Colne Valley Museum: The Yorkshire museum which brings history to life inside four cottages

Visitors here are asked to step back in time and learn what life was like for a handloom weaver’s family in about 1840. Four 19th century cottages form a “living history” museum providing education for children and the wider public of life in the domestic wool textile industry in the valleys of West Yorkshire.

There are live demonstrations and events; a changing programme of exhibitions on site; school and group visits and an active outreach programme covering West Yorkshire.

Colne Valley Museum, a Grade II listed building, is housed in cottages built in the 1840s by a family of independent cloth manufacturers, the Pearsons, whose relatives still live in Golcar.

These cottages, named Spring Rock by James and Sally Pearson, were built into the steep hillside, having the traditional entrance for the lower rooms, like our modern front doors, and an entrance to the top floor at the rear of the cottages.Following the death of James Pearson, Spring Rock continued as a family home until 1910, when the end cottage was taken over by the Golcar Socialist Club. When the club moved to bigger premises in the 1960s, the building remained empty until 1970, when it was given to be used as a museum.

From this, the Colne Valley Museum was formed, and the two adjacent cottages were acquired, one being donated by the Yeadon family.

A spokesman for the Colne Valley Museum said: “The three cottages housed the museum for many years. The top cottage and adjoining shop were purchased in 2008.

"The ground floors of these two buildings were incorporated into the main museum, forming a new entrance, museum shop and Spring Rock Tea Rooms.

"In 2014, our ‘Realising the Dream’ project began – funded mostly by the Heritage Lottery Fund – and allowed us to recreate a complete weaver’s cottage where James and Sally Pearson may have lived, with a living kitchen, a period bedroom and the loom chamber above where the family earned a living.”

The mission statement of the museum says it is held in trust for “the education of people, especially children, in the history and way of life in the Colne Valley between 1800 and 1920”.

This is done through the preservation of industrial, professional, educational and domestic items formerly used by the inhabitants of the Colne Valley. It promotes a local interest in the arts and demonstrates, thus preserving, the traditional skills of the period with and for future generations. The museum also seeks to conserve and develop the buildings which it owns in order to fulfill the previously stated purpose.