This year for Heritage Open Day (Sept 11-20) we are doing things a little bit differently: instead of opening up our building, we are opening up our city centre for you to explore and enjoy while finding out more about this year’s theme of Hidden Nature.

Leeds is a city of green spaces with large parks and play areas; the city centre itself, however, is becoming more and more a home to nature, giving a calm escape from the hustle and bustle, as well as providing important habitats for our insect and animals friends – including a few bee hives located high above the ground, on the roof spaces of office blocks and residential buildings.

Over the course of Heritage Open Week we will be publishing a series of articles which, by the end of the week, will create a heritage trail around the city centre, stopping at parks old and new, giving you the history of these sites. Some haven’t changed in hundreds of years, while others bear no relation to their former lives as plague grounds, railways, car parks and waterways.

For those of you wanting to enjoy the tour from home each article includes historical images and maps of the locations; for those of you heading out-and-about to do the walk, please give yourselves approximately 2 hours to complete the whole trail and remember that you will need an internet-capable mobile device.  And please: don’t forget to stay safe and socially distance as you go along! 

The first article in this series is on Park Square, with more to follow over the coming days. All the articles in the trail can be found on a dedicated page in the Leeds Heritage Trail section of this website.

Contact us at the Local and Family History department to find out more about our other Heritage Open Day events this year, or browse our Ticketsource page to book your place