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
Café: 9am – 5pm, hot food finishes 45 mins before
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 | Open Bank Holiday Mondays and throughout summer holidays
Last entry 45 minutes before
THWAITE WATERMILL
Address
Thwaite Lane
Stourton
Leeds
LS10 1RP
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Privacy and data
The ‘Cotmania’ Archive: From Leeds to the Web
Engagement, VolunteersOn John Sell Cotman’s 235th birthday, volunteer Karen Mackie explores how Cotman’s work was obsessively researched by Sydney Kitson, who meticulously recorded his findings in a collection of journals known as ‘Cotmania’.
As many of you will know, changes are happening inside Leeds Art Gallery, both to the building and its displays. A group of dedicated volunteers are currently working on a display of John Sell Cotman’s best watercolours – many of which were given by Leeds architect, Sydney Kitson – in time for the gallery’s grand re-opening in October 2017.
Kitson’s mania for Cotman became clear 80 years ago, when he revealed his final project: a book on Cotman, which took him over ten years to finish. The volunteers have just a few months to type up all of Kitson’s notes, so that they can be viewed by the public online when the gallery re-opens.
Working so closely with Kitson’s notes, you get a sense of the man behind them. The notebooks are beautiful, with lots of tiny drawings and exact details of the paintings he saw – plus quite a few blunt comments on their quality!
We are also uncovering exactly how Kitson researched Cotman. This page taken from his notes particularly appealed to me, with its letter and cartoon. The letter is from a Mrs M. Porter, and tells Kitson of some paintings her family sold:
The letter says that the paintings were sold to raise funds for the Red Cross during World War One. The most fascinating thing is how Mrs Porter came to have the paintings – for they had been found in a cupboard! Left by Mr Angell, the previous owner of the house, he never come back to claim them. Why have I never moved into a house like that?!
There are several mistakes Mrs Porter has crossed out in her letter – look at when she writes that Angell’s son gave everything to them. Did she feel some guilt about this? Their sale meant that they were used to help others, and the money made was used to look after wounded soldiers.
On reading this letter, Kitson went to look up more details at the Saleroom, where he found out who had bought the paintings and the price paid. Under these notes, is a cartoon of the sale day:
The Cartoon lists the people shown – Art collectors like Sir Jeremiah Colman are there, plus Laurence Binyon from the British Museum and painter Philip Wilson Steer. Then, interestingly, there are a few famous names I had not expected. James Barrie, the writer of Peter Pan and ‘Mr Conrad’ (almost certainly Joseph Conrad) who wrote Heart of Darkness, the novel that the film Apocalypse Now was based on.
There are many interesting stories behind the detail in the books. By making this all searchable on line others can easily access it. The term ‘Cotmania’ was first used by one of Cotman’s young pupils, Harriet Cholmeley of Brandsby Hall in North Yorkshire.
By Karen Mackie, Kitson Archive Volunteer
Visit our Volunteering webpage to discover our volunteering opportunities and to apply.