Editing Kirkstall Abbey (section)

== Dissolution and later history ==
[[File:Thomas Girtin 003.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Kirkstall Abbey, by [[Thomas Girtin]]]]
On 22 November 1539 the abbey was surrendered to [[Henry VIII]]'s commissioners in the Dissolution of the monasteries.<ref name="Dis">{{Citation |title=Kirkstall History Dissolution|url=http://cistercians.shef.ac.uk/kirkstall/history/dissolution/| publisher=shef.ac.uk |access-date=15 March 2010}}</ref> It was awarded to [[Thomas Cranmer]] in 1542, but reverted to the crown when Cranmer was executed in 1556. Sir Robert Savile purchased the estate in 1584, and it remained in his family's hands for almost a hundred years. In 1671 it passed into the hands of the Brudenell family, the [[Earl of Cardigan|Earls of Cardigan]]. Much of the stone was removed for re-use in other buildings in the area, including the steps leading to the river bank by [[Leeds Bridge]], in the town centre.<ref>{{cite news |title=Leeds nostalgia: Leeds Bridge |url=https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/your-leeds/nostalgia/leeds-nostalgia-leeds-bridge-1-7215683 |access-date=30 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001031237/https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/your-leeds/nostalgia/leeds-nostalgia-leeds-bridge-1-7215683 |archive-date=1 October 2018 |work=Yorkshire Evening Post |date=20 April 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

During the 18th century the picturesque ruins attracted artists of the [[Romanticism|Romantic movement]] and were painted by artists including [[J. M. W. Turner]], [[John Sell Cotman]] and [[Thomas Girtin]].<ref name="YAS">{{Citation|title=Celebrating 850 years of Kirkstall Abbey|url=http://www.medieval.yas.org.uk/content/kirkstall.html|publisher=Yorkshire Archaeological Society|access-date=15 March 2010|archive-date=4 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004055558/http://www.medieval.yas.org.uk/content/kirkstall.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1889 the abbey was sold to [[John Thomas North|Colonel John North]], who presented it to [[Leeds City Council]]. The Council undertook a major restoration project and the abbey was opened to the public in 1895.<ref name="IoE">{{NHLE |num=1256668 |desc=Kirkstall Abbey |access-date=15 March 2010}}</ref>

The [[African Americans|African American]] novelist [[William Wells Brown]] visited Kirkstall Abbey in 1851, writing about his experience.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Williams|first=Joe|date=27 October 2020|title=Nature Prevails at Kirkstall Abbey|url=https://museumsandgalleries.leeds.gov.uk/featured/nature-kirkstall-abbey/|access-date=31 October 2020|website=Leeds Museums and Galleries}}</ref> Using poetry and poetic language, he described the 'pensive beauty' of the desolate ruins in their 'pastoral luxuriance' showing his appreciation of British literature as well as an interest in nature and local history.<ref name=":1" />

Little [[archaeological excavation|excavation]] took place before 1890, after which [[William St John Hope]] led an investigation of the abbey walls and some trees were removed. Extensive excavations were carried out during the 1950s by Leeds City Museums staff (now Leeds Museums & Galleries) under the direction of W. V. Wade of [[Leeds University]].<ref>Owen, D. E., ''Preface'' to [[Thoresby Society]] (1955), ''Kirkstall Abbey Excavations 1950-1954'', pp. ix-x</ref>