by Sally Hughes, Local and Family History, Leeds Central Library For a building almost 130 years old the walls of Leeds Central Library have many tales to tell. If you have visited or even seen photographs of this beautiful Victorian building you will know that there is a rich history to be explored inside. A…
Category: Leeds Central Library
Stepping Out
Last week’s fossil hunt on the Secret Library blog had us running up and down our impressive stone staircases more times than we’d care to mention. And, while we all agreed the fossils themselves were pretty interesting, the one thing we couldn’t seem to reach a consensus on was how many steps there were from…
Read More: Little Chunks of History
by Ross Horsley and Antony Ramm, Local and Family History, Central Library This is an entry in our Read More series. These are ‘long-form’ articles, where staff offer a curated and detailed look at areas of our book collections, usually based around a specific theme or subject. These posts aim to guide the interested reader through to those…
Beware the Heraldic Beasts
As you wander the staircases of Leeds Central Library you can’t help but notice the lions and dogs carved into the ends of the stair railings. There are various lions and dogs in different poses including one of a lion sitting majestic in a stance reminiscent of the ones guarding the neighbouring Leeds Town Hall…
The Great Leeds Book Crisis of 1966
In October 1966 the Leeds City Engineers determined the structure of the Central Library in the Municipal Buildings, in particular the load-carrying beams, were not strong enough to carry the weight imposed by the Reference stock. Within weeks 80,000 volumes were moved from all stack rooms and gallery and stacked upon the library basement floors…
Take a Heritage Tour of the Central Library
Have you ever wanted to know more about the heritage of our fabulous Central Library building or fancied looking behind the scenes? We are now offering bookable heritage tours around the building showing you how it has changed over the years and letting you see parts not usually accessible to the public. To whet your…
The Leeds Tapestry
During September this year Leeds Central Library had a visit from two year 4 classes from Farsley Springbank Primary School. They came to Central Library to see the Leeds Tapestries, which are housed on the 1st floor in the corridor between the Art Library and the Music Library. The Children’s Librarian spoke to the groups…
George Corson, leaving his mark on Leeds
Today we bring you the architect and designer of our 1884 Municipal Buildings, George Corson. Born in Dumfries, Scotland, George like his older brother William, trained under Scottish architect Walter Newall. George followed his brother to Leeds, where on the 1851 census aged 21 and 28 they are registered as living at Number 21 Lyddon…
The Secret Library | Leeds Libraries Heritage Blog 