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
The Bird Egg Collection
Collections, Natural ScienceClaire Miles explores our Bird Egg collection at Leeds City Museum, after taking over the immense task of documenting over 8000 – 10000 eggs in our museum collections database and making some wonderful discoveries.
The bird egg collection at Leeds City Museum probably contains 8000 – 10000 eggs from all over the world, ranging from a marvellous and complete Elephant Bird egg to the popular and no less marvellous Robin. The vagueness in the number of eggs is because the collection is not yet completely documented on the museum collections database, and my current project aims to get as close as possible to achieving that.
The origins of the collection
A former Leeds City Museum Curator of Natural Science, Adrian Norris, described how almost all the eggs in the collection before the Second World War were destroyed when the museum took a direct hit during the air raid in March 1941. ‘For example the collection of Mr. W.T. Crampton of Roundhay, Leeds, donated in the year 1903-4, was reduced by the bomb from over 1,700 eggs to just over 100 today.’
Norris said that most of the eggs in the collection today came into the museum, directly or indirectly, through the changes to the law in the early 1950s that restricted the collecting of birds’ eggs. He also gave a useful summary of the collection as it was in 1993:
‘The extant egg collections are comprised mainly from the material collected by 8 egg collectors, as listed below…
Tawny Pipit eggs collected in Majorca by Wilhelm Schlüter in 1909.
Tawny Pipit eggs collected in Majorca by Wilhelm Schlüter in 1909.
Grey Catbird eggs collected by J.N. Clark of Connecticut around 1890. Clark provided 100 clutches for H.B. Booth’s collection.
Grey Catbird eggs collected by J.N. Clark of Connecticut around 1890. Clark provided 100 clutches for H.B. Booth’s collection.
Hedge Accentor (Dunnock) eggs from Yorkshire in the C.E. Rhodes collection.
Hedge Accentor (Dunnock) eggs from Yorkshire in the C.E. Rhodes collection.
Eggs can be matched up to the Collectors’ catalogues and notebooks in the museum archive, a rich source of data.
A number of the clutches also came from various museums and organisations rationalising their collections, such as Wakefield Museum’s zoological collection in 1985.
A work in progress
My current project to complete the documentation of the collection picks up from work carried out by a number of people, notably Kirsty Garrod and Glen Roadley during their time as curatorial trainees. Garrod unpacked the egg collection after its move to Leeds Museums Discovery Centre in 2007, with much painstaking re-uniting and repacking of clutches. Roadley worked on photographing the eggs and creating records on the museum collections management database. Another cataloguer, Sarah Burhouse, has worked on the collection in 2016, leaving an estimated 2000-3000 eggs left to document.
Working through the collection also provides an unmissable opportunity to review the condition of the eggs and see if any improvements can be easily made to their storage to keep them safe into the future.
House Martin eggs in a traditional glass-topped card box.
During the ‘great unpacking’ after the 2007 collections move, many eggs were transferred from unsuitable containers to clear ziplock plastic bags. These kept the eggs separate from each other along with their data labels, but left them vulnerable to crushing, so the bags are being swapped for push-fit clear plastic boxes.
Eggs are being transferred from bags to boxes. The tray in the image holds boxes of Song Thrush eggs.
Eggs are being transferred from bags to boxes. The tray in the image holds boxes of Song Thrush eggs.
Storage drawers. The collection is arranged taxonomically.
It’s important to improve the accessibility of this significant collection for researchers and other potential collection users to make the utmost of the precious information the eggs hold, although the collectors don’t always make it easy when they assume you know where they live, what century it is and who they are!
A (not so) helpful locality label!
By Claire Miles, Zoology project placement
Learn more about our Natural Science collection.