Explore Abbey House Museum in Kirkstall

Ahead of English Tourism Week, we step back in time at the Abbey House Museum opposite Kirkstall Abbey.

Transcript

00:00 My name is Pat and I'm the Assistant Community Curator here at Abbey House Museum in sunny

00:08 Kirkstall. The oldest part of Abbey House Museum is the gatehouse which was originally

00:13 a gatehouse to Kirkstall Abbey which is just across the road from us where we're standing

00:17 here at the 865 and that was a 12th century gatehouse where people could access the Abbey.

00:24 But obviously after the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII which came to

00:29 us in around 1539 it wasn't in use as a gatehouse anymore and so for centuries it was used as

00:35 a private residence by the great and good of Leeds. In 1925 it was decided the last

00:43 of the Butler family no longer wished to live here and they offered it to Leeds Corporation,

00:49 Leeds City Council and it was acquired and turned into a museum in 1927.

00:54 Coming into the museum at first it's a bit like a TARDIS, you don't expect there to be

00:59 so much on offer to see. It's a great way to kind of show people our history because

01:06 it is a live kind of immersive experience, particularly with the Abbey as well it's such

01:11 a big tourist hot spot, somewhere that people would travel to come and see and Abbey House

01:16 is like a nice surprise as well. There are three recreated Victorian streets

01:21 which are made to resemble the kind of streets that were in Leeds in the 1880s. So the business

01:26 names are all businesses that were around at the time in Leeds and appear in trade directories

01:33 and so on. All the objects in the shops and the houses are genuine collections objects

01:38 but you won't see any labels because it's meant to be immersive.

01:40 It's really nice when visitors come in and they say 'oh I remember this' or 'I remember

01:46 taking my children here years ago and seeing this'. I think because the museum focuses

01:52 a lot on local history that's really a powerful thing because then when people come in it

01:57 is their local heritage which is really nice. As well as the streets, upstairs we have a

02:02 childhood gallery which is great for people either reminiscing about their own childhood

02:08 or sort of learning a bit about the past as well as temporary exhibitions and displays

02:12 as well. My favourite part of the job is working with

02:15 schools. It's a very wholesome environment to be in, very very sweet. We put on school

02:23 workshops most days of the week and craft activities during the half term as well for

02:29 children and families to come along and get involved in.

02:32 Here's a place where we can essentially educate people from around the world about what life

02:37 was like in Victorian Leeds and it's really important I think that we still have that

02:42 connection, that we still keep the social history and the stories of the ordinary people

02:47 of Leeds alive really. It's fascinating to see so many people walk in and say 'my gosh

02:53 I never expected to see all this in the inside, in fact we've even got a sign outside saying

02:57 'you never believe what's inside'.

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