George Edwin Ellison – Plaque Appeal George Edwin Ellison was a husband, father and miner. Born in 1878, Ellison went on to marry Hannah Burgan in 1912. They had one son, James, and subsequently made 49 Edmund Street, Leeds their home. Ellison had been a British soldier long before the Great War, but left service […]

Local Listing Workshop at Mabgate The inner-city area of Mabgate is one of the oldest established parts of Leeds and was central to the city’s industrialisation. At the end of the 18th century, as mills and factories were appearing across the city centre, Mabgate became somewhat of a hub for manufacturing. By 1850, it was […]

Stories from the Heritage at Risk List – The Majestic   One of Leeds’ true city centre icons is in the middle of a £40 million redevelopment which will return it to its former glory and a whole lot more. The Majestic building in City Square was purchased by Rushbond plc and the firm’s proposals for […]

Airey Homes The 20th Century Society recently spent the weekend in Leeds and for me one of the great finds was a complete estate of mostly unaltered Airey houses in Oulton.    Designed and built after the Second World War by Sir Edwin Airey of Leeds, these prefabricated houses consist of concrete columns, reinforced with […]

Stories from the Heritage at Risk List In 2013, as part of an English Heritage pilot project, Leeds Civic Trust played a leading role in surveying Grade 2 listed buildings in Leeds. Led by Jenna Strover, the Chair of the Trust’s Heritage at Risk Group, the team of approximately 20 volunteers managed to survey an […]

Rainbow Plaque 9 – Artist Robert H. Kitson Rainbow Plaque number 9, celebrating the life and works of Robert Hawthorn Kitson, can be found on the glass entrance to the Leeds Art Gallery. Kitson was a gay man from Leeds who chose to move to Italy at the turn of the 20th Century to escape […]

Mill Hill Chapel, situated opposite the train station at the bottom of Park Row, is the location of the fourth plaque on our Rainbow Plaque Trail. It commemorates the site at which, in 2014, Leeds’ first same-sex marriages were conducted within a religious context. The Marriage Act of 2013 legalised the marriage ceremonies of same-sex […]

Rainbow Plaque 15 – Celebrating 'Polari' Rainbow Plaque number 15 on our newly established Rainbow Plaque Trail around Leeds city centre celebrates the LGBT+ community’s use of ‘Polari’, a secret vocabulary used to avoid arousing suspicion at a time when being gay was a criminal offence. The plaque is situated at the entrance to the […]

Rainbow Plaques Launched In anticipation of Leeds Pride 2018 we launched our Rainbow Plaque Trail on the 1st August which celebrates the rich history of LGBT+ icons and events in Leeds. Together with Leeds LGBT+ Hub and Leeds City Council, the Trust has erected 15 plaques across the city centre to celebrate the LGBT+ community […]

The first thing that hits you is the noise… The first thing that hits you is the noise. And then the smell. A concentrated version of that odour you get from a plastic milk bottle that you forgot to rinse out. Thirty Civic Trust members joined the visit to Premier Waste Recycling Ltd, the site […]

What Price Air Quality Thank you for attending our recent What Price Air Quality event at the Albert Room. Please find below a link to each of the presentations;  Neil Evans – Director of Resources and Housing, Leeds City Council Dr James Tate – Associate Lecturer, Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds Dr Ian […]

First White Cloth Hall – Back to its Former Glory After years of neglect plans have been revealed to restore and revive Kirkgate’s First White Cloth Hall. The Cloth Hall owners, Rushbond, plan a sympathetic but striking redesign for the building, retaining and enhancing the archways, introducing a glass atrium and introducing a modern element […]

Temple Mill – Under the Hammer *December Update* Leeds City Council have released a statement indicating the likely costs and repairs needed to restore Temple Works. This makes it clear that any would be buyer would need to be serious about the buildings future before bidding. See their statement here. Leeds City Council – Temple […]

The North Bar Plaque – A Medieval Gateway to Leeds Step back in time with us to medieval Leeds, as today we unveil plaque number 164 for the ‘North Bar’. THE MEDIEVAL BARS OF LEEDS In the Middle Ages the boundaries of the built-up area of the town of Leeds were marked by bars. Leeds […]