In Leeds, museum experts and volunteers are embarking on a fascinating endeavor to document a captivating array of historic headwear, including a magnificent collection of vintage miniature millinery. Crafted by the skilled Leeds hatter John Craig in the early 1900s, these exquisite replicas of hats, some so small they can fit in the palm…
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Spring has blossomed at Temple Newsam’s Home Farm, heralding the arrival of charming new additions, with more eagerly anticipated. Ensure you don’t miss the opportunity to witness the playful piglets, lambs, and kids during the Easter season. Temple Newsam’s farm stands as one of Europe’s largest rare breed centers, boasting a diverse population of…
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It’s one of the most stunning, bold and thought-provoking exhibitions Leeds has ever seen. Now one of the curators behind Leeds City Museum’s incredible new Skeletons: Our Buried Bones has backed the city’s bid to become European Capital of Culture in 2023. Ruth Martin, the museum’s curator of exhibitions, has worked with colleagues from…
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It’s an enduring extinction mystery that has puzzled generations of scientists and naturalists from around the world. Now an international research project may have finally solved the riddle of what happened to the enigmatic Tasmanian tiger- thanks to three specimens from Leeds Museums and Galleries collection. Researchers from Australia have been painstakingly analysing DNA…
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Measuring just 12mm across, this tiny coin’s humble appearance belies its truly remarkable age. Dated at around the 5th Century, the coin is of a type produced at a town called Eion in Thrace between 500 and 480 B.C, making it around 2,500 years old. Known as a trihembiol, the coin carries a design…
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More than 60,000 people have visited a moving exhibition paying tribute to the inspirational women of Leeds who helped keep the country moving through the First World War. Women, Work and War has been running at Leeds Industrial Museum for more than a year, and will finally close its doors on September 24. As…
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A jaw-some new display is giving visitors to Leeds City Museum something to get their teeth into by showcasing the animal kingdom’s biggest and best biters. The new Bite Me! display features an impressive array of teeth, skulls and bones from modern mammals and reptiles as well as the fossilised remains of extinct creatures…
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Museum-goers are in for a history lesson with a difference this weekend as they head back to school in an authentic Victorian classroom. The atmospheric attraction at Leeds Industrial Museum will be open to the public this Sunday as part of the national Heritage Open Days programme, when entry to the museum will also be…
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In an age of smartphones and tablets, it’s hard to believe this humble-looking object was once the pinnacle of telephonic technology. But the wooden receiver, one of a pair now on display at Leeds City Museum, was in fact part of the UK’s first ever telephone conversation. The receivers were made and donated by…
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For more than 2,000 years they lay side by side, buried under a seemingly unremarkable patch of land on the outskirts of Leeds. Now the ancient skeletons of a mystery Iron Age man and woman will be displayed together for the very first time in a thought-provoking new exhibition opening in Leeds next month.…
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Ninety years ago, the Lord Mayor of Leeds and his wife became the first people to walk through doors of Abbey House Museum in Kirkstall. Paying a penny each to enter, Hugh Lupton, who held the office in 1927, and the Lady Mayoress were the guest of honour at the museum’s official opening. The…
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Staring down imposingly from above the store entrance at Leeds Discovery Centre, this giant monster of the deep is one of the more bizarre items on display in Leeds. The huge model of a juvenile giant squid was created for Slime, a temporary exhibition back in 2002 that looked at some of the facts…
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A collection of fascinating finds has been brought together in a new display reconstructing the colourful history of Kirkstall Abbey. Beautiful medieval tiles, which the abbey’s Cistercian monks strolled upon centuries ago, and a tiny tuning peg, which may have belonged to a visiting medieval minstrel, are among the archaeological discoveries being exhibited this…
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If you’re heading to the beach this summer, an essential item on your seaside checklist is sure to be a bucket and spade. And as this charming vintage set shows, sandcastle-building and beachcombing are popular seasonal traditions which stretch back generations. At more than a century old, the two spades and their accompanying bucket…
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Fabulously flamboyant and elegant this colourful garment played its part in a true Leeds rags-to-riches story. The eye-catching leg of mutton sleeve bodice dates from around 1895 and once belonged to Jane North, a former Hunslet factory worker. While she was working in Leeds, Jane met and married John Thomas North, the son of a…
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Recovered from the stage after a memorable Leeds Fest, this tequila bottle is now a piece of rock and roll history. The bottle was found during the clean-up following Guns n Roses’ top of the bill performance at the 2010 Bramham Park showpiece. It was discovered alongside a used Guns n Roses stage pass…
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Time travellers can meet Saxon warriors, Tudor lords and ladies and Second World War soldiers when two historic Leeds estates turn back the clock this weekend. Temple Newsam and Lotherton will both be hosting two days of living history, giving visitors the chance to explore the stories behind the fascinating people who have called…
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A new display is turning back the clock to explore the fascinating history of communities in Leeds- as told by the people who live there. The Mapping Leeds display at Leeds City Museum has seen people from different areas of the city contribute ideas and historic images to help the museum tell the story…
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It’s been more than 400 years since wild beavers could be spotted busily building their dams in the rivers and forests of the UK. Ruthlessly hunted for their pelts, meat and scent glands, which were used in perfumes and medicines, nature’s greatest lumberjacks were sadly wiped out on our shores by the 16th century.…
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Canny companies have often employed the colourful imagery of the changing seasons to sell their products. And as this cute vintage advert for Trixie Umbrellas shows, the weather in particular can prove to be an excellent marketing tool. Tapping into the traditional idea that April is a month of unpredictable showers, the ad dates…
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Gifted to a Leeds officer who rose through the ranks more than 200 years ago, this rare cavalry sword tells a stirring story of loyalty among comrades in arms. On display in Leeds City Museum’s Leeds Story Gallery, the sword once belonged to Captain William Jackson, and was a gift from soldiers he commanded…
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It may be a hair-raising sight to behold today, but back in 1930s Leeds, this vintage perming machine would have been very much top of the range. Known at the time as a permanent wave machine, the bizarre looking contraption was used in a hair salon in Bramley and was collected by Leeds Museums…
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