 Red House Museum, Gomersal | |
 | |
| Established | 1974 |
|---|---|
| Location | Oxford Road, Gomersal, West Yorkshire, England BD19 4JP |
| Type | Historic house museum |
Red House Museum was a historic house museum, built in 1660 and renovated in the Georgian era. It closed to the public at the end of 2016 but remains as a Grade II* listed building in Gomersal, Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. [1]
Red House was built by William Taylor whose descendants owned it until 1920. The Taylor family had lived in Gomersal for more than a century when in 1660, William Taylor built a brick house next to their old one. The family were farmers and clothiers who developed their business into cloth finishing and became merchants. [1]
The old house was standing in 1713 and surrounding workshops contained items for cloth manufacture. The old house was probably demolished when the barn to the west of the house and coach house were built in the mid-18th century. [1] The house is constructed of red brick, unusual in a village built of local sandstone, and consequently was named the Red House. The exterior and interior were remodelled during the 18th century, and in 1920 the parlour and dining room windows were enlarged. [1]
The house was Grade II* listed in January 1967 for its historic, industrial and literary interest and because it "contains some good survivals of the Georgian period, including a staircase, fireplaces and windows, embedded in a late C17 core." [1] Also of interest are the barn and coach house. Spenborough Council bought the house in 1969 and it opened as a museum five years later. [1]
The two-storey house is built of red brick with stone quoins and has a stone slate roof that is hipped at the front and four gables to the rear. The doorway is off-centre and has a sash window and a canted bay window to either side. The upper storey has three double and two single sash windows. The rear wall with four gables was rebuilt between 1995 and 1997. [1]
The house is decorated and furnished to suggest its appearance during the 1830s when Joshua Taylor, a woollen cloth manufacturer who owned a mill at Hunsworth near Cleckheaton, and his wife Anne and their six children were living there. [2]
The entrance hall contains an 18th-century staircase with slender wooden balusters leading to a galleried landing of the same period. [1] The hall has grained woodwork in the Georgian style, and is hung with portraits of the Taylor family from between 1737 and 1817. They are of Joshua Taylor's sister Deborah (1771–1810), his parents, John (1737–1805) and Anne (1739–1817) and his father-in-law Captain Tickell. [2]
Displays in the parlour, dining room, study, governess' room, scullery, kitchen and bedchambers are recreations of the 1830s era, utilising 19th-century furniture. The dining room contains stained glass windows with portraits of William Shakespeare and John Milton and a painting of the 1794 eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which are described in the novel Shirley . [2] Several rooms contain 18th-century hob grates or iron fire grates with integral ledges for heating food in pots or pans.
The garden has been designed with lawns, scented old climbing roses, an arbour and borders containing old-fashioned flowers to reflect 19th-century taste. [3] It contains a display of old gateposts on the lawn.
A two-storey stone barn with a stone slate roof and cart entrance is situated to the west of the house. The stone coach house has four open-fronted arches. Its interior has been restored. [1]
John and Charles Wesley, the Methodist preachers who were friends of John Taylor, the great-grandson of William Taylor, visited the house. [4] [5] [6] Charlotte Brontë, who had been a pupil at Roe Head with Mary Taylor, the daughter of Joshua Taylor, a banker and wool merchant was also a visitor. She immortalised the family as the Yorkes and the house as Briarmains in her novel Shirley. [2] Reverend Lauten of Gomersal Moravian Church, a visitor in the 1840s, may have been the inspiration for the Moravian minister in Shirley. [7]
Mabel Ferrett (1917–2011), poet, publisher, literary editor and local historian, worked at the museum and wrote The Taylors of the Red House (1987). [8]
As a result of government funding cuts, Kirklees Council considered that it could only afford to operate two museums, one in the north of the borough and one in Huddersfield. Red House, the Tolson and Dewsbury Museums were consequently threatened with closure. [9] The Council for British Archaeology Yorkshire, said the authority wanted to save £531,000 by 2017–18." [10] Friends of the museum and literary groups concerned with the loss of a Bronte connection were dismayed at the prospect of the museum closing and campaigned to keep it open. [11] Kirklees Council closed Red House on 21 December 2016. Its contents will be stored or dispersed and the building is to be sold. [12]
As of June 2018 the building was still unsold and almost £30,000 had been spent on its upkeep. [13] It sold at auction in December 2024 for £650,000. [14]
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and Derbyshire to the south, Greater Manchester to the south-west, and Lancashire to the west. The city of Leeds is the largest settlement.
Batley is a market town in the Kirklees district, in West Yorkshire, England, south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield, in the Heavy Woollen District. In 2011, the population was 48,730.
Gomersal is a town in the Kirklees district, in West Yorkshire, England. It is south of Bradford, south west of Leeds. east of Cleckheaton and north of Heckmondwike. It is close to the River Spen and forms part of the Heavy Woollen District.
Mirfield is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the A644 road between Brighouse and Dewsbury. At the 2011 census it had a population of 19,563. Mirfield forms part of the Heavy Woollen District.
Cleckheaton is a town in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Bradford, east of Brighouse, west of Batley and south-west of Leeds. It is at the centre of the Spen Valley and was the major town in the former borough of Spenborough. Cleckheaton has a history as a mill town and forms part of the Heavy Woollen District.
Kirkburton is a village, civil parish and ward in Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is 5 miles (8 km) south-east of Huddersfield. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the township comprised the villages of Kirkburton and Highburton and several hamlets, including Thunder Bridge, Thorncliffe, Storthes Hall and Linfit. According to the 2011 census the civil parish had a population of 26,439, while the village had a population of 4,299.
Kirklees is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. The borough comprises the ten towns of Batley, Birstall, Cleckheaton, Dewsbury, Heckmondwike, Holmfirth, Huddersfield, Meltham, Mirfield and Slaithwaite. It is governed by Kirklees Council. Kirklees had a population of 422,500 in 2011; it is the third-largest metropolitan district in England by area, behind Doncaster and Leeds.
Meltham is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Holme Valley, below Wessenden Moor, 5 miles south-west of Huddersfield on the edge of the Peak District National Park. It had a population of 8,089 at the 2001 census, which was estimated to have increased to 8,600 by 2005. The population assessed at the 2011 Census was 8,534. It has 12 elected council members who meet up around every 6 weeks.
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Heckmondwike is a town in the Kirklees district, West Yorkshire, England, 9 miles (14 km) south west of Leeds. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is close to Cleckheaton and Liversedge. It is mostly in the Batley and Spen parliamentary constituency, and had an estimated population of 16,986 at the 2011 Census increasing to 18,149 at the 2021 Census. Heckmondwike forms part of the Heavy Woollen District.
Liversedge is an industrial town in the Kirklees district, in West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Liversedge lies between Cleckheaton and Heckmondwike. The Kirklees ward is now called Liversedge and Gomersal with a population at the 2011 Census of 19,420. Liversedge forms part of the Heavy Woollen District and was historically part of the parish of Birstall.
Birstall is a market and mill town in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. It is part of the Birstall and Birkenshaw ward, which had a population of 16,298 at the 2011 census. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and part of the Heavy Woollen District, Birstall is approximately 6 miles (10 km) south-west of Leeds and situated close to the M62 motorway. The town is situated between Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield and Wakefield.
Oakwell Hall is an Elizabethan manor house in Birstall, West Yorkshire, England. The Grade I listed hall is set in period gardens surrounded by 110 acres (0.45 km2) of country park.
Ellen Nussey was born in Birstall Smithies in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. She was a lifelong friend, correspondent and potential lover of writer Charlotte Brontë and, through more than 500 letters received from her, was a major influence for Elizabeth Gaskell's 1857 biography The Life of Charlotte Brontë.
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Dewsbury Minster, the Minster Church of All Saints is the parish church in Dewsbury, Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. It dates from the 13th century and was rebuilt in 1895. It is situated on Vicarage Road and Church Street in the centre of the town. In 1949 it gained Grade II* listed status. Dewsbury Parish Church was rededicated as a minster church in 1994. It is one of three churches in West Yorkshire to be given the honorific title "minster". The others are Halifax Minster and Leeds Minster.
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53°43′57″N1°41′11″W / 53.7324°N 1.6864°W
