Abbey House Museum in

Kirkstall Kirkstall is a north-western suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, on the eastern side of the River Aire. The area sits in the Kirkstall ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds West parliamentary constituency, represented by Rachel Reeves. Th ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England is housed in the gatehouse of the ruined 12th-century

Kirkstall Abbey Kirkstall Abbey is a ruined Cistercian monastery in Kirkstall, north-west of Leeds city centre in West Yorkshire, England. It is set in a public park on the north bank of the River Aire. It was founded ''c.'' 1152. It was disestablished during ...

, and is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. The house is north west of Leeds city centre on the A65 road. It is part of the

Leeds Museums & Galleries Leeds Museums and Galleries is a museum service run by the Leeds City Council in West Yorkshire. It manages nine sites and is the largest museum service in England and Wales run by a local authority. Visitor attractions * Abbey House Museum *Ki ...

group.

History

The museum opened in July 1927. The ground floor is set out as an area of Victorian streets, illustrating a range of shops and services and including original shop fittings etc. The first street, Abbey Fold, opened in July 1954. Harewood Square opened in 1955 and Stephen Harding Gate in 1958. The museum was refurbished between 1998 and 2001 funded by

National Lottery Heritage Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

. Upstairs, the galleries feature childhood collections, community-curated displays and temporary exhibitions. The paranormal TV programme ''

Most Haunted ''Most Haunted'' is a British paranormal reality television series. Following complaints, the broadcast regulator, Ofcom, ruled that it was an entertainment show, not a legitimate investigation into the paranormal, and "should not be taken seri ...

'' visited the Abbey House Museum in the first episode of Series 19. The crew experienced apparent paranormal incidents which included knocking and a piano playing by itself.

References

External links

*
BBC: Abbey House Museum tour
*

*

Three Women: a plesiosaurus, a mistaken identity, and a hat.
Museums in Leeds Listed buildings in Leeds Grade II* listed buildings in West Yorkshire History museums in West Yorkshire {{UK-museum-stub

History

See also

References

External links