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XIXth Century / Victorian
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Red House Museum closure
ReplyDeleteOnce again we hear of the closure of Red House museum in Gomersal. I with others fought tooth and nail over two weeks last time to keep the museum open due to Kirklees council cutbacks, who then decided to close Red House museum and Oakwell Hall at Birstall for two days during the week to visitors and made charges for entry to the museums. They are keeping Oakwell Hall open as it makes money on the weddings held there with weddings booked two years ahead.
Oakwell Hall is an Elizabethan mansion with gardens and a park with a children’s play area. It has a unique connection with the civil war and to the Brontes. Charlotte Bronte visited the Hall and depicted the Hall in her novel ‘Shirley’ as ‘Fieldhead‘.
Red House museum had major structural repairs to the back wall which was rebuilt with a new roof and floors replaced in 1987 at a major cost to the Kirklees council. Red House is not like the original house where Charlotte visited.
I support Oakwell Hall in Birstall to remain open as it has much more to offer visitors. I have visited both museums from them being opened with Oakwell being my favourite museum in Kirklees.
From Imelda Marsden
Life member of the Bronte Society