Your itinerary for Leeds when discovering Amazing Women by Rail ....
At Leeds leave at the front of the station and go up Park Row to reach Leeds Art Gallery (LS1 3AA); in the basement is the visitor information centre.
Cafe; shop; toilets.
Ask for a street map.
In the same building is Leeds Central Library (LS1 3AB) which has an excellent local studies library with special collections on Women of Leeds including Mary Gawthorpe; Alice Scatcherd and many others.
Turn right out of the library and head for Great George Street; go past Leeds Infirmary and take the footbridge over the inner ring road.
Ahead is Woodhouse Square; at number 6 is a blue plaque for Ellen Heaton (LS3 1AD) patron of the arts and camapigner ; on the other side of the square at Claremont Villas ( LS2 9NY) is a blue plaque for suffrage campaigner Leonora Cohen.
The park in the centre of Woodhouse Square is small and peaceful; there is a sandstone plaque for another great Leeds woman - Mary Pearce, the first woman councillor to be Lord Mayor of Leeds.
Or: from the library turn left up Cookridge Street, past the Carriageworks for The City Museum (LS2 8BH) has a Story of Leeds exhibition with information on famous women from Leeds, along with excellent sections on ancient and natural history.
Cafe; shop; toilets.
Turn right out of the station and walk down Boar Lane; on your left is Holy Trinity Church (LS1 6HW); there is a blue plaque for Lady Betty Hastings who donated £1000 towards building the church.
If the weather is fine, visit Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills (LS12 2QF), a half hour walk along the canal towpath from the station. Head south on New Station Street, take the pedestrian tunnel stairs and continue onto Wharf Approach.
This museum tells a fascinating story about the lives of working people.
Alternatively, take a 15 bus to Armley.
The Marks And Spencers Company Archive is in the Michael Marks Building within the University of Leeds western campus (LS2 9LP).
This is about a mile from the city centre so take one of the variety of buses to the Parkinson Building on Woodhouse Lane; or number 56 bus to the Business School which is in front of the archive.
