Collection: Hall I’ Th’ Wood Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Cornucopia)

  Fine Art Collection

  The fine art collections comprise oil paintings, watercolours, drawings, prints and sculpture and includes works by notable British artists from the 18th to 20th centuries, particularly the English watercolour landscapes. There is a local history element to the collection with the inclusion of works that record the Bolton industries and Industrialists and local landscape. The Leverhulme gifts of 17th and 19th century paintings in the early 20th century form a core part of the collections at the museum and Hall i’th’Wood.

  Subjects

  Fine Art

  Decorative and Applied Art Collection

  The decorative art collections include significant holdings of ceramics and furniture, with smaller collections of metalwork, dolls and glass. Many of the collections were developed around early 20th century bequests including the gifts of oak furniture for Hall i’th’Wood by Lord Leverhulme from 1902 – 1923, ceramics and glass from the William Graham bequest in 1935 and the Kaye collection in 1939 and the Frank Hindley Smith in 1940 of British 20th century paintings & Chinese ceramics. Ceramics represents the largest group of decorative art objects in the Bolton MBC collection (c.700 items), mainly of British origin and ranging from Medieval to present day but particularly strong in 18th century with a small but good selection of English delftware, creamware, lead-glazed earthenware and salt-glazed stoneware. Other strengths include a group of Royal Lancastrian Pottery containing some good examples of lustreware. Other Art Pottery is represented by works by Della Robbia. Contemporary works are another important small group, ranging from domestic to one-off decorative pieces by many of the current ceramists working in Britain. The furniture collection comprises mainly English oak furniture of the 16th-18th centuries, particularly 17th century oak pieces carved in the northern regional style and good examples of 19th century mahogany furniture. Metalwork includes some electrotype reproductions of examples in the V&A collection and is generally a small mixed collection of various metals and objects.

  Subjects

  Decorative and Applied Arts

  Social History Collection

  Material in the Bolton MBC collection relates to the social and local history of the area, covering the period c.1700 to the present and includes general social history, commemorative items, health, religion, sport, leisure and domestic life.

  Subjects

  Social History

  Agriculture Collection

  A small collection of local farming material, with the earlier examples being displayed at Hall i’th’Wood Museum.

  Subjects

  Agriculture

  Science and Industry Collection

  Early cotton textile machinery includes Crompton’s Mule, Arkwright’s Water Frame and Hargreaves Spinning Jenny.

  Subjects

  Science and Industry

  Source: Cornucopia

  Date: Not known, but before 2015

  Licence: CC BY-NC