 Clitheroe Castle Museum in 2007 | |
  Clitheroe Castle Museum Location within the Borough of Ribble Valley | |
| Coordinates | 53°52′13″N2°23′35″W / 53.8702°N 2.3931°W |
|---|---|
| Website | Official site |
Clitheroe Castle Museum is located in Clitheroe, Lancashire, England, in the former Steward's House, a Grade II listed building that was built in the 18th century to house the steward of Clitheroe Castle. [1] It is a museum showing the history of the local area. [2]
The museum was originally opened in 1954 in the Steward's Gallery, later moving to the Steward's House. [2]
The Clitheroe Castle Museum underwent a £3.5-million refurbishment and redevelopment [3] and re-opened on 23 May 2009. [2] It was officially opened on 23 June 2009 by Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester. As part of the redevelopment, a cafe and shop were added adjacent to the museum, and the Steward's Gallery was also refurbished as an exhibition area. [1]
The museum was named as a "Quality Assured Visitor Attraction" by VisitEngland in November 2009. The museum is owned by Ribble Valley Borough Council and operated by the Lancashire County Council. [3] The museum is now located below the keep, [4] and it charges only for adults to enter. [3] The castle is freely open to the public. [4]
Surviving original features, such as gas lights, servant's bells and fireplaces, in the Steward's House remain in place. [1]
The museum has displays on geology, natural history, the history of the castle, Clitheroe, and the local area, as well as folklore and life in Clitheroe. It has period rooms of "The Collector's Study", based on the activities of a local collector, Frank B. Mitchell, who was one of the museum's founders; and the Victorian Kitchen. [1] Its collection includes the locally found Mitton Hoard. [5] The North West Sound Archive was located on the third floor of the museum; this was founded in Manchester in 1979 and relocated to Clitheroe in 1982; [1] however it was closed in 2015. [6]
Three small landscapes of riverside scenes and an armorial hatchment:
Boating at Brungerley by Benjamin Satterthwaite (1848–1923). Oil on canvas, 50 x 60 cm (approx). Gift from Captain R.C. Musson. [7] Satterthwaite depicts three people in a boat at the bank of the River Ribble close to Brungerley Bridge. The three-span stone bridge is believed to have been built around 1814 after the previous stone bridge had been destroyed by floods. It is located between Waddington and Clitheroe. [8] This painting is one of three works by Satterthwaite in the museum's collection, the other two feature Downham and Whalley Abbey. [7]
Mytton Flatt and River by F.C. Cawthorne. Oil on canvas, 48 x 36 cm (approx). Gift from J. Moon. [7] The painting depicts the River Ribble, possibly at Great Mitton, around three miles from Clitheroe, The church in the background appears to be All Hallows.
A Man Fishing on a River. Attributed to Edward Cawthorne (1849–1914). Oil on canvas, 39 x 60 cm (approx). [7] The painting depicts a man fishing at a riverbank, probably on the River Ribble near Clitheroe. In the background at the right hand side there is a church tower, which appears similar to the church depicted in the previous painting.
An armorial hatchment which belonged to General Monk (1608–1670), a professional soldier who fought both for the Royalists and the Parliamentarians during the Civil Wars. A hatchment is a panel bearing a coat of arms, this would have been hung on the front of a building to inform visitors that a death had taken place. [1]
A painting of a game bird by the Morecambe artist William Woodhouse:
Grouse Shot in Flight by William Woodhouse (1857–1939). Oil on canvas, 50 x 60 cm (approx). On loan from Lancaster City Museum. [7] Woodhouse was born near Morecambe, his father was a fisherman. [9] Around 1871 he began attending art classes at the Mechanics Institute in Lancaster and by 1881 he had begun exhibiting his work, mainly in the North West. [9] Woodhouse had a good eye for detail and specialised in painting animals, especially horses and dogs. He was frequently commissioned to paint sporting scenes of game birds and gun dogs at grouse and pheasant shoots. [9] The artist also exhibited three paintings at the Royal Academy in London, in 1889, 1896 and 1911. [9]
Two portraits by an unknown artist, depicting a former Mayor of Clitheroe and his wife:
James Thomson. Unknown artist. Oil on canvas, 60 x 50 cm (approx). Donated by Mrs. Thornton. [7]
Cecilia Thomson. Unknown artist. Oil on canvas, 60 x 50 cm (approx). Donated by Mrs Thornton. [7]
James Thomson (1779–1850) was born in Blackburn. An industrial chemist, he worked at Joseph Peel and Co., a London Calico printing firm, then managed their branch at Church, near Accrington. Thomson married Cecilia, the eldest daughter of the Rev Thomas Starkie, vicar of Blackburn, in 1806. They had four sons and two daughters. [10]
In 1810, Thomson set up a successful calico printing business in Clitheroe, in partnership with a Blackburn cotton merchant, John Chippendale. [10] During the 1840s, the firm registered around 500 fabric patterns per year. [1] Thomson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1821. [1] He was the Mayor of Clitheroe from 1836 to 1837 and became a justice of the peace in 1840. He died in 1850 while preparing his firm's display for the Great Exhibition of 1851. [10]
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En plein air, or plein air painting, is the act of painting outdoors.
Lancashire is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
George Stubbs was an English painter, best known for his paintings of horses. Self-trained, Stubbs learnt his skills independently from other great artists of the 18th century such as Reynolds or Gainsborough. Stubbs' output includes history paintings, but his greatest skill was in painting animals, perhaps influenced by his love and study of anatomy. His series of paintings on the theme of a lion attacking a horse are early and significant examples of the Romantic movement that emerged in the late 18th century. His painting, Whistlejacket hangs in the National Gallery, London.
Clitheroe is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located 34 miles (55 km) north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists visiting the area. In 2018, the Clitheroe built-up area had an estimated population of 16,279.
Lovis Corinth was a German artist and writer whose mature work as a painter and printmaker realized a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism.
The River Ribble runs through North Yorkshire and Lancashire in Northern England. It starts close to the Ribblehead Viaduct in North Yorkshire, and is one of the few that start in the Yorkshire Dales and flow westwards towards the Irish Sea.
Nicolaes Maes was a Dutch painter known for his genre scenes, portraits, religious compositions and the occasional still life. A pupil of Rembrandt in Amsterdam, he returned to work in his native city of Dordrecht for 20 years. In the latter part of his career he returned to Amsterdam where he became the leading portrait painter of his time. Maes contributed to the development of genre painting in the Netherlands and was the most prominent portrait painter working in Amsterdam in the final three decades of the 17th century.
Pietro Longhi was a Venetian painter of contemporary genre scenes of life.
Blackburn railway station serves the town of Blackburn in Lancashire, England. It is 12 miles (19 km) east of Preston and is managed and served by Northern Trains.
Bamber Bridge is an urban village in Lancashire, England, 3 miles (5 km) south-east of Preston, in the borough of South Ribble. The name derives from the Old English "bēam" and "brycg", which probably means "tree-trunk bridge". The population was 13,945 at the 2011 census.
Slaidburn is a village and civil parish within the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. The parish covers just over 5,000 acres of the Forest of Bowland.
James Sidney Edouard, Baron Ensor was a Belgian painter and printmaker, an important influence on expressionism and surrealism who lived in Ostend for most of his life. He was associated with the artistic group Les XX.
Clitheroe Castle is a ruined early medieval castle in Clitheroe in Lancashire, England. It was the caput of the Honour of Clitheroe, a vast estate stretching along the western side of the Pennines.
Rupert Cawthorne was an English professional footballer who played as a centre half or full back. He played in the Football League for Darwen and Burnley and in non-league football for clubs including Clitheroe Central and Bacup.
Great Mitton is a village and a civil parish in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England. It is separated from the civil parish of Little Mitton by the River Ribble, both lie about three miles from the town of Clitheroe. The combined population of both civil parishes at the 2011 census was 266. In total, Great and Little Mitton cover less than 2000 acres of the Forest of Bowland, making it the smallest township in the Forest. Historically, the village is part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, but was transferred to Lancashire for administrative purposes on 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972.
Dixon Robinson (1795–1878) was an English lawyer, gentleman steward of the Honour of Clitheroe, and philanthropist in the 19th century.
William Arnold Woodhouse (1857–1939) was an English artist.
The Mitton Hoard is a hoard of silver coins found near Clitheroe in Lancashire, England, in 2006 or 2009. The hoard is now in Clitheroe Castle Museum. The documented treasure consisted of 11 silver coins or parts of coins.
