ABBEY HOUSE MUSEUM
Opening Hours
Mon: closed
Tues – Fri: 10am – 5pm
Sat: 12 – 5pm
Sun: 10am – 5pm
Last admission: 4.30pm
Address
Abbey Walk
Kirkstall
Leeds
LS5 3EH
Ticket Provider
ABBEY HOUSE MUSEUM
Opening Hours
Mon: closed
Tues – Fri: 10am – 5pm
Sat: 12 – 5pm
Sun: 10am – 5pm
Last admission: 4.30pm
Address
Abbey Walk
Kirkstall
Leeds
LS5 3EH
Ticket Provider
LEEDS ART GALLERY
Opening Hours
Mon: Closed
Tues -Sat: 10am – 5pm
Sun: 11am – 3pm
Address
The Headrow
Leeds
LS1 3AA
LEEDS CITY MUSEUM
Opening Hours
Mon: closed (11am – 5pm on bank holidays)
Tues – Fri: 10am – 5pm
Sat & Sun: 11am – 5pm
Address
Leeds City Museum
Millennium Square
Leeds
LS2 8BH
Ticket Provider
LEEDS DISCOVERY CENTRE
Opening Hours
Visits by appointment/special event only.
Free public store tours are now available by booking in advance. Please call or email us.
Address
Leeds Discovery Centre
Off Carlisle Road
Leeds
LS10 1LB
LEEDS INDUSTRIAL MUSEUM
Opening Hours
Mon: Closed (10am – 5pm on bank holiday Mondays)
Tues – Fri: 10am – 5pm
Sat – Sun: 12 – 5pm
Last admission one hour before closing.
Address
Canal Road
Leeds
LS12 2QF
KIRKSTALL ABBEY
Opening Hours
Mon: closed (10am – 4pm on bank holidays)
Tues – Sun: 10am – 4pm
Last admission: 3.30pm
Address
Abbey Road
Kirkstall
Leeds
LS5 3EH
Ticket Provider
LOTHERTON
Opening Hours
Open Daily
Estate opens: 8am
Hall: Closed
Wildlife World: 10am – 4pm
Estate closes: 7pm
Last entry 45 mins before estate closing time
TEMPLE NEWSAM
Opening Hours
House: Tues – Sun: 10.30am – 5pm
Home Farm: Tues – Sun: 10am – 4pm
Last entry 45 minutes before
THWAITE WATERMILL
Opening Hours
Mon – Fri: closed (open 10am – 4pm during school holidays)
Sat – Sun: 12 – 4pm
Last admission: 3pm
Address
Thwaite Lane
Stourton
Leeds
LS10 1RP
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Privacy and data
Conservation in Lockdown
Behind the Scenes, CollectionsWhilst all of our museum sites have now reopened to the public, over the last few months you would have been forgiven for thinking that we’d not been working on our collections during the closures. However, a dedicated number of small teams continued working to keep Leeds’s heritage safe and secure. At two of our country house sites, Temple Newsam and Lotherton, I helped out with the teams to keep their treasures safe. I carried out essential conservation work such as checking pest traps, deep cleaning, advising on best practice and generally being there to help and assist the site teams.
The Big Problem
Pests were our main concern. You may have noticed small golden moths, or small beetles in and around your home. Over the last few years I have had more and more enquiries from the public about these little insects. These are clothes moth and carpet beetles, and they are on the up due to central heating and greater use of natural fibres. They are originally found in bird nests but as we use material that is predominantly natural fibre based in our homes, and with the added benefit of heating, they have migrated inside. You will probably see signs of holes in your winter woollen jumpers or a bald patch on your carpet or – even more horrifying! – find the larvae happily munching away on your prized woollen.
Staff on site at Temple Newsam deep cleaning a mattress with a variable vacuum cleaner, ready for the freezer to get rid of all the clothes moths.
These little pests love felt, wool, feathers and fur, and they love our sites too. So during lockdown we were going safely into sites to help eradicate these pests by deep cleaning and wrapping susceptible objects in plastic ready for a blast in our walk in freezer at Leeds Discovery Centre.
This is how we trap moths to see if we have a problem: on a special moth trap that has a scent that attracts the male moth to it which then sticks to the surface.
We have a large walk in freezer at Leeds Discovery Centre that goes down to -30°C that we can use to help eradicate pests in hard to reach places such as mattresses and taxidermy. This freezer goes down to temperatures lower than a conventional domestic freezer, so it gets pretty chilly in there, and after five days we can be rid of the pests that are eating our collections. By wrapping the objects in plastic we keep the pests inside and the objects protected from condensation when in the freezer.
Getting Ready For Opening
Before reopening our sites, we had to work hard behind the scenes. We had to make sure the collections were safe, the visitor experience was still safe and interesting, and that our staff could safely guide you round our sites.
Staff cleaning a picture frame at Lotherton Hall with a soft natural fibre brush to prevent any damage to the gilding.
This meant deep cleaning some rooms along your usual visitor route (so you may not see all the rooms you would normally do when you visit). We used museum vacs to clean textiles and soft natural fibre brushes to clean surfaces such as painting frames. Whilst doing this essential work, we assessed objects and made sure they were stable and ready to go on display. Every object, no matter how large or small, that you’ll see on your visit will have been assessed and cleaned by the team under conservation guidance.
Cleaning textiles at Lotherton Hall prior to opening. We use a museum vacuum cleaner which means we can vary the suction and microfilament on the textile to prevent any damage to the surface.
Closed Rooms
We’re not neglecting the rooms that may be closed to you during your visit. Staff on site are still working hard behind the scenes to condition check all the objects. We’re carrying out deep cleans of these rooms and objects to keep them in good condition. Pest traps or ‘blunder traps’ are very sticky, and have been put down so we can monitor the background insect population and make sure we’re not getting any harmful pests in. By regular monitoring, we can check to see what they are up to and stave off any potential harmful infestations. Once the rooms are cleaned, we’ll be putting them to bed. We cover furniture and fragile objects with conservation grade dust sheets to protect them once the rooms are cleaned. Then, when we are ready to open these rooms, we simply remove the dust sheets and the space will be ready for visitors once again.
Textiles are covered with conservation grade dust sheets to protect them from dust and light damage whilst the rooms are shut to the public.
By Emma Bowron, Conservator