Part 1 of a four-part series exploring the history of the Jewish community in Leeds. See our dedicated page for all entries in this series, plus other articles on related subjects. Today’s entry offers a short look at the community’s story, highlighting some useful sources for further exploration… There have been Jewish people in Leeds…
Category: Child Friendly
A Brief History of Leeds #3: The 17th-century
The third in a series of articles exploring the history of Leeds, using books and other stock resources held in the Leeds Libraries collections. For all the entries in this series, see our dedicated page. In our previous entry in this series, we briefly touched on the emergence of Leeds as a textile market centre…
Edible Leeds Trail – HOD 2021
This year, to coincide with Heritage Open Days 2021, the Local and Family History Library have created an Edible Leeds Trail. The trail highlights past and present areas of the city centre connected to the food and drink industry and can be followed in order as a 45 minute walk. 1. Leeds Town HallThe Town…
Whale Tales
This week sees librarian Helen Skilbeck investigate some whale tales from the 1950s. At a recent virtual coffee morning I talked to an engaging group from Rothwell about some of the treasures of the Local and Family History Library. Afterwards one of the gentleman asked if I had any information about the whale that came…
Leeds United: The First 100-years
To mark the start of the 2021-22 Premier League season this weekend our article this week is part one of a four-part series exploring the history of Leeds United, as told through books and other materials held at the Central Library. You can find all of the parts in our dedicated Sport page and all…
Paintings of Burley
This week on the Secret Library we hear from guest author Jonathan Hooper. Jonathan is an incredible painter, who is here to share some of his paintings of Burley and the inspirations behind them. You can see more of Jonathan’s artwork and process on his website. I am a painter – my subject is the…
A Brief History of Leeds #2: The 16th-century
The second in a series of articles exploring the history of Leeds, using books and other stock resources held in the Leeds Libraries collections. For all the entries in this series, see our dedicated page. We ended the last entry in this series by commenting that 15th-century Leeds “clearly had some developing to do,” given…
A Brief History of Leeds #1: The 15th-century
The first in a series of articles exploring the history of Leeds, using books and other stock resources held in the Leeds Libraries collections. For all the entries in this series, see our dedicated page. We start our story some 500-years ago in the 15th-century, at Kirkstall Abbey, established by pioneering Cistercian monks in 1152…
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