Abbey House Museum

Step back in time at the Abbey House Museum for an experience you will never forget. Find out what life was like without mains electricity in our ironmongers and grocers' shops packed with the 19th century's latest household gadgets and provisions. Visit the Hark to Rover pub and enjoy a day of convivial conversation and a night of revelry. In the chemist's shop almost anything can be bought over the counter, sometimes with lethal consequences. If needs be, the undertaker is always at hand. After your 1880's shopping trip you can find out more about Victorian Leeds, Childhood in the 19th century and the history of nearby Kirkstall Abbey in our three exciting galleries.

In the Childhood Gallery you will be transported into the pages of a Victorian nursery rhyme book where there are interactive toys for modern children but naughty boys and girls may have to sit on the deportment chair or be sent early to bed.

Grandma's Drawers and Wardrobe give a chance to have a closer look at uncormfortable Victorian underwear and to dress up in the clothes worn by fashionable Victorian ladies and gentlemen.

In the final Gallery find out how the community of monks lived, worked and worshipped at the abbey and how Abbey House itself was a vital part of the medieval precinct.

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