Today’s blog post is by guest contributor Harriet Hicks. Harriet Hicks is scientific writer and archive enthusiast from London who now lives locally. She has volunteered with the Dead Plants Society since January 2026. It has been 400 years since Leeds town charter was first signed in July 1626, and the city has been the…

To mark Leeds 400 this summer, one of the activities taking place across Leeds has been a city-wide game of Trivial Pursuit with questions all about Leeds. Drawing inspiration from this, we held a series of treasures showcase events themed around the six Trivial Pursuit categories. This week, Joey talks us through items he highlighted…

This week we welcome back Heritage Volunteer Andy who has returned to share his research of council papers, this time in search of official visits to Leeds. Hi. My name’s Andy Armstrong and I have taken on the task of sifting through 200 years of Leeds CC papers held by the library to bring some…

Library and Digital Assistant Jan Pinder shares her research into Yorkshire author Willy Riley and his most famous novel Windyridge written in 1911. A visitor to the village of Hawksworth near Guiseley today would have no inkling of the hive of activity it would have been a hundred years ago. This was all due to…

This week Jan returns to the blog with a fascinating look into the long history of the Stanhope family of Horsforth. Horsforth can trace its existence back to the Domesday Book of 1086, when the land was held by three Saxon thanes. Following the Dissolution of the monasteries the estates of Kirkstall Abbey, of which Horsforth formed part, were sold off to…

What tells your story of Leeds? We’re inviting people and communities to donate or loan items from their own lives and archives — photographs, documents, diaries, or keepsakes, anything that captures life in Leeds. From everyday memories to moments of change, from across Leeds and across generations, these personal pieces help show how the city…

Students from the University of Leeds tackle some important hidden histories in Leeds Libraries’ local collections Ben Beard, Grace Deane, Niave Kilkelly & Nic McDowell – Supervised by Dr Yuexin Rachel Lin On 3 June 1917, as the First World War entered its third gruelling year, more than one thousand delegates from trade unions, left-wing…

This week Jan Pinder concludes the Atkinson Grimshaw journey with an exploration of his, perhaps lesser known, beautiful portrait paintings. John Atkinson Grimshaw is most famous for his landscapes and in previous blog articles we have focused on his nocturnal scenes of urban lanes and his atmospheric paintings of the centre of Leeds.  However, Grimshaw…