This week we welcome back Wren Rowan to complete their article on the Kingdom of Elmet. Read part one before beginning this article. So what do we know of the people of Elmet? And how do we know it? After over 3 centuries of Roman rule, most of the people in Britain could be fairly…
Category: Leeds History
The Charter of 1626 and Leeds in the seventeenth century
This week on the Secret Library we mark the 400th anniversary of the Leeds Charter of 1626 with a new research guide covering resources at our Central Library for exploring this important century… On July 13 Leeds will celebrate 400 years since the signing of the town’s first Charter in 1626 – a historically significant…
The Murky History of the Kingdom of Elmet – Part One
This week we welcome guest writer Wren Rowan who tells us more about the Kingdom of Elmet. Stay tuned for part two in the coming months. If you live in Leeds, or you grew up here, you’re likely well aware of the city’s industrial heritage. The city is, after all, full of reminders: mills and…
Upstairs and Downstairs
This week we hear from guest writer, Jacqui Taylor, who has been researching Harewood House. Harewood House is an 18th century Georgian country house well known for its Chippendale furniture, extensive art collection, and beautiful landscaped gardens. It is located seven miles north of Leeds city centre, adjacent to the village of Harewood. While compiling…
REBIRTH – photographic exhibition
Leeds Central Library invited a group of Leeds Arts University photography students to examine the original photographs that formed the basis of the Leodis website. Their task was to select one or more photographs and produce a creative response. Six responses were selected by librarians to create an exhibition at the library. Here we hear…
Educating the City: Leeds City Council Papers
Welcome back to Heritage Volunteer Andy Armstrong this week on the Secret Library Leeds blog. This is part seven of Andy’s curation of the Leeds City Council papers held in our Local and Family History department; this time, Andy has been looking at education in Leeds. As always, Andy’s research is accompanied by a research guide……
Family History Fact Checking – Part 4
This week’s article is the final part of Becky’s quest to discover the facts about Peaches Cottage in Middleton. Read parts one, two and three before starting this article. Welcome back to the last part in our series of articles about family history fact checking, using Peaches Cottage Middleton as a starting point. Previously I have been…
The Making of the Yorkshire Almanac 2026, Sheep Flavour
This week on the Secret Library Leeds, Leeds’s Singing Organ-Grinder tells how moving to Yorkshire five years ago inspired him to compile a day-by-day historical anthology. One sunny day in spring 2021, we chugged cheerfully east along the M62 in a removal van on a roundabout route from Hackney to Headingley. The third lockdown was…
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