Abbey House Museum

Housed in the medieval Kirkstall Abbey’s magnificent former gatehouse, Abbey House near Leeds is an award-winning museum of social history and childhood. Take a step back in time and stroll along the authentically recreated Victorian streets of 1880s Leeds, as you rediscover the toys, tools, and games of past generations.

Have lots of fun playing on the museum’s original Victorian penny slot machines.

A great little child-friendly museum, Abbey House offers interactive exhibitions about the Victorians which the whole family can enjoy. Here, you can discover the social side of Leeds industrial history through different stories and historic objects dating back more than 100 years, and have lots of fun playing on the museum’s original Victorian penny slot machines.

Situated in beautiful parkland directly across the road from the historical site of Kirkstall Abbey, the site of the museum first became a private house in 1600 following the dissolution of the monasteries, and featured a storied history before opening as a Victorian museum in 1927. 

Giving visitors the chance to experience life in Victorian Leeds for the day, inside, you can wander its recreated streets – Stephen Harding Gate,  Abbey Fold, and Harewood Square – visiting various imported shops, a Sunday School, and the home of a Victorian window washer woman. Museum goers can also pop into a traditional drinking house, the Hark to Rover Inn. 

Alongside its transportative streets, the museum also houses both permanent and changing exhibitions. Upstairs, you’ll discover the childhood and community galleries, which is home to displays of fabulously ornate dolls houses, toys, books, and dolls, as well as interactive activities for children where they can find out what job they might have had in Victorian times, dress up, and a play area. 

A fine tribute to the industries, history and way of life of the local area, Abbey House Museum offers a fantastic education on how people lived, worked, and were educated in Victorian England. The museum is staffed by a knowledgeable team who are more than happy to tell you all about the objects on display, and in many cases can provide stories of their owners and history. 

Immerse yourself in the charming Victorian shops of Stephen Harding Gate, explore the poorer residential district of Abbey Fold, spot iconic toys from your childhood and see how they have evolved over the years, and don’t miss shopping at Burmantofts Pottery Gallery on your way out.