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 – 4.30pm
Last admission: 4pm
Address
Abbey Road
Kirkstall
Leeds
LS5 3EH
Ticket Provider
LOTHERTON
Opening Hours
Open Daily
Estate opens: 7.30am
Hall: Open (Downstairs only) 10am-5pm
Wildlife World: 10am – 5pm
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 – 5pm
Last entry 45 minutes before
THWAITE WATERMILL
Address
Thwaite Lane
Stourton
Leeds
LS10 1RP
LOGOS, FOOTER LINKS, COPYRIGHT
We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.
Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.
These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.
Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.
We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.
We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.
These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.
If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:
We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.
Google Webfont Settings:
Google Map Settings:
Google reCaptcha Settings:
Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:
The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:
You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.
Privacy and data
South Asia at Leeds Museums & Galleries
Collections, World CulturesSalwar Kameez, purchased in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, worn in Leeds for Eid celebrations, 2015.
South Asia makes up part of the world’s largest continent, Asia. It was once home to ancient civilisations and is now populated by over 1.89 billion people. South Asia includes countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. It is a dynamic mix of cultures, economies and different art forms.
Leeds has a well-established and diverse south Asian community. Many came here to work from India and Pakistan during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Asian restaurants and fashion outlets, faith and community centres, are all highly visible in Leeds, particularly in Harehills, Beeston and parts of the city centre. Festivals such as Eid ul-Adha, Vaisakhi and Diwali are celebrated annually.
Hindu gods photographed at the festival of Diwali, 2018 © Monty Trent
Leeds Museums and Galleries cares for over 1,200 south Asian objects, from the unique to the everyday. They are the result of Leeds people travelling and working in Asia from the late 18th century onwards during the time of British colonial rule, collectors in the UK buying Asian art, and through people of south Asian heritage donating their personal items. The latter is often expressed through religious objects, clothing, food utensils and family or community photographs.
Man’s Kurta Tunic and Waistcoat, Mumbai, 1990-1999
Objects from India represent the greatest quantity (over 1,000), followed by Pakistan (over 100). This is due to India’s size, the connections between Britain and India which were established during the presence of the East India Company in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in the 1600s and early 1700s, through to the reign of Queen Victoria (declared the ‘Empress of India’ in 1876), and most recently the growth of Indian communities in West Yorkshire, particularly Sikhs from the Punjab and Hindus from places such as Gujarat and Delhi.
Pakistan 1 Rupee Banknote, 1990
The oldest items from South Asia in Leeds are a group of Palaeolithic stone hand axes from Madras (now Chennai), donated to the museum in 1963. They were formerly owned by the famous archaeologist Mr Heywood Walton Seton-Karr (1859-1938), together with two Neolithic hand tools from Banda in Uttar Pradesh. Seton-Karr, a soldier and game hunter, was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) where his father was in the Indian Civil Service. The objects are important as they show the presence of prehistoric people in India, over a million years ago.
There is also a large collection of Hindu and Buddhist bronzes in Leeds. They were collected by Sir Stuart Mitford Fraser (1864-1963), a high-ranking Civil Servant in India. He was a resident in Mysore, 1905-1910, and British Resident in Kashmir, 1911-1914. He collected bronzes from India, Nepal and Tibet which show the sharing of techniques, styles and symbolism across the region.
Ganesha Statue, 1860-1900 collected by Sir Stuart Mitford Fraser. The elephant-headed Ganesha is the Hindu god who is believed to remove obstacles. His image can be seen in Hindu temples across the UK, including the Leeds Hindu Mandir in Burley.
From the late 1900s, Asian residents of Leeds and surrounding places such as Bradford and Dewsbury have also donated or loaned items to display. These include textiles and clothing such as a burka and a salwar kameez (the national dress of Pakistan), examples of silk, mirrorwork embroidery (shisha) and significant religious items such as a model of the Sikh faith’s holiest place, the Sri Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) in Amritsar.
Salwar Kameez, purchased in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, worn in Leeds for Eid celebrations, 2015.
Cooking utensils such as a tava pan, used to make a commonplace unleavened flatbread (called chapatis (or roti) also demonstrates how south Asians in Yorkshire express their heritage.
Metal Tava, 1976. It is used for cooking chapatis, a type of bread eaten in parts of south Asia.
Today, Leeds Museums and Galleries works with an advisory network of members of Leeds’ South Asian community and University contacts to assist with choosing display topics and events. Recent projects include the Voices of Asia Gallery at Leeds City Museum, for which this film about a jewellery shop in Harehills was commissioned and the installation of a Sikh Solider statue commemorating south Asian soldiers who fought for the British in the First and Second World Wars. In future we will be working with the Leeds Muslim Youth Forum to explore Pakistani heritage in Leeds.
By Adam Jaffer, Curator of World Cultures