This article forms part of our Heritage Open Day 2020 programme, specifically our Leeds City Centre Hidden Nature, Hidden History heritage trail. Click to see all the points on the trail and to read the accompanying articles… Prior to 1930 the area now known as Victoria Gardens was a busy, built up block consisting of…
Tag: Victoria Gardens
People of Leeds #8: Annie Tunnington
The eighth in an occasional series looking at forgotten contributors to the history of Leeds. This week, we tell the story of Annie Tunnington, the ‘Poppy Lady of Leeds’. You can view all entries in this People of Leeds series elsewhere on the blog. Annie Tunnington of Roundhay began selling poppies in response to the…
The Leeds Women Against the Clause March
Leeds Women Against the Clause March (5 March 1988) Victoria Gardens Over two thousand Leeds people marched against Clause 28 (Section 28) during the Stop the Clause Demonstration on the 5th of March, 1988. The March was organised by Leeds Women against the Clause and met in Victoria Gardens before marching through the city. The…
A History of the Leeds City War Memorial
As Remembrance Day draws near, librarian Helen Skilbeck looks back at the history of the war memorial in Victoria Gardens, close to Leeds Central Library. Until the 1930s, there were buildings occupying the now paved area that now runs the whole length of the Library, City Art Gallery and Henry Moore Institute. These included the Leeds…
Town Hall Terror
Local History Librarian, Helen Skilbeck, recounts a tale from our recent walking tours of Victoria Gardens – the area outside Leeds Central Library that has seen its fair share of history and still bears the shrapnel scars from an explosion 76 years ago… On the night of 15 March 1941, Leeds was under attack from…
The Secret Library | Leeds Libraries Heritage Blog 