and one adult), and members of Leeds Art Fund, Friends of Leeds Museums, the Museums Association, the National Museum Directors' Council, the Art Fund and ICOM.

Tilgængelighed

• Delvis kørestolsvenlig
• Elevator
• Handicaptoilet
• Handicapparkering
• Servicehunde tilladt
• Taktile tilbud
• Rundvisninger på tegnsprog: ingen oplysninger
• Letlæste tilbud: ingen oplysninger
• Synstolkning: ingen oplysninger

The main entrance is step-free with an automatic door, though it is on a short, fairly steep hill; the Gatehouse can be reached from outside only by steps, but has level access from inside the museum. Most galleries, the Victorian streets and the exhibition space are wheelchair accessible, but there are cobbled streets and some narrow spaces, and a lift to the second floor takes one wheelchair at a time. A wheelchair can be borrowed at the entrance (ask in advance). Accessible toilets and a Changing Places toilet are on the ground floor, and an induction loop is in the entrance foyer and shop. One accessible parking space is outside the entrance and four more are in the Vesper Lane car park across Abbey Walk. Guide and assistance dogs are welcome, and tailored handling sessions or touch tours for groups can be arranged with two weeks' notice.

Børn og familie

Velegnet til børn og familier

• Familieomvisninger & workshops
• Opgavehæfte, skattejagt eller audioguide for børn
• Interaktive stationer
• Puslerum

The museum is very much geared to families, with trails, school holiday activities, and sessions such as Little Shoppers and Little Scientists for young children. The childhood galleries have toys and books to enjoy in comfortable spaces, and baby changing is available in the accessible toilets.

Transport & parkering

The museum is about 3.4 miles from Leeds city centre, on Abbey Walk off Abbey Road.

Service & spisesteder

• Museumsbutik

There is no café in the museum itself; the Abbey Café in the Kirkstall Abbey visitor centre, just across the road, serves cakes, coffee, sandwiches and ice cream. The museum shop is also online at shopleedsmuseums.org.uk.

Arrangementer & udlejning

• Lokaler til leje

The Victorian streets and rooms are offered mainly as a filming and photography location, and viewings can be arranged on request.

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