Collection: Saddleworth Museum and Gallery

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  The origins of Saddleworth Museum lie in a trip abroad. In the late 1950s when Roger Tanner MBE who was founder of the museum took a trip to Norway and found himself in a little village called Bodo which was on the edge of the Artic Circle and had a population of around 10,000. To his surprise the village had a substantial museum devoted to all aspects of the history of the local community,was impressed. It was very well laid out and the thought came to me …. If they can do that here, we can do it in Saddleworth. The dream began then and I came home with this amazing idea. I began to contact friends to tell them of my enthusiasm and, of course, at that time it was a case of ‘A Museum in Saddleworth — but where?’ At the time in the late 1950s Saddleworth’s villages were very much working ones but the textile industry was in decline, mills starting to close, weavers cottages in decline and in some cases being demolished and there was a nee to preserve some of our local history before it was lost.

  To establish a museum a suitable building was needed and after various searches around Saddleworth it fell on the fact the Victoria Mill which was on the site of the museum car park was about to be demolished and the owners were willing to sell one of the outbuildings which had previously been used as a steam room.

  It was to take three years of hard work, mostly by volunteers to get rid of the dry rot and etc. with the museum finally opening to the public in May 1962.

  Appeals had gone out to the public for donations for the museum collection with particular reference to historical items relating to Saddleworth, though this was achieved the museum acquired numerous social history items not directly with a local connection but representative of what would have been used in the area.

  By the 1970s the collection had outgrown the old mill and a project to extend the museum with a gallery area overlooking the adjacent Huddersfield Narrow Canal was started with funding basically on the theme of ‘Buy a Brick’, hence the project was mainly funded by local people it usefully opened in 1979.

  In 2007 we started ‘Into the Future’, a project in which we envisaged a major refurbishment of the buildings and particularly the old mill building which had a leaking roof and all services needinng replaceme, we needed to establish full disabled access, improve our exhibitions , improve our collection storage etc., etc. We gained round 1Heritage Lottery funding of £65.000. The museum had to make three applications to the Heritage Lottery for Round 2 funding with each application being actively encouraged to reapply by the HLF. In September 2014 we won HLF grant of £1.046,000 for refurbishment and inclusive of funding for a three year Learning Officer post. The project was completed in September 2016.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2016

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  The collections are essentially organised under a series of subject headings including Social History (general material – a lot of items originated from Victorian period, Archives (including documents, maps, photographs etc., relating to the local area), Archaeology (includes flints, arrowheads collected locally and a few items such as axe heads non local and items excavated at Castleshaw Roman Camp), Costume (a mixed collection which is currently under review) – see Disposals paragraph. Gallery (a collection of photographs, paintings etc – many local paintings – the collection is currently under review as archive material was added to this collection simply because it was framed).

  Significant pieces include in the Archaeology (a) Viking Gold Ring – Accession No found in stream at Nutbottom, Greenfield – copy as the original is in British Museum / (b) Roman wooden vallus used as palisade, not complete but a rare piece /

  Significant items in Archives include (a) M/HUT – Messrs. Hutchinson, Hollingworth & Co. Ltd., Loom Makers, Dobcross, Near Oldham – Saddleworth Museum holds wages books for, this company covering 100 years of loom making from 1861 to 1961 and, also, information to the company’s early associations with woollen textile manufacturing companies and on James Hollingworth ‘s transactions in lands and properties. James Hollingworth, orginally a joiner and builder, Joined John Hutchinson in 1861 in a project of loom building. When Mr. Hutchinson, the senior Partner, retired in 1874 the firm became a limited liability company with James Hollingworth as Managing Director. By 1880 the firm had 200 employees and a production rate of 20 to 25 looms per week. Further expansion occurred in the later 1880’s after James Hollingworth secured certain manufacturing and marketing rights on loom patents held by the Knowles (later Crompton & Knowles ) Loom works, Mass. U. S.A. James Hollingworth died in 1895 and was followed as M.D. and then chairman’s by his son Edward, who died in 1928. The firm ceased manufacturing in the late 1960 `s. / (b) M/HOW croft – Howcroft family: local politics (Mayor of Oldham 1937) they were architects and collection includes architects drawings of a number of local buildings including proposed and final drawings Saddleworth War Memorial 1923 / (c) M/AW Ammon Wrigley — Poet/Writer 1861-1946 was a poetArvriter who was recognised in his lifetime as a vivid interpreter of moorland and village life in and around Saddleworth in the local dialect and in plain English. A self-taught artist of some competence he was also an amateur antiquary with particular interests in Roman remains and prehistoric microliths. Most of his long working life was spent in woollen mills.

  Significant items in Gallery collection include (a) ten oil paintings illustrating local villages -Accession Nos – specially commissioned from local artist John McCombs N.O.D. / R. 0.1. / R. B.A. / FR.S.A. / PM.A.F.A – (b) – collection of twelve large watercolour paitings depicting the flora of the Saddleworth area oer a year painted by Joan Charnley a professional botanical illutrator and designer.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2016

  Licence: CC BY-NC