Abbey House Museum

Abbey House Museum is a museum in Leeds where you walk through recreated Victorian-era streets lined with period shops and homes, showing how people lived during the 19th century. The entire setup gives you a real sense of daily life and work from that time.

The building started as a gatehouse serving Kirkstall Abbey, a medieval monastery founded by monks seeking a quiet place to live and work. Later it was converted to show how ordinary people lived in Leeds during the Victorian period.

The museum features rotating exhibitions that explore how communities lived and what childhood meant in different periods, using objects and documents to tell these stories.

The museum is located near Kirkstall Abbey and can be reached easily by car with free parking on site. Plan for several hours to properly walk through the recreated streets and look at the displays.

In the Stephen Harding Gate section you can walk down a completely recreated Victorian street where shops and craft workshops are arranged as if people were still working there. This detailed reconstruction lets you imagine what it actually felt like to live and work in those times.

Location: Leeds

Operator: Leeds City Council

Address: Abbey Road, Kirkstall, Leeds LS5 3EH

Opening Hours: Monday off; Tuesday-Friday,Sunday 10:00-17:00; Saturday 12:00-17:00

Phone: 01133784079

Website: https://leeds.gov.uk/museumsandgalleries/abbeyhouse

GPS coordinates: 53.82226,-1.60708

Latest update: December 10, 2025 20:03