Guide to Museums in:


Birmingham

Bristol

Leeds

London

Manchester

ENGLAND

LEEDS MUSEUMS

Leeds City Museum is housed in the former Mechanics' Institute built by Cuthbert Brodrick, in Millennium Square, which has been redeveloped. While exhibits vary, they are mainly made up of exhibits from Leeds' history. The central hall has a large map of Leeds printed on the floor. There is also a scale model of the Quarry Hill flats. The exhibits are organised among several galleries. Life on Earth gallery consists of natural history. The Ancient Worlds gallery deals with archaeological items from home and abroad. The World View gallery exhibits different cultures in turn. Information on the history of Leeds from pre-history to the modern day can be found in the Leeds Story gallery. Admission to the museum is free of charge. Special exhibitions are hosted alongside a collection of displays from the Leeds Archive.

For more information please contact Leeds City Museum, Millennium Square, Leeds, LS2 8BH, Tel: +44 (0)113 224 3732, E-mail: city.museum@leeds.gov.uk

Front entrance to Leeds City Museum
Photograph © Andrew Roberts

Leeds Art Gallery in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England is a museum whose collection of 20th-century British Art is recognised by the British government as a collection "of national importance". Its collections also include 19th-century and earlier works. The Gallery is owned and administered by Leeds City Council. The gallery's visitor leaflet suggesting "Ten key works" for a short visit lists the following items: Retribution, Edward Armitage, 1858, The Age of Bronze, Auguste Rodin, 1877 (cast 1906), The Valley of Shadows, Evelyn de Morgan, 1899, Maternity, Jacob Epstein, 1910, Praxitella, Percy Wyndham Lewis, 1921, Reclining Figure, Henry Moore, 1929, Painting, Francis Bacon, 1950, Postcard Flag (Union Jack), Tony Cragg, 1981, Maquette for Leeds Brick Man, Antony Gormley, 1986, The Artist in her Studio, Paula Rego, 1993. The gallery includes a ground floor lecture theatre which is used for a variety of events.

For more information and enquiries please contact Leeds Art Gallery, The Headrow, Leeds, LS1 3AA, Tel: +44 (0)113 247 8248, E-mail: city.art.gallery@leeds.gov.uk

The Royal Armouries is the United Kingdom's National Museum of Arms and Armour. It is the United Kingdom's oldest museum, and one of the oldest museums in the world. It is also one of the largest collections of arms and armour in the world, comprising the UK's National Collection of Arms and Armour, National Artillery Collection, and National Firearms Collection. It is also the keeper of the Tower of London history.

For more information and enquiries please contact Royal Armouries Museum, Armouries Drive, Leeds, LS10 1LT, Tel: +44 (0)113 220 1999, E-mail: enquiries@armouries.org.uk

Hall of Steel at the Royal Armouries in Leeds
Photograph © Polylerus

The Thackray Museum in Leeds is a museum of the history of medicine adjacent to St James's Hospital. Highlights include Life in Victorian Leeds: visitors walk through a reproduction of slum streets complete with authentic sights, sounds and smells and are invited to follow the lives, ailments and treatments of eight Victorian characters, making the choices that determine their survival amongst the rats, fleas and bedbugs. Pain, pus and blood describes surgery before anaesthesia, and Having a baby focuses on developments in safety for childbirth. Hannah Dyson's ordeal is a reconstruction of 1842 surgery, before anaesthetics were in use: visitors watch as 11-year old Hannah undergoes amputation of her leg after it was crushed in a mill accident. The life zone is an interactive children's gallery. There are also temporary exhibition galleries. The museum also houses the skeleton of Mary Bateman, the "Yorkshire Witch", who was executed for witchcraft in 1809.

For more information and enquiries please contact Royal West of England Academy, Queen's Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 1PX, Tel: +44 (0)117 973 5129, E-mail: info@rwa.org.uk

Thackray Museum
Photograph © Richard Thomson

Thwaite Mills is an industrial museum in Leeds. It is a fully restored working water-powered mill built in 1823-25, harnessing the power of the River Aire. It is administered by Leeds City Council. As well as the functioning waterwheels, the mill contains a collection of machinery used at various times. Visitors are led on guided tours of the mill building. The manager's house has been restored to reflect life there in the 1940s, before electricity was installed, and is visited self-guided. The museum site includes a steam crane from 1946, and wildlife areas. A variety of special events are held at the museum.

For more information and enquiries please Thwaite Mills, Thwaite Lane, Stourton, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS10 1RP, Tel: +44 (113)2762887, E-mail: adrian.marshall@leeds.gov.uk

Thwaite Mills, restored 18th century water-powered mill
Photograph © Paul Glazzard