Out for the day

Kirkstall Abbey church

Today was spent off the boat. We took a bus from the central bus station to Kirkstall Abbey, a 12th Century Cistercian foundation, similar to the perhaps better known Fountains and Rievaulx abbeys. Having spent half an hour looking around we crossed the road to the Abbey gateway which housed an interesting museum of Leeds life in the Victorian period, the main portion being devoted to streets of fully furnished 19th century shops.

After lunch we took another bus to Armley Mills, which when built in the early 19th century was the largest woollen mill in the world. Since it closed in the 1960's it has been converted to a museum showing the wool processing machinery and the manufacturing heritage of Leeds upto the 1960's. It was a very interesting couple of hours, though it was sad to realise that very few, if any, of the then major employers exist now.