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Rain. That was the order of the day when just three of us met up at Cliffe Castle Museum in Keighley, West Yorkshire. Not knowing what to expect when we entered we were pleasantly surprised by the well lit interior and the very helpful staff. The first rooms you see are those which were the principal leisure rooms of the last owner of Cliffe Castle. These lead into various other rooms which are now specialist displays covering a large range of subjects: an Egyptian display, local industry, local ancient history, the obligatory taxidermy room (to be found in many museums), a mineral display (very informative!), a beehive (with live bees - honest!), and lots of other isolated displays of various items. There was also a detailed history of the building and its many changes and the fun interactive display about sound which is temporary until September - wonderful!
All in all it was a wonderful place with bucketloads to do and being free of charge to visit must be worthy of a return. |
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Our next venue was to St. Anne's RC Church which was designed by Pugin. The building itself seemed crammed into the space it occupied and photographing the exterior was extremely limited. We were very lucky though as although the front doors were locked the curate arrived just at that moment and let us in to see the building via the vestry. A couple of things to note was the narrowness of the building and the fact there were arches down one side but not the other. There also seemed to be some structural repairs being undertaken.
Nothing else of note really stood out and there was no mention of Pugin's influence anywhere within the building. We took some photo's and left a donation before departing for lunch.
With the rain still falling we made our way to the nearest foodie pub only to find that it was packed to rafters and, as we didn't fancy waiting an hour for something to eat, we settled on a Chip Shop Cafe. Very reasonable it was too and certainly filled us up.
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Going back to the car we then had to negotiate the road system to our next destination of East Riddlesden Hall. It was still a steady drizzle as we arrived and making our way to the main building was just a short walk. Some photo's were taken of the building from across the pond and then we entered via the shop (of course!). After paying the entry fee and being encouraged, unsuccessfully, to join the National Trust, we then undertook the self-led tour of East Riddlesdale. There seemed to be guides in nearly every room as we made our way through although something seemed to be missing from the entire atmosphere of the place. This feeling was further enhanced when one of the guides declared nothing in the house was actually original! Although dating from the correct period everything had been shipped in from other places. It was also a little more compact than what was expected. After wending our way through the building we then made our way to the rear gardens which, probably due to the damp weather, looked a little dull. The exterior fabric of the building more than made up for any shortcomings though and a re-visit when the sun is shining is a definite probability.
After a warm drink and cake in the cafe we decided to make an early break to the KWVR for a ride on the steam train in the hope we could then make our way home early. This was decided to be a no-goer when upon arrival we discovered we'd have to wait around for a little over an hour before one was due. It was decided this would be impractical and a decision was made to end the day there.
All in all another good trip was had and we look forward to the next one. |
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