Kirkstall Abbey lies on the north bank of the River Aire northwest of Leeds, in a public park. Henry de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract, promised to found an abbey to the Virgin Mary if he recovered from a serious illness. Abbot Alexander led twelve Cistercian monks from Fountains Abbey, who settled at Barnoldswick in 1147 and moved to Kirkstall in 1152. Most of the buildings were completed by 1182, from stone quarried at Bramley Fall.
The style is early Cistercian and early Gothic, with round-headed windows and doorways, pointed vaulting arches and plain windows. The church has a short chancel and transepts with three chapels each. A cloister, a chapter house and refectories survive.
The abbey surrendered to Henry VIII's commissioners on November 22, 1539. Colonel John North gave it to Leeds City Council, which restored it and opened it in 1895. It is Grade I listed.
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