View source for Red House Museum

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox museum
 |name          = Red House Museum
 |image         = Red House Museum 001.JPG
 |caption       = Red House Museum, Gomersal
 |established   = 1974
 |location      = Oxford Road, [[Gomersal]], [[West Yorkshire]], England<br />BD19 4JP
 |type          = [[Historic house museum]]
 |visitors      = 
 |publictransit = 
 |website       = 
}}

'''Red House Museum''' was a historic house [[museum]], built in 1660 and renovated in the [[Georgian architecture|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.<ref name="EH">{{National Heritage List for England|num=1135404|desc=Red House|access-date=12 July 2016}}</ref>

==History==
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.<ref name="EH"/>

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.<ref name="EH"/> 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.<ref name="EH" />

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."<ref name="EH"/> 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.<ref name="EH"/>

==Architecture==
===Exterior===
[[File:Red House Museum 005.JPG|thumb|left|Front elevation]]
The two-storey house is built of red brick with stone [[Quoin (architecture)|quoins]] and has a stone slate roof that is [[Hip roof|hipped]] at the front and four [[gable]]s to the rear. The doorway is off-centre and has a [[sash window]] and a [[Cant (architecture)|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.<ref name="EH"/>

===Interior===
[[File:Red House Museum 007.JPG|thumb|right|upright|Interior view of 18th century door frame]]
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.<ref name="Information sheet">"Red House, A Family Home of the 1830s", information leaflet published by Kirklees Council, available at the Museum</ref>

The entrance hall contains an 18th-century staircase with slender wooden [[baluster]]s leading to a galleried landing of the same period.<ref name="EH"/> The hall has grained woodwork in the [[Georgian era|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.<ref name="Information sheet" />

Displays in the [[parlour]], dining room, study, [[governess]]' room, [[scullery (room)|scullery]], kitchen and [[bedroom|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#Later eruptions from the 3rd to the 19th centuries|Mount Vesuvius]], which are described in the novel ''[[Shirley (novel)|Shirley]]''.<ref name="Information sheet" /> Several rooms contain 18th-century hob grates or [[fireplace|iron fire grates]] with integral ledges for heating food in pots or pans.

===Garden and outbuildings===
[[File:Red House Museum grounds 014.JPG|thumb|right|Rose trained over arch in grounds]]
The garden has been designed with lawns, scented old climbing roses, an arbour and borders containing old-fashioned flowers to reflect 19th-century taste.<ref>[http://www.yorkshire.com/view/culture/cleckheaton/red-house-and-gardens-125889 Welcome to Yorkshire: Red House, overview and description]</ref> 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.<ref name="EH"/>

==Notable visitors and staff==
[[John Wesley|John]] and [[Charles Wesley]], the [[Methodist]] preachers who were friends of John Taylor, the great-grandson of William Taylor, visited the house.<ref>[http://www.methodistheritage.org.uk/redhousemuseum.htm Methodist Heritage: Red House Museum]</ref><ref>[http://www.yorkshireguides.com/red_house.html Yorkshire Guide: Red House Museum]</ref><ref>[http://archiveswiki.wyjs.org.uk/index.php?title=Gomersal_Methodist_New_Connexion_Church Off the Record: Gomersal Methodist New Connexion Church]</ref> Charlotte Brontë, who had been a pupil at Roe Head with [[Mary Taylor (women's rights advocate)|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''.<ref name="Information sheet" /> Reverend Lauten of Gomersal [[Moravian Church]], a visitor in the 1840s, may have been the inspiration for the Moravian minister in ''Shirley''.<ref>[http://www.moravian.org.uk/index.php/uk-congregations-list-for-the-moravian-church/yorkshire-district/gomersal The Moravian Church, British Province: Gomersal Moravian Church]</ref>

[[Mabel Ferrett]] (1917–2011), poet, publisher, literary editor and local historian, worked at the museum and wrote ''The Taylors of the Red House'' (1987).<ref name="YL">{{cite news |title=Obituary: Mabel Ferrett |url=https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/obituary-mabel-ferrett-4981308 |accessdate=13 August 2020 |work=Yorkshire Live |date=8 February 2011}}</ref>

==Closure==
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 Museum|Tolson]] and Dewsbury Museums were consequently threatened with closure.<ref>[http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/future-tolson-museum-looking-bleak-11073992 ''The Huddersfield Daily Examiner'' 22 March 2016: "Future of Tolson Museum looking bleak as cuts plans continue" by Nick Lavigueur]</ref> The Council for British Archaeology Yorkshire said the authority wanted to save £531,000 by 2017–18.<ref>[http://www.cba-yorkshire.org.uk/news/other-notices/yorkshiremuseumsunderthreat Council for British Archaeology Yorkshire: 29 February 2016: "Yorkshire museums under threat"]</ref> Friends of the museum and literary groups concerned with the loss of a Brontë connection were dismayed at the prospect of the museum closing and campaigned to keep it open.<ref>[http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/can-kirklees-avert-cultural-crisis-9885169 ''The Huddersfield Daily Examiner'' 20 August 2015, "Can Kirklees avert a cultural crisis? Government funding cuts mean museums and arts galleries face uncertain future," by Hillarie Stelfox]</ref> Kirklees Council closed Red House on 21 December 2016. Its contents will be stored or dispersed and the building is to be sold.<ref name=TAGNov2016>{{cite news |last=Winrow |first=Jo |date=3 November 2016 |title=Date set for closure of Red House Museum in Gomersal |url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/14841771.Date_set_for_closure_of_museum_with_Bronte_links/ |work=Telegraph and Argus |location=Bradford |access-date=11 July 2019}}</ref>

As of June 2018 the building was still unsold and almost £30,000 had been spent on its upkeep.<ref name=TAGJune2018>{{cite news |last=Winrow |first=Jo |date=18 June 2018 |title='Dismay' at costs for Gomersal's Red House Museum |url=https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/16294687.dismay-at-costs-for-gomersals-red-house-museum/ |work=Telegraph and Argus |location=Bradford |access-date=11 July 2019}}</ref> It sold at auction in December 2024 for £650,000.<ref>{{cite web |date=8 December 2024 |title=Red House Museum – which has connections to the Bronte's – in Gomersal has been sold at auction for £650,000. |url=https://www.dewsburyreporter.co.uk/news/politics/red-house-museum-sold-historic-grade-ii-listed-gomersal-building-with-bronte-connections-sold-at-auction-for-ps650000-4899529?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2MfaBD4wcWliwzo93rzqxwt0yZ-OJ48R8QZb6Q7DLEVrx5rBipGR-cBuI_aem_SPek4A7hrZks9pstTtKJEA#Echobox=1733738006 |access-date=11 December 2024 |website=Dewsbury Reporter }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

== External links ==
{{commons category|Red House Museum, Gomersal}}
* [http://www.kirklees.gov.uk/leisure/museumsGalleries/redHouse/index.aspx Red House Museum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416235217/http://kirklees.gov.uk/leisure/museumsGalleries/redHouse/index.aspx |date=16 April 2014 }} – Kirklees Council
* [http://www.yorkshire.com/view/culture/cleckheaton/red-house-and-gardens-125889 www.yorkshire.com: Tourist information about Red House]
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{{West Yorkshire museums}}

[[Category:Houses completed in 1660]]
[[Category:Country houses in West Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Museums in West Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Historic house museums in West Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Literary museums in England]]
[[Category:1660 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Grade II* listed houses]]
[[Category:Grade II* listed buildings in West Yorkshire]]