A Day At The Museum

Day three of the Community Reporters course and we are heading off to another new destination for myself ‘Leeds City Museum‘. Being new to both Leeds and Yorkshire I was keen to find out more about the city in which I now reside.

Well first thing, Leeds is home to 700,000 people who are traditionally known as Loiners. Leeds didn’t officially become a city until 1893 after learning that rival Sheffield was about to apply to become a city. First two nuggets of information picked up and I’d only just walked in through the door.

After viewing the vast amount of glass filled cabinets and display cases I came across a bit of south Leeds history which I wasn’t aware of. In 1812 Matthew Murray built the world’s first commercially successful steam powered railway locomotive in Leeds. Leeds became a mecca for locomotive manufacture, with many of the suppliers being based in Hunslet.

The Jenny Lind was built at the railway Foundry in Hunslet, once the largest locomotive manufacturer in the world.

It was fantastic for me to be able to see views of where I live now, such as this picture which is a view of Church Street and Wood Lane in Rothwell.

A short but very interesting trip to the museum and sure to return.

 

This article was written by David Brain using our Community Reporters website