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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Dying Matters: Marking Burials
CollectionsCurator of Archaeology Kat Baxter dishes the dirt on fascinating stone grave markers in the collection from burials in Leeds, going back thousands of years.
The “Dying Matters” community exhibition at Leeds City Museum aims to encourage conversation about death and dying – a topic that people often shy away from. One of the themes of the exhibition is planning your funeral, and thinking about such practical questions as: would you like to be buried or cremated? How would you like your grave to be marked?
Throughout time, burials have been marked in a variety of different ways, going back thousands of years. There are several stone grave markers in the Leeds Museums and Galleries archaeology collection. One reason they survive so well is because they are made to last, to commemorate the dead long into the future.
The oldest carved stones in the collection which may have marked burials are cup-and-ring marked stones from the Neolithic and early Bronze Age (2,300-1,500 BC). Although their meaning has been disputed, what is known is that they can be associated with burial cairns and are most commonly found in Scotland and the north of England.
These stones may have had a meaning in the landscape, and a ritual significance which we no longer understand.
A stone with a single cup mark (circular indentation) surrounded by a ring, found somewhere in West Yorkshire. On display in Leeds City Museum © Leeds Museum and Galleries
A completely different type of monument is the Leeds Parish Church cross, or fragments of several crosses which would have marked the burial places of important people in the Anglo-Saxon period.
The fragments, dating to the 800’s, were found when Leeds Parish Church tower was demolished in 1838.
Fragment of a carved Anglo-Saxon cross showing the legs of a character called Weland, or Völund the smith. He is not a biblical figure, but a folk-hero who was popular in Viking culture. Several of these cross fragments are on display in Leeds City Museum © Leeds Museums and Galleries
Four carved grave markers, also dating to the Anglo-Saxon period, were discovered at Adel Church in Leeds during restoration work in 1866. They had been broken up and used in the foundations of the church before the early 1100’s. The stones are carved with geometric motifs on both sides, and it is unclear whether they are Christian or pagan in origin.
The only complete Anglo-Saxon grave marker (in two parts) out of the four discovered at Adel Church. Three are on display in Leeds City Museum © Leeds Museums and Galleries
The final example is a fragment from a Medieval headstone from Kirkstall Abbey with the inscription in Latin Hic iacet Rich (Richard’s burial place). Although we do not know who Richard was, it is assumed he was a benefactor or patron.
The monks of Kirkstall Abbey did not have gravestones, or even coffins, when they were buried: they were interred in unmarked graves, in accordance with their beliefs that worldly possessions were not important.
Medieval headstone fragment from Kirkstall Abbey. The red lettering of the inscription is still visible © Leeds Museums and Galleries
Throughout time graves have been marked in different ways. We have no idea whether these grave markers in the museum were chosen by the deceased themselves, but today you have the opportunity to make decisions about your own funeral, and communicate them to loved ones.
By Katherine Baxter, Curator of Archaeology
Click here for more information on the Dying Matters initiative and how we approach funerals today.
The ‘Dying Matters’ exhibition runs until 30th July in The Leeds Story gallery in Leeds City Museum.