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Social History Collection

Social history material is primarily in the collection of the former Bideford town museum and is presently in store. It includes pewter plates, a chimney stack and oak pins from a local house.

Subjects

Social History

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collections at Burton Constable were initially brought together by the Constable family from the 16th century onwards and are of national importance as they reflect the economic and social progression and decline of a Catholic landowning family in East Yorkshire. Although most of the surviving objects were collected during the 18th and 19th century, the collections include a significant amount of material dating from earlier periods, in particular ancestral portraits and archive material relating to the management of the estates.

Whilst the time period (pre-history – 20th century) and geographical range (worldwide) of the collection is extremely broad, the overriding priority is that only items that have previously belonged at Burton Constable will be collected.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2023

Licence: CC BY-NC

Burton Constable is a large Tudor Jacobean country house, the home of the Constable family. In 1992 this grade I building passed to the Burton Constable Foundation (hereinafter called the Foundation) together with 300 acres of grade II* parkland and most of the contents when the Foundation was set up and endowed by the National Heritage Memorial Fund. Under the terms of the agreement, the fine and decorative art collections, books and manuscript material were given to Leeds City Council on the understanding that they remain in situ at Burton Constable – or at Beverley Record Office in the case of the archive. The exceptional collections of scientific instruments, numismatic, geological, conchological and natural history specimens assembled by William Constable (1721-91) remained the property of the Foundation. Descendants of the Chichester Constable family still live in one wing of the mansion and have retained a number of items from the historic collection.

The collections at Burton Constable are of outstanding importance, since they include treasures brought back from successive Grand Tours, furnishings made by local tradesmen and magnificent objects commissioned from leading London firms. Many splendid English and continental masterpieces were acquired during the 19th century, adding another layer of history to the many periods displayed throughout the Hall.

Cabinet of Curiosity and Scientific Collections (18th Century)

The collection of a remarkable cabinet of curiosities including scientific instruments was brought together in the 18th century by William Constable (1721-91). Of national and international importance, the collection is the most significant and intact 18th century Cabinet of Curiosities to survive in any English country house. The collection covers a broad range of materials including scientific instruments, numismatics, archaeology, geological, conchological and natural history specimens. It is accompanied by a range of related scientific books, manuscripts and archive materials including vouchers recording purchases and correspondence around William Constable’s scientific investigations.

Historic Furniture and Interiors

The majority of the surviving interiors and furniture date to the 18th century when William Constable embarked on an ambitious scheme to re-fashion his house in the tastes of the day. William employed some of the most notable architects and designers of the day to furnish him with designs. Within the furniture collections are internationally recognised craftsmen, most notably both Elder and Younger Chippendale; a collection of Chippendale seat furniture supplied for the Great Drawing Room is the largest set to survive in-tact in its original context. In addition to the wider-known craftsmen, the collections also include a significant amount of furniture produced by regional craftsmen. In the 19th century local craftsmen and decorators were commissioned to both supply new furnishings and make alterations to the surviving 18th century collections. During the 19th century it became common for the family themselves to play a part in designing pieces of furniture, with some sketches still surviving in the Hall’s print room.

Fine and Decorative Art Collections

The most significant fine and decorative art collections date to the 18th century and include Grand Tour acquisitions. As with many of Burton Constable’s collections these are of national importance due to their rare survival intact in their original setting, including a rare and substantial collection sulphur casts of the engraved gem collection belonging to the Farnese family of Florence, Italy. Following the 1821 passing of the estate to the Clifford family of Tixall in Staffordshire the family relocated to Burton Constable, bringing with them ancestral paintings and decorative art collections previously belonging to Tixall Hall (demolished late 19th century).

Books, Manuscripts, Prints and Archive Material

The collection of historic books and manuscripts were brought together in the early 18th century by Cuthbert (Tunstall) Constable and added to by his son William Constable, with the Clifford Constable and Chichester Constable adding a smaller number of volumes in the 19th and 20th Centuries. While further research is required the collection is known to hold rare editions of books not listed in the any other library collection. A huge amount of archive material survives, providing a wealth of academic research potential relating to the management of the estates, family correspondence and vouchers giving a glimpse of the running of an English country house estate. Accompanying the archive material is a substantial collection of prints, architectural drawings and designs; these include drawings by Robert Adam, Thomas Chippendale, Capability Brown, Timothy Lightoler and other prestigious 18th century architects.

Country House Paraphernalia and Other Collections

In addition to the above, the collections at Burton Constable include the remarkable survival of country house paraphernalia such as servant quarters interiors and equipment. These provide insight into how large stately-home mansions were managed during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Source: Collection development policy

Date:

Licence: CC BY-NC

Local and Social History

The social history collections reflect local life. They include domestic items displayed in reconstructed room settings, washing and laundry equipment, blacksmith’s and wheelwright’s tools, plumbing and carpentry equipment, education, village shop and an Edwardian revolving summerhouse. The collections include garage and motoring equipment and the reconstructed cab of a ‘Burwell and District bus. The agricultural collections include hand tools and machinery such as tractors, seed drills, ploughs and wagons, all from the local area. ;The museum collections include memorabilia from both the First and the Second World Wars. Military uniforms from the Second World War. Working automatic telephone exchange from the 1950’s/60’s.;The small archaeology collection includes a reconstruction of Roman pottery kiln from near Huntingdon and an Anglo-Saxon skeleton from Burwell. The Burwell Photographic Archive contains several hundred images of activities, people, events and buildings from 1900-1999. The museum also shows videos of archive film from East Anglia. The archive collection includes old maps of Burwell.

Folklife

The collection of folklore items is of national significance. Many of these items were collected by the late Enid Porter, a former Curator of the museum, author of ‘Cambridgeshire Customs and Folklore’ and editor of many memoirs of Fenland life, and a renowned folklorist. It contains many examples which are rarely found in museums and the objects are well supported by Porter’s writings. The museum has an interesting and important collection of objects associated with childhood. The objects range from items associated with the rearing of children, such as nursery furniture and clothing, as well as their toys and games. The museum possesses an extremely important selection of dolls houses and a good range of dolls.

Local and Social History

The main themes of the collection are: Community Life: cultural traditions, social organisation, health and welfare, education, public utilities and amenities, entertainment, sport, communications, ceremonial, currency and defence. Domestic, Family and Personal Life: housing and household management, food and drink, hobbies, crafts and pastimes, costume, personal health and welfare. Working Life: agriculture, manufacturing, the professions, commerce and aspects of University life. The collections include three-dimensional objects; documents and books (primary and secondary sources);iconographic sources (pictures, paintings and maps); and photographs, film and electronic archives and tape-recordings ;The museum has a good collection of paintings, prints, watercolours and drawings of local scenes and people. Also, four inn signs held at the museum painted by local artist Richard Hopkins Leach in the 1840s. ;The museum has an interesting collection of costume that includes working costume and university costume. There is a good collection of needlework samplers. The museum has a collection of agricultural tools, mainly those associated with the distinctive way of life in the Fens. Local and British coins and tokens. The museum has a collection of books and printed ephemera, such as posters, trade bills and receipts, notices, programmes, catalogues etc and some manuscript archives. ;Tape recordings featuring local people. The museums holds an extensive photographic archive, including both original and copy images of people, place, events and activities in Cambridge and Cambridgeshire from the 19th century onwards. Some of these images have been captured digitally. There is also a collection of film.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre consists of two distinct collections, the art collection and the museum collection. Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre is committed to collecting, preserving and interpreting the cultural heritage of Bury and its satellite towns (Ramsbottom, Radcliffe, Prestwich, Whitefield, Tottington) for the learning and enjoyment of the whole community.

Art Gallery Collections

Bury Art Gallery opened in 1901. The founding fine art collection, the Wrigley Gift (Thomas Wrigley was a local paper manufacturer) is strong in high quality 19^th century British painting (including good examples of the work of Turner, Constable, Landseer, Linnell and Cox). Early on, other local benefactors followed the Wrigley family’s example by donating gallery-quality paintings or complete collections for example the Thomas Aitken Bequest, 1915, (Clausen, Fantin-Latour, Deutsch, Weiland); these gifts tend to reinforce existing strengths. The Art Gallery continues to accept gifts that develop these strengths within the collection such as landscape painting, figurative art and narrative works. Membership of the Contemporary Art Society enables us to bring these strengths up to date. The tradition of purchasing works of art, local (views of Bury, works by local artists & works formerly owned by Bury people) & non- local, from temporary exhibitions held here started in 1908 continues to this day. There are now over 1000 works of art in Bury’s collection.

In March 2013, The Text Art Archive, based in Bury Art Museum, was established in conjunction with Bury Archives Service and the Centre for Poetics at Birkbeck University of London with the intention of documenting, securing and making easily available information on the history and practice of Language Art. The Archive holds hundreds of physical and digital items including scanned images, correspondence, artists’ personal documents, audio, video, and original artworks. The Text Art Archive’s aim is to stimulate critical thinking and writing in the field around the subject and to re-imagine the role of an archive by unlocking its artistic wealth by inviting artists to work with the archive and create new works.

The artwork in the collection stretches back to the 1960s and includes: ‘typestracts’ by Dom Sylvester Houedard; a collection of Writers’ Forum publications and works by Richard Pinkney also dating from the 1960s. Some of the contemporary works include and 68 prints of hand-drawn visual poems by Robert Grenier, a contemporary American poet associated with the Language School, work by Lawrence Weiner, Maurizio Nannucci, Caroline Bergvall, Liz Collini, Phil Davenport, David Osbaldeston, Tim Etchells, Pavel Buchler and Janice Kerbel.

Museum Collections

Bury Museum (on the lower ground floor of the Art Museum) opened in 1907. The character of the founding collections given to the Corporation dictated the direction and development of the Museum collection until the 1970s. Up until then the Museum consisted of non-local natural history, archaeology, geology and ethnography. Now that the direction of collecting has changed emphatically towards social history, these early collections are only added to if there is a strong local connection to justify acquisition.

Since Local Government reorganisation the 1974 the Museum collections have developed to become an important, core, local/social history resource representing all aspects of life in every part of the Borough. Social history objects fall into the categories of clothing & textiles, commemorative items, ceramics, domestic items, furniture, medicine, religion, retail, sport & leisure, tobacco, toys & games, trades & professions, war, weights & measures, writing & papers. There are around 61,000 objects in Bury’s collections and the collections continue to grow steadily usually by gift, with around 100 acquisitions each year.

Some objects from the collections are of significant historical importance, such as a Thomas Lees long case clock, George III Spade Guineas, Sir Robert Peel’s cradle, Bronze Age urns, a Roman bracelet and coins, 2 Celtic heads, bronze age cinerary urns, Roman pottery, Hutchinson family furniture, African ivories, Wedgwood vases and one hundred and fifty pieces of Pilkington’s Royal Lancastrian pottery.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: Not known

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collection comprises items from, or with close connections to, the Islands of Bute and Inchmarnock. The collections on display are laid out in themed cases.

In the History Gallery these are – Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Early Christian, Viking, Churches, Toys, Schools, Trades and Professions, Farming, Industry, Steamers, Wartime Bute. The reserve collection for the History Gallery comprises items of lesser importance which are available for study by appointment and also used by school parties and other visiting groups.

The Natural History Collection is also laid out in themed cases and comprises a geological collection, a botanical section and specimens of birds, mammals and insects from the island of Bute. During the summer months there is a display of fresh plant material showing the variety of flowering plants on Bute.

The library contains a collection of material connected to Bute including photographs, postcards, glass plates and slides, documents, (original and copies), maps and family trees. A collection of books also includes more general works on natural history, geology, archaeology and shipping. There is also a collection of paintings whose subjects or artists have a local connection.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

Archaeology Collection

Local significance and National Importance. The archaeological collections cover the period of earliest evidence of people in the Peak District to the medieval period, c.1400. The collections are particularly rich in archaeological remains from caves, with a collection of Pleistocene vertebrae which is of national importance and in artefacts from the Peak District Roman forts. The F.A. Holmes collection of stone implements contain Eolithic and Palaeolithic tools from around the world. Most of the important finds are published and constitute a highly important record of the Roman presence in the South Pennines. Collections predominantly from 19th and early 20th century excavations.

Subjects

Roman period; Archaeology; Prehistoric period; Archaeological objects; Archaeological excavations

Social History Collection

Local significance. The collection related principally to Buxton and a radius of about five miles and includes material from the 17th century to the present day. Of particular importance are souvenirs of the town and relics of local industry. There are social history objects relating to local government, law and order and toys. There are ephemera collections relating to the local history of Buxton, in particular the Ros McCoola collection of theatre ephemera related to the Buxton Opera House.

Subjects

Theatrical production; Local government; Law; Social history; Toys; Souvenirs; Theatre

Biology Collection

The biology collection is small with little material of local significance, it includes lepidoptera collection of the Rev Green of Buxton and a collection of shells and coral deposited from John Turner House. Active collecting not pursued.

Subjects

Natural sciences; Coral; Shells; Insects; Biology

Photography Collection

Regional significance. The principal collection is the J.R. Board photographic archive dating from c. 1860-c.1960, which was amassed by a single family firm. The collection includes glass plates, prints and negative material and provides a unique record of Buxton for the period. In addition the museum holds a collection of local views of Buxton and Derbyshire.

Subjects

Photographic equipment; Photographs

Personalia Collection

Local significance. Collection contains the archives of Sir William Boyd Dawkins and J.W.Jackson. Including specimens, tools, records, photographs and correspondence with the foremost scientists of the day including Darwin, Owen, Pengely and Huxley.

Subjects

Scientific research; Scientific heritage; Personal history; Scientific equipment; Personal property; Personal archives; Science

Science and Industry Collection

Local history collections, besides material relating to Ashford Marble and Blue John industries, also includes some coal mining, lead mining and quarrying material. Local significance.

Subjects

Quarrying; Local history; Geology; Lead mining; Coal mining; Science; Crafts; Industry

Decorative and Applied Arts Collection

The collection contains the best representative collection of Ashford Marble ornaments, and the Blue John and Spar collections which are manufactured locally also rank high in British collections. Other material is present in the collection closely linked to local history, e.g. glass, stained glass, souvenir ware, and furniture. Local and National significance.

Subjects

Ceramics; Decorative glass; Decorative arts; Furniture; Geology; Marble; Glass; Minerals; Crafts

Geology Collection

Local and Regional significance. The collection contains the important geology collections of Sir William Boyd Dawkins and Dr J.W. Jackson. The Jackson collection of Lower Carboniferous fossils (c 17,000 specimens) is of national importance and covers the palaeontology of the Peak District. The collections are strong in mineralogy, but weak in named rock types. Some of the Pleistocene collections are of national importance (e.g. Dove Holes mammalia).

Subjects

Rocks; Fossils; Geology; Palaeontology; Minerals

Fine Art Collection

Local significance and National interest. The permanent collection contains about 400 paintings, drawings and prints. Two major strengths: English 19th C watercolours and 20th century European prints. Of the collection of oil paintings, main strength are English works 1900-1950, including Brangwyn, Chagall, Utrillo, Augustus John and Lowry. Remaining works are generally topographical views of Derbyshire in all media.

Subjects

Watercolour painting; Fine arts; Paintings; Prints; Drawings; Topography

Local Studies Library Collection

Regional significance. The collection includes the J.R. Board photographic archive dating from c.1860 to 1960, amassed by a single family firm. This includes glass plates, prints and negatives of Buxton and local social history, plus ephemera. The ephemera include the Ros McCoola collection of theatre ephemera related to the Buxton opera house.

Subjects

Local history; Photographs; Social history

Buxton Museum Theatre Collection

The theatrical holdings of Buxton Museum comprise several collections: Buxton playbills 1790s+ (especially 19th century); Buxton programmes, mainly early 20th century, but also now including the run for Buxton Playhouse 1946-65; the Jill Dick Collection of ephemera relating to Chapel-en-le-Frith (Jill was a theatre critic for the High Peak area, late 1960s-1980s); and the McCoola Collection, which contains photographs, cuttings, ephemera for Buxton theatre history and the reinstatement of the Buxton Opera House and Buxton Festival. There is also a small collection of ephemera relating to Harry Houdini in the Randolf Douglas Collection.; None Buxton Museum and Art Gallery, Derbyshire County Council.

Subjects

Regional theatre; 18th century; 19th century; 20th century; Peak District; Theatre; Performers

Ethnography Collection

International interest. The collection contains some specimens within the Boyd Dawkins and the Douglas collections. Not actively collected.

Subjects

Ethnology

Transport Collection

Local interest. Collection contains some material relating to local transport.

Subjects

Transport

Numismatics Collection

The collection contains coins dating from the Roman periods to the present day and a collection of trade tokens. Most important is the Buxton coin hoard collected from the Natural Baths in Buxton and on loan from High Peak Borough Council, but the collection is representative of almost all periods. Local significance.

Subjects

Roman period; Numismatics; Tokens; Coins

Professor Dawkins Library Collection

Regional significance. The collection covers the subject of caving.

Subjects

Geographical exploration; Caves

Randolf Douglas Collection

Collection of books and ephemera relating to Houdini. National significance.

Subjects

Escapes; Magic; Personal history; Personal property

J.W. Jackson Library Collection

Regional significance. A collection on caves, fossils and minerals.

Subjects

Fossils; Geology; Palaeontology

Archives Collection

Collection includes important archive information associated with geology and archaeology – the Boyd Dawkins and Jackson archive. Local history collection includes printed ephemera. Local significance.

Subjects

Printed ephemera; Local history; Archaeology; Geology; Archives

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Calderdale Industrial Museum evolved to tell the story of industry in Calderdale with the emphasis on textiles and engineering.

It started with a remarkable man, John Magson, who joined the Halifax museums service in 1950. He devoted 33 years to building up important collections, particularly of early textile machinery during the post-war period when Halifax was beginning to lose its reputation as ‘the town of 100 trades’.

His dream was to create a museum reflecting the growth of local industry, commerce and related culture at a time when industrial archaeology was not highly valued by many institutions. The Government’s textile reduction schemes had resulted in vast quantities of historic machinery being scrapped, so John Magson used any available, albeit minimal, resources to rescue important machines and equipment, with little help and virtually no storage.

Premises were required to display such a collection and when the Piece Hall was saved from demolition and new uses sought, it was identified as an appropriate site for such a facility.

The Rustic (middle) level housed the pre-industrial museum, dealing with domestic woollen and worsted cloth production. Live demonstrations of spinning, carding and weaving were given by staff, and attracted vast numbers of schools, local visitors and tourists. The Arcade (ground floor) level was designated for the heavier machinery and although the space within the Piece Hall was ideally situated for this it was clear that, to represent 100 trades, and bearing in mind that Halifax was by this time part of the wider Calderdale, more space was urgently needed. The decision was made to purchase Albion Works, Square Road, the rear gable of which backed onto the Piece Hall. The premises had latterly been used by John Stirk, machine tool builders.

Early in 1982 it was decided to create the Calderdale Industrial Museum, representing the industrial and social life of an area approximately 20 miles long and 10 miles wide, through the previous 250 years, which was no mean feat.

At that time the Government ran the Community Programme which later became the Manpower Service Commission. This body was approached and a major scheme launched to convert the empty warehouse into a lively working museum run by knowledgeable and dedicated staff.

The project ran from October 1982 to August 1985 and in total employed approximately 200 people including all manner of skilled tradespersons and also researchers, graphic designers, students from local colleges and apprentices on loan from local companies. The small building next to the museum was converted into an engineering workshop, so that very little work had to be contracted out.

The museum included machines, from carpet, wire, moquette, woollen and worsted manufacture and related industries as well as a range of journals and text books. It was very much a working museum with many of the exhibits still functioning and regularly demonstrated.

The museum opened in August 1985 and was an instant success, later winning a national award as best museum of industrial and social history. It was staffed by skilled qualified engineers who had previously worked on the MSC scheme. A lively education programme included occasional theatrical productions, and the workshop, apart from maintaining the exhibits, was used to manufacture items for other council departments, thus raising additional income. Overall Calderdale Industrial Museum was considered to be a very valuable educational and cultural resource.

In 2000 the museum was closed to the public due to reduced Council funding. However, there were plans to continue to use it as an educational resource for schools; the top floor was re-modelled to become an arts and interactive space, and the ground floor an arts store for Calderdale, though much of the machinery was removed to an external store. Many people lamented its closure and believed it to be to be far too important a resource to be inaccessible, and in May 2011 a public meeting was called by a group of engineering and heritage enthusiasts regarding the reopening of the museum. The interest was such that the Calderdale Industrial Museum Association (CIMA) was formed and a formal proposal was made to Calderdale Council that the museum be reopened and run by volunteers. In 2013 CIMA became a limited company and work is currently ongoing to refurbish both the exhibits and the building with the aim of reopening the museum on a regular basis In the meantime CIMA has run successful open days (seven in 2012/2013, six in 2014, one in 2015 and two in 2016) and plan to open regularly on a Saturday from September 2017.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2019

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collection aims to present a broad cross-section of the wide variety of industries which prospered throughout present day Calderdale, during the period between the late eighteenth century and the mid twentieth century.

The collection is housed in a pair of late nineteenth century wool warehouses, which later served a variety of uses including garment and boot and shoe manufacture, and foundry pattern making.

The collection is housed on four levels.

THE TOP FLOOR: covers the history of textiles, mainly wool.

The plan is to show the process from fleece to piece. The museum holds a significant collection of early pre-industrial artefacts, including a rare Spinning Jenny, one of only a handful of original such machines surviving in the UK. A treadle operated knitting machine represents the early hosiery manufacture in Halifax.

Worsted manufacture developed in Halifax during the early eighteenth century. Presently under development is a display of the method most commonly used in Halifax for the preparation and spinning of worsted, through to weaving the finished cloth, as carried out in the early twentieth century.

THE FIRST FLOOR: displays the history and variety of industries and manufacturing in Calderdale.

The Cork Display This display illustrates the manufacture of cork pulleys and was originally set up with assistance of the Science Museum; it is the only display of such equipment in the country. Halifax also had an important importer and processor of cork products.

Leather Working Leather belting and later synthetic products were universally used for machine drives throughout the textile and engineering industries; making of the former is illustrated in the display, alongside pickers for looms which were an important product of the Todmorden area in Calderdale, Robinson Brothers of nearby Horton Street.

Cat’s Eyes Display Invented in Boothtown, Halifax, by Percy Shaw, and patented in 1934, reflecting road studs were described in a House of Commons debate as “the most brilliant invention ever produced in the interests of road safety”.

Transport Display This represents the importance of the transport network of pack horse tracks, turnpikes, canals and railways for the movement of the district’s manufactures, and the value of post for communications.

Carpet Display Two large carpet looms illustrate the Jacquard principle and both the Brussels and Wilton methods of manufacture. Calderdale was a major centre for carpet manufacture and included the world famous John Crossley & Sons, once owners of the largest carpet factory in the world.

Moquette Loom John Holdsworth sold their moquette fabrics to upholsterers and to bus, rail and tram manufacturers worldwide. Their loom is one of the museum highlights.

Knitting Display Hosiery was another local industry, here represented by both circular hand driven knitting machines used at home and their larger industrial counterparts. There is also an example of a flat knitting machine of a type used in the local clothing trade.

Clothing Industry Display This was a dominant area of manufacture within the Calder Valley, particularly in and around Hebden Bridge. A reproduction of a clothing workshop includes a locally made band saw, cutting table and sewing bench.

Halifax Building Society Display The importance of thrift and the story of building societies’ movement is presented in a display of the Halifax Permanent Benefit Building Society. It is represented by a display charting the society’s establishment in 1853, its progress through the creation of a branch network to become the world’s largest society by 1913, and its merger in 1928 with the second largest society, the Halifax Equitable Building Society, to become the Halifax Building Society. Today it remains one of the most important parts of the retail banking sector of Lloyds Banking Group.

Washing Machine Display Important local manufacturer ADA from the 1950s, later Philips, and still represented by Croslee, tumble dryer manufacturer.

Confectionery John Mackintosh, world famous toffee manufacturer, known as the ‘toffee king’ pioneered a unique style of toffee midway between butterscotch and fudge which is represented in a display which includes a giant toffee boiling pan and a working toffee wrapping machine.

Wire Drawing Display Wire drawing was key to the early development of the wool textile industry in the area owing to its use in cards employed in wool preparation, and later for textile combs. Eventually 1001 different uses were adopted for wire which provided the impetus for significant local development of this industry.

GROUND FLOOR Power technology development.

Machinery sourced from a variety of places in the UK sets out to show the development of power technology as adopted in the textile industry, commencing a water wheel and fulling stocks, beam engine, horizontal engine high speed inverted compound steam engine generating electricity, gas engines (Campbell).

BASEMENT Extractive industries and machine tools developed to serve the textile industries.

Mineral extraction was important to the progress of all Calderdale’s industries, coal mining being first recorded in 1307, stone extraction being recorded as early as 1314 with coal and clay soon afterwards; ironstone was also important from the late eighteenth century. The displays chart these developments. Refractory products continue to be manufactured locally.

Hand in hand with the development and mechanisation of the textile industry was that of textile machine manufacture, alongside which a thriving machine tool industry developed; this is represented by an extensive gallery of locally made lathes, drills, planers and other machine tools together with pattern making and a blacksmith display.

An extensive collection of smaller artefacts also exists, which is not on display, but which is available for viewing on request.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2019

Licence: CC BY-NC

Industry and Technology

The core of the collections is the original pumping station machinery and equipment, which includes two important Hathorn Davey pumping engines, a Mumford vertical donkey engine and two Worthington Simpson engines used to supply water to the boilers, a Crompton Parkinson 2kw lighting generator powered by a Bumpstead and Chandler 4hp steam engine, two 94hp National gas engines installed in 1909, and a Gwynne’s centrifugal pump installed in 1937 and powered by a Crompton Parkinson 114hp electric motor. Additional exhibits include a Mid 19th century mill engine built by J I Headly of Cambridge for Thomas Evans Leatherworks, Sawston; a collection of wireless sets made by Pye of Cambridge; a collection of domestic and scientific electrical equipment made by the Cambridge Instrument Company; a telephone switchboard in the 1950’s and an Ericcson telephone set from 1923 retrieved from a whaling station in the Falklands; a Newmark analogue computer from 1960, used to solve differential equations; and a collection of letterpress printing equipment from early hand operated presses to power machinery.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC