Abbey House Museum

Abbey Walk
Abbey Rd
Kirkstall
Leeds
Leeds
West Yorkshire
LS5 3EH
England

Website

www.leeds.gov.uk/abbeyhouse

E-mail

abbey.house@leeds.gov.uk

Telephone

0113 230 5492

All information is supplied by the venues or providers themselves and every effort is made to ensure it is correct. Please remember to double check opening hours with the venue concerned before making a special visit.
Abbey House Museum
baby changing facilities icon Food icon Guided tours icon Shop icon Visual disability facilities icon Wheelchair access icon

Based in the heart of the Kirkstall community, Abbey House was once the gatehouse for Kirkstall Abbey. Displays in the museum enable you to steep yourself in the romantic history of the abbey. The museum also explores life in Victorian Leeds. With enchanting streets which reconstruct life in the late 19th century, and social history collections, you can immerse yourself in the sights and sounds of the time. Abbey House also has a new interactive childhood gallery, Abbot Tea Rooms, and a wide range of activities for schools, small groups and families.

Venue Type:

Museum

 Opening hours

Tuesday - Friday 10am to 5pm
Saturday 12 noon - 5pm

Last admission 4pm

Closed: Mondays (except Bank Holidays)

 Admission charges

£3.50 adults, £2.50 LeedsCard & concessions, £1.50 accompanied children. Family ticket £5 for 2 adults and up to 3 children. Group rate of £1.50 for groups of 10+.

 General services and facilities
  • Brochure or leaflet available with directions to museum
  • Guided tours
  • Pre-booking service for groups
  • Cafeteria
  • Parking for coaches
  • Picnic area
  • Refreshments
  • Restaurant
  • Shop
 Children and families
  • Activities for pre-school children
  • Events and resources for children and families
  • Baby changing facilities
  • Children's play area
 Disability access
  • Braille information and/or interpretation
  • Touch exhibits
  • Parking for disabled available
  • Toilets for disabled
  • Wheelchair access to all public areas
 Schools services and facilities
  • Direct teaching services for schools
  • Member of staff available with responsibility for education
  • Primary school education service available
  • Secondary school education service available
  • Education facilities available
  • Reception and lunch facilities for educational groups
 Research and adult learning
  • Adult lectures and courses held
  • Loan service
 Commercial and hire services
  • Facilities for private functions and events

Additional info

The Abbey House Museum hosts The Wednesday Club for adults. This is a social group which often presents talks and tours. The group meet monthly on a Wednesday at the museum at 10:30am. £5 per person which includes a set lunch in the Abbot Tea Rooms.

For children the Monkey Club regularly meets on Wednesdays from 10:15am-12noon. This offers a drop in morning to take part in craft activities and play games. The Messy Monkeys regularly meet on Fridays for fun with paints and art materials. Both are available for the under 5s and their carers.

Please see our event details for regular activities for families, children and adults. You can also find details of our half term activites, exhibitions and education workshops for schools.

The museum is also available for children's birthday parties, and wedding photography. Please call for prices and availability.

Open to the public is our Gatehouse Cafe (no museum admission necessary) serving drinks, hot and cold meals and snacks.

Abbey Walk
Abbey Rd
Kirkstall
Leeds
Leeds
West Yorkshire
LS5 3EH
England

Website

www.leeds.gov.uk/abbeyhouse

E-mail

abbey.house@leeds.gov.uk

Telephone

0113 230 5492

All information is supplied by the venues or providers themselves and every effort is made to ensure it is correct. Please remember to double check opening hours with the venue concerned before making a special visit.

The museum holds large and important social history collections. This includes an archive relating to the Suffragette campaigns of Mrs Leonora Cohen (b.1873) who was one of the first women in Leeds to start campaigning for votes for women.

Leeds Museums have been collecting toys, dolls and games since at least the 1920s and now hold one of the major collections in the country. Abbey House Museum displays many acquistions from this collection along with Armley Mills Industrial Museum.

Abbey House Museum also houses a collection of period costume.

Collection details

Archaeology, Archives, Costume and Textiles, Social History, Toys and Hobbies

Abbey Walk
Abbey Rd
Kirkstall
Leeds
Leeds
West Yorkshire
LS5 3EH
England

Website

www.leeds.gov.uk/abbeyhouse

E-mail

abbey.house@leeds.gov.uk

Telephone

0113 230 5492

All information is supplied by the venues or providers themselves and every effort is made to ensure it is correct. Please remember to double check opening hours with the venue concerned before making a special visit.

Related teaching activities

Key stage 2 art and design, 1-2 lessons

2.2 Understand and evaluate

Monks built a gatehouse to the north west of the abbey, which no longer stands. Draw an image of what the gatehouse might have looked in relation to the museum's other buildings. To help you: source images online of other abbeys and buildings from the same era.

Key stage 3 geography, 1 lesson

1.1 Place

Think creatively: How would the streets around Abbey House Museum differ from the street layout of your neighbourhood?

Key stage 3 and 4 ICT, 1-2 lessons

2.1 Finding information

Using online archive sources such as local maps and photographs, identify five changes that have taken place to the buildings and public spaces in your local area since Victorian times.

Key stage 2 English, small project

En3 Writing

Write a guide for visitors to Abbey House Museum describing the buildings and spaces of the museum. When was it built; how is the purpose of the building reflected in the design; what are its architectural highlights; what makes it unique; what do the buildings tell us about its history?

Key stage 2 Geography, small project

Knowledge and understanding of places

Create a map showing how the streets around Abbey House Museum would have looked in the late 19th century.