Cliffe Castle Museum
![]() Cliffe Castle Museum, Keighley | |
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Established | c. 1892 as Keighley Museum at Eastwood House, Keighley. Reopened in 1959 at the former Cliffe Hall as Cliffe Castle Museum. |
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Location | Spring Gardens Lane, Keighley, West Yorkshire, England BD20 6LH |
Type | Heritage centre, Historic house museum. |
Visitors | 65,000 (2010) |
Public transit access | Keighley railway station; bus information from Bradford Interchange |
Website | www.bradfordmuseums.org |
Cliffe Castle Museum,
History
It is believed that Keighley Museum was established in 1893, because that is when its first location, Eastwood House, Keighley, was purchased for the public.[2] In 1950 the local benefactor Sir Bracewell Smith purchased Cliffe Castle, and had it redesigned as a museum and art gallery for the people of Keighley.[3] The museum re-opened as Cliffe Castle Museum and Art Gallery in 1959.[4]
The building
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/Marie-Louise_Pierrepont%2C_Countess_Manvers_%28cropped%29.jpg/180px-Marie-Louise_Pierrepont%2C_Countess_Manvers_%28cropped%29.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Cliffe_Hall%2C_later_Cliffe_Castle.jpg/220px-Cliffe_Hall%2C_later_Cliffe_Castle.jpg)
Cliffe Hall was built by Christopher Netherwood between 1828 and 1833, and designed by
By 1887, the Cliffe Castle Estate had around 300
In 1949, the building and grounds were bought by Keighley Corporation with the assistance of Sir Bracewell Smith, a local benefactor, who in 1955, paid for the conversion of the house for public use. The house had been
Galleries and rooms
Entrance vestibule, Reception rooms and Great Drawing Room
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/Cliffe_Castle_Stairs.jpg/220px-Cliffe_Castle_Stairs.jpg)
The vestibule and staircase show the Victorian eclectic
The window was designed by Powells of
Working Landscapes gallery, the Airedale gallery, Archaeology Area gallery and Natural History gallery
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Cliffecastlemus_015.jpg/220px-Cliffecastlemus_015.jpg)
The Working Landscapes gallery displays local crafts and trades of the past. There is a video of
Molecules to Minerals gallery
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Cliffecastlemus_014.jpg/220px-Cliffecastlemus_014.jpg)
This display was created in 1988,[10] and incorporates collections from several museums in the Bradford area.[2] It includes the Ellison Collection, given by Ilkley Museum in 1928.[11] Very few of the collections are named in the display.
Some of the specimens are from the Hinchcliffe Collection. This comprises 800 specimens from the Gem Rock Museum at
There are over a thousand specimens here, including a display of glowing rocks.Sir Bracewell Smith Hall
This space was created in the 1950s when the castle was converted to a museum. It was restored to its original colour scheme in 2013, and the Octagonal lantern returned to its former position in the hall. The octagonal lantern was specifically designed for the space by Sir Albert Richardson in the 1950s, who was the architect who led the conversion of the building. It is sometimes incorrectly referenced as a 19th-century Chinese lantern.
The colour scheme and gilding was restored on the basis of paint scrapings, confirmed by a painting of the hall design done by Sir Albert Richardson, which can be seen within the space itself. Prior to refurbishment, the space was used to host temporary exhibitions, it now displays a permanent selection of items that have been selected from the museum collections.[12]
The Egyptians gallery
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Cliffecastlemus_042.jpg/220px-Cliffecastlemus_042.jpg)
The display includes a mummy of an Egyptian girl dating from the Ptolemaic dynasty (c. 250 BCE), and covers the Ancient Egyptian belief in the afterlife.
Breakfast Room
This downstairs room acts as an accessible space for themes covered upstairs.[3]
Conservatory and stained glass gallery
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/Cliffecastlemus_064.jpg/220px-Cliffecastlemus_064.jpg)
This room contains a small selection of larger exhibits and is often used as a teaching or activity room. Exhibits in the conservatory include a marble statue of the Virgin Mary and Child, that originally belonged to Henry Isaac Butterfield and was returned to the Castle by St Annes Church, Keighley. Recent additions include the a wooden First World War memorial plaque from the Temple Street Methodist Church Keighley which accompanied the Morris memorial windows that are now installed in the Stained Glass gallery.[13] The stained glass gallery contains some of the earliest William Morris stained glass in the country.[3]
Keighley Stories gallery
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Cliffecastlemus_063.jpg/220px-Cliffecastlemus_063.jpg)
This gallery aims to tell the story of Keighley. It includes the
Mansion to Museum gallery, and Local Pottery gallery
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e9/Cliffecastlemus_059.jpg/220px-Cliffecastlemus_059.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/Cliffecastlemus_073.jpg/220px-Cliffecastlemus_073.jpg)
This gallery, round the top of the octagonal Sir Bracewell Smith Hall, shows the development of the building from a Victorian private house to a contemporary museum. The "Chinese Chandelier", which held wooden harpies, once hung in Cliffe Castle.[15] The chandelier has since been restored (with the harpies) and rehung in the Bracewell Smith Hall. It was designed for the space in the 1950s, although often described as 19th century. The displays in the Local Pottery gallery are placed in recognition of a past local skill, and a trade which was significant in the Keighley area. An alternative tradition to this local industrial tradition was that inspired by Japanese and British Arts & Crafts precedents.
Other aspects of the museum
- The Friends of Cliffe Castle is the society which has researched and supported much of the restoration and improvement to the museum which has taken place in recent years. A leaflet about the society is available at the museum.[16]
- Education programme: School workshops and trails can be booked for Key Stages 1–3, and occasionally for adult and SEN groups.[17]
See also
References
- ^ Historic England. "Cliffe Castle (Museum) (1200609)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
- ^ better source needed]
- ^ a b c d e f g Leaflet: Cliffe Castle Museum, 2007.
- ^ "The history behind Cliffe Castle Park..." Cliffe Castle Park. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f "Historic Houses of West Yorkshire – Cliffe Castle, Keighley" (PDF). West Yorkshire Archaeology Service, 1995. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ Pevsner, N (1968). Yorkshire: The West Riding - Volume 17 of His "The Buildings of England". Penguin Books. p. 282. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
Along its continuation to the North is the lodge of Cliffe Castle, a manufacturer's mansion on the wooded hillside, with asymmetrically placed tower, and shaped Jacobean gables....
- ^ a b c d "The history of Cliffe Castle Park from 1960". Cliffe Castle Park. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ "The Telegraph and Argus". 1 April 2002. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
In 1918, the 29-year-old Marie-Louise Butterfield, who married Capt Gervas Evelyn Pierrepont, and later became Countess Manvers when her husband succeeded to the Thoresby Hall estate, in Nottinghamshire....
- ISBN 9780715347669. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ a b Memorandum from A. Armstrong (Natural Science Curator) to Museum staff, 17 May 2002.
- ^ Edwards, Gavin; Shillitoe, Denise (1992). Ilkley and its Museum, 1892–1992.
- ^ As per interpretation within the hall
- ^ As at June 2016
- ^ "Vale n Dale: Public Houses, Pubs, Beer Houses and Hotels in Keighley". Royal Hotel Damside. Valendale. 2009. Archived from the original on 23 March 2010. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
- ^ See label on wall of Mansion to Museum Gallery.
- ^ Leaflet: Friends of Cliffe Castle (available at the Museum).
- ^ "Cliffe Castle Museum website: Education programme page". Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2009.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- http://www.bradfordmuseums.org/venues/cliffe-castle-museum Archived 18 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine