By Jill Stocks
There are a lot of people who don’t know about Horsforth Museum, hiding in plain sight at The Green in Horsforth.
The museum is home to various fascinating artefacts from the local area and beyond and last weekend it reopened after the Winter break with some new exhibits.
Access to the public was restricted last year due to the work on the new community centre next door but now the museum is ready to open again fully.
Horsforth Museum first opened in July 1988 and is entirely volunteer led, with funding coming from donations, fundraising and shop gifts.
Nancy de Dombal has been a museum volunteer since the beginning and told us how the museum came about.
“A group of people felt it was necessary to get Horsforth history written about. And they formed a little group called Horsforth Historical Society in 1983. So they used to meet and have talks and lectures. But then somebody said ‘we want a place to have a museum’. So the museum came in 1988.”
Freda Varty, who has been a volunteer at the museum for a number of years, told us what we can expect from a visit to this special place, which has also had a good clean to get rid of the dust from the construction works.
Downstairs at the museum is the schoolroom which houses a timeline of all the schools there have been in Horsforth.
Freda said: “The first schools were mill schools which were started after the 1833 Factory Act. Children worked in the factories and then they might be in the mills half a day. Then there was full education eventually.
“A lot of the schools were private schools where the well off people could pay for their children to be educated. But then a lot of the children didn’t get educated.”
There is also a very special tapestry in the schoolroom.
“The tapestry was sown in silk by a little girl who actually lived here in this house,” Freda added. “Her name was Jane Kettlewell and she lived with her father who was a merchant from Kendal.
“She lived here till she got married. And this obviously went down the generations and finally made its way back to the museum because the person knew the story about her ancestor and that she lived in here and would’ve sat probably in one of these windows sewing.”
A display of stuffed creatures features in this room too, which came from the Bentleys, a famous industrial family from the town.
“One of our industries in Horsforth that’s remaining today is Bentleys Soapworks on Low Lane. It’s one of the only industries that’s in Horsforth really. This was in one of Richard Bentley’s houses and was donated to the museum. People don’t really do this taxidermy much now but kids absolutely love this.”
The upstairs houses a number of exhibits with a couple of new ones for this year, including one about transport which features a number of model buses loaned from Samuel Ledgard buses which ran through Horsforth.
There is a lot to see about the HMS Aubrietia and the fascinating story of the role Horsforth and its residents played in the life of this warship and its role in World War Two.
“There was a war week when everybody was asked by the government to donate and have garden parties, and sell things. The people of Horsforth clubbed together and sponsored a warship but it wasn’t until many years later that we realised what we had sponsored.
“HMS Aubrietia took the first shot on a German U-Boat. It didn’t sink and we got into it and we captured the Enigma code machine, which then went to Bletchley House and it helped us win the war.
“The Americans made a film of it (U-571) but Horsforth was never mentioned. MP Paul Truswell wrote to President Clinton at the time and he wrote back to us saying he was sorry and thanked Horsforth very much for Aubrietia helping to win the war.”
Residents of Horsforth raised a total of £241,044. The story is featured in one of the many books on Horsforth’s history which are available to buy at the museum.
“We doubled the amount of money we were told we could possibly raise. It was a week and it was the whole of England that was trying to raise money for warships. We raised that money in a week. Obviously businessmen and things would’ve helped. But the people of Horsforth and the churches did things like jumble sales and all sorts.”
Also new upstairs is an underwear room! This is the latest clothing display the museum has featured.
“We’ve had a few displays, wedding dresses and such. The two ladies who have the clothing room they’ve been doing it for years so we can do all sorts. We don’t change them every single year, it’s usually every couple of years to make it more interesting for people who come in regularly. The ladies know exactly what they’re doing. They’re in their nineties now.”
The landing features exhibits about war, including some of the original plaques from the famous trees which line Stanhope Drive.
“After the first world war every man that died had a tree planted. They’re still there on Stanhope Drive. They all had one of these on but over the decades kids have taken them, families have taken them so there’s none left under the trees. These are some of the ones we’ve had handed in.”
One of the sadder stories about Horsforth is also featured in the museum, that of the murder of a young child, Barbara Waterhouse. Barbara went missing on June 6th 1891 and her body was found in Leeds four days later. Walter Turner was found guilty of her murder and hanged in August of the same year.
“The people of Horsforth again rallied round and got her a big funeral and in Horsforth Cemetery on Calverley Lane there’s a big monument to her.”
The famous piano with its unique design from The Star and Garter pub is also featured, as is one of the doors from Kirkstall Abbey, which was carved by an unknown Horsforth wood carver for the restoration of the Abbey in 1890.
This weekend the museum is hosting a big splash event – a special day of activities on the theme of the World War Two home front to mark the reopening of the museum following the closure of the upstairs rooms last year.
Nick Holmes is the chair of the museum committee.
“We just thought as we’ve not been fully open for the whole of last year we decided we needed something to advertise the museum because we’ve not had the numbers in.
“It’s a bit different, it shows what the museum is about. We want to be part of the community as well and so it’s trying to get people in and interested in it.”
The free event which takes place this Saturday between 10am and 4pm will feature interactive displays about rationing, the Home Guard, evacuation and air raid precautions. There will even be a disarmed German incendiary bomb for people to look at and see how it works. A WRVS style cafe will be providing refreshments for a donation.
Horsforth Museum will be open on Saturdays from 10am to 4pm, and Sundays from 2pm to 5pm (4pm in November).
Volunteers are always welcome at the museum and there are a variety of ways you could help. Stewards are always needed to provide a bit of flexibility with the rota and younger people are very welcome to bring their skills to the team too.
Freda added: “We need younger people who are interested in researching things and are maybe good on the computer as well.”
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