This week saw the opening of the Britain from the Air exhibition outside the Central Library on Victoria Gardens in Leeds. This is a major national, outdoor touring exhibition of over 100 stunning aerial photographs. These images offer a chance to see some fascinating images of landscapes and landmarks and tell wonderful stories of Britain’s geography…
Category: Leeds History
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…
A Day at the Races
Did you know that Leeds had its very own race ground in Stourton Park back in the 1820’s? It didn’t last long and faced criticism throughout its life span for encouraging gambling and immoral behaviour. It was situated opposite the former Skelton Grange Power Station on the south side of the River Aire and was…
Map of Murder
One of the more unusual items amongst our large collection of historical maps at Leeds Central Library goes by the name of ‘Regina v. William Higgins and Others’. The title refers to a court case that took place in late 1850 and the map is a ‘Prosecutor’s Plan’ from the time, showing the part of…
The Best Night Out in History
Here at the Secret Library, we’re celebrating the fact that it’s nearly the weekend by squeezing into our flares and strapping on our platform shoes ready for a big night out! Well… not really, but we did find an old edition of the Yorkshire Evening Post from 1975 and got rather excited by the groovy…
The Majestic remembered
Following the events this week at the Majestic we thought we would share some of our photographs from the early days as a cinema. All photographs are from our Leodis website. The Majestic was built on the site of the former recruiting office used during the First World War. This image from 5th October 1919…
A ‘Little’ Journey
London, Switzerland, Germany… What do all these places have in common? The answer is: you can find them all within the Leeds-Bradford area. Today we thought we’d take a little journey through Europe, Secret Library style. We’ll start in the well-known Leeds suburb of Little London, before calling in on the city’s other Little London,…
Mad about cycling!
As Saturday 5th July 2014 sees the City of Leeds host Le Grand Départ, the start of the world famous Tour de France, we would like to highlight some of our numerous items relating to cycling, some from our special collections and some loanable. ‘Personal best : the autobiography of Beryl Burton’ celebrates a Leeds…
The Secret Library | Leeds Libraries Heritage Blog 