Last week, Kirklees Council made public its budget proposals.
In addition to the recently publicised reduction in the opening times of
Museums and Galleries across Kirklees, the proposals now include the complete
closure of Red House Museum in Gomersal.
If these proposals are passed, Red House would be closed in September
and the buildings sold - not necessarily as a museum.
Red House was built in 1660 and was the home of the Taylor Family until
1920. It has important Brontë connections and is now furnished as a home
in the 1830s when Charlotte Brontë was a frequent visitor. Red House, the
Taylor family and the Spen Valley area were all featured in Charlotte Brontë's
novel Shirley.
Also on site are the recreated 1830s gardens, the restored Barn which
illustrates the numerous Brontë connections in the area and the renovated
Cartsheds which houses the 'Spen Valley Stories' gallery.
Last year the site received almost 30,000 visitors and was recently
awarded its second Sandford Award for the quality of its heritage educational
services for schools. The site is an important asset for Kirklees and
local businesses as a tourist destination which attracts visitors from all over
the world to the area.
Unlike Council Services which can be cut and reinstated in better
economic times, if the proposal to close and sell the site were passed an
extremely important part of Spen Valley's heritage would be lost forever.
Richard Wilcocks
writes:
So the Communities and
Leisure Service department of Kirklees Council is recommending that the Red
House Museum in Gomersal should be closed down in less than nine months. Just
like that! Once again, a local authority is calculating that a short-term
capital gain and a removal of dedicated museum staff is going to make up for
the loss of one of Kirklees’s few tourist attractions, which is much more than
a museum and a learning centre. It could be put on a list of national
treasures. It is important not only for those dismissed in the official impact
statement as ‘Brontë enthusiasts’ (note that these come after the local
businesses in the sentence) but for anyone who believes that the most fitting
memorial to Mary Taylor, a highly significant historical figure, not only
because of her lifelong friendship with Charlotte Brontë, is the museum
situated in her house. Perhaps that should be national memorial – let’s move beyond the parochial.
I well remember a book
launch of about a decade ago, held in the Red House grounds: Joan Bellamy, who
was at the time a member of Brontë Society Council, had just published More
Precious than Rubies, a title
which has Mary Taylor, Friend of Charlotte Brontë, Strong Minded Woman underneath it. All present were complimentary
about Red House, its exhibitions and the expertise to be found within its red-brick walls,
and they were not just being polite. It was described as a great aid for those
concerned with education – and if proof is needed that the place is still a
great aid, look online at this document. Explaining her title, Joan said
that it could easily apply to the museum as well, which she greatly admired.
Now the treasure could be
sold off – apparently, one quick-off-the-mark developer has already suggested
that the seventeenth century building could be converted into very desirable flats, and that a
chic little bistro could be put into it as well.
The Council Cabinet are to meet on 7th February. There is to be no
public consultation but they are inviting 'public dialogue'. The whole
set of proposals – including overviews of the council spending and the approach
of each directorate – is available on the Council website .
Brontë Society Chair Sally
McDonald is busy writing letters about this, and plenty of other people (no,
you don’t have to be a Society member) are using their keyboards to send
emails. You as well? Letters to newspaper editors, protests to local MPs,
messages to local radio and television – you could affect the outcome. The list below is not exhaustive, so please include your own contacts. You
don’t have to be resident in Kirklees. Or England.
