Bankfield Museum
Encyclopedia
Bankfield Museum is a grade II listed historic house museum, incorporating a regimental museum
and textile
s gallery in Boothtown, Halifax
, England
. It is notable for its past ownership and development by Colonel Edward Akroyd, MP
, and its grand interior.
mill
owner, and living at Woodside Mansion in Boothtown
. Jonathan died in 1848, and it was possibly Edward's inheritance which paid for the development of Bankfield which began around this time. Edward encased the 18th century building in fairfaced stone and added two loggia
s, a dining room, Anglican
chapel and kitchens.
By 1867 Akroyd was Member of Parliament
for Halifax
and obliged to entertain on a grand scale. When the future Edward VII
visited Halifax to open the town hall
in 1863, the royal party ate lunch and dinner with the mayor who had more space at Manor Heath, although the prince did visit the Akroyd family business at Haley Hill Mills
. For this reason, the 1867 wing, designed by John Bownas Atkinson of York
at a cost of £20,000, was spacious and decorated to impress. It had a porte-cochere
, saloon
, drawing room
s, library and billiard room
. At its busiest, the mansion had 25 servants. Akroyd extended his influence beyond Haley Mills and Bankfield by building Akroydon close by: a model village of gothic terraced houses, allotments
, park, cooperative
, stables and All Souls Church
, all designed by George Gilbert Scott
.
By 1887 the business was in decline and Akroyd was dying. He sold the building to Halifax Corporation for £6,000 and retired to St Leonards
where he died. The house was immediately turned into a museum and branch library, but over time the original features were neglected, and some elements were lost; however the building was listed grade II in 1954. The building has now been restored as far as possible. Calderdale Council has done this because "Together Akroydon and Bankfield symbolise the importance of the textile industry to Victorian Britain and the central role that Halifax played in this story." Meanwhile 25,000 natural history
specimens were transferred to Leeds
City Museums in 1990 and the archaeology
collections transferred to Kirklees
Museums in 1979. A number of collections, in particular a large textile
collection, were listed in 1999 but are not now on display for visitors.
grants. The museum shows the history of the regiment
from its beginnings in 1702 as the Earl of Huntingdon's Regiment of Foot to its demise, when it was amalgamated with the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire
and The Green Howards
to form the Yorkshire Regiment
on 6 June 2009, using accounts from serving soldiers and interactive displays.
The regiment comprised the combined 33rd and 76th
foot Regiments, which were linked in 1881, as the 1st and 2nd battalions. Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
was colonel of the 33rd, named after him when he died. The 76th served in India
and carried two stands of Queens and Regimental colours, one which was an honorary stand awarded by the East India Company
, so the combined regiment carried four colours on parade. Recruits are mainly from West Yorkshire
for services in India.
The regiment's headquarters (now an area headquarters of the Yorkshire Regiment) and archives are at Wellesley Park in Halifax
. The regimental collection is here because in 1859 Edward Akroyd paid for and recruited the 4th Yorkshire West Riding Rifle Volunteers, and they later became the Dukes 1st Volunteer Battalion. As MP he supported the establishment of the Regimental Depot in Halifax
. The Bankfield Museum assists with research and educational activities in connection with this department.
, or covered entrance-way for carriages, which would drive under the stone canopy for the passengers to disembark.
The forecourt has a bowed screen wall. The stone mansion
has an irregular shape due to various extensions. It consists of two arcaded
storeys above a basement, especially in the 1867 wing. There are great eaves below a hipped
and slate
d roof, and it is generally designed in the style of 14th to 15th century Italy
. The basement is rusticated
. From the back the low belvedere
tower which lights the back staircase is visible. The arcaded
loggia
s, originally open to the air, are now enclosed and altered.
, and the decorations are inspired by the fresco
es of Pompeii
and Herculaneum
, although the wall-design at the bottom of the stairs appears to be Egyptian revival
. The dining room is now the temporary exhibition gallery. It has a classical style
marble fireplace, and a plaster frieze
featuring the royal coat of arms
. The Regimental Museum occupies the original drawing room
suite. Below the library was the billiard room
, accessible from the bottom of the staircase, through the red door on the right. The 1867 block has warm air grilles in the skirting boards, and the heating was probably provided by a boiler. However there is a legend that hot air was ducted from the Haley Mill nearby. On the floors of the marble gallery and the chapel lobby are encaustic tile
s by Maw & Co. of Staffordshire
.
was also the grand hall, reception room, picture gallery and ballroom
, with a little furniture at the sides, many oil paintings and gasoliers
. It has rooflights with painted plaster decorations in the classical style
around them. The marble fireplace features two large putti holding trumpets. Putti are also the central feature on the grand staircase ceiling - possibly a wistful element as Akroyd and his wife had no children.
s on the ceiling. The windows have etched glass semicircular panels at the top, in designs reflecting the stylised patterns on the ceiling. In one of the bookcases is a display of silverwork by Halifax
jeweller Charles Horner
(1837–1896).
The library was originally also the smoking room
, so it is surprising that the original painted ceiling has survived and could be fully restored. The ceiling is heavily painted, gilded and sculptured in an eclectic manner, taking its general design from classical
sources. The background is cream, but there is much use of Pompeii
an red, an earth colour which gained popularity in Victorian
England
after the renewed excavations by Giuseppe Fiorelli
in 1860. Small panels feature clearly painted classical
motifs and portraits with distressed
backgrounds, to look like pieces of ancient fresco
es. Four medallions show the named poets Shakespeare
, Milton
, Chaucer
and Tennyson
, all admired by the Romantics
. All the spaces on the cream background are filled with illustrations imitating the original maiolica
style, featuring stylised goats and faun
s, cornucopia
, grapes, birds and flowers, but also angels and putti
in the centre. The decoration around the edge has a Green Man
.
The fireplace is red Rouge de Rance
marble
with cream and black marble, patterned with inlaid semi-precious stone including green malachite
: all imported materials. The intertwined initials of Edward and Elizabeth his wife are central on the fire surround and fireback, which is prominently dated 1867. The inlay features the White Rose of York
shire, possibly in Parian marble
, which is repeated on the carved corinthian column
s on the fire surround. The mantelshelf is massive enough to support three lifesized marble busts: Edward Akroyd on the left, his father Jonathan in the centre, and his wife Elizabeth on the right. The bust of Elizabeth is remarkable in that it has the trompe-l'œil effect of a veil over the face. The glazed hearth tiles are similar to Mintons tiles but are probably locally made.
plaster sculptures of Night and Day after works by the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen
. They symbolically divide the night quarters upstairs from the day quarters downstairs. The oak balustrade
has turned
balusters and brass
finial
s in the shape of lions, because Elizabeth's family coat of arms
featured lions. The ceiling is heavily coffer
ed, but there are windows round the top of the stairwell and a great glass chandelier
, so it is very light - in fact the stairwell is built as a separate tower so as to permit so many windows.
merchants, professionals and military officers in 1830 for research and study, to promote science and the arts and to start a museum to display their collections. These collections of curios
were acquired from their Grand Tour
s and travels for business and military purposes; they were objects of geology
, natural history
, anthropology
, the arts
, as well as oddities from around the world. Their museum was at first successful but by 1895 had declined, so was closed and the exhibits given to Halifax museums. Some of Bankfield's share has survived and a few items are exhibited to demonstrate Victorian
antiquarian
taste.
Lemuel Clayton was a Halifax
councillor, silk spinner and one of the co-founders of Bankfield Museum in 1887. He was a member of the Literary and Philosophical Society, had travelled the world and amassed a collection of curios
, and these curios were some of the first exhibits shown in the museum. One of the curios was a stone carving of a baby which he acquired in 1886 from the Higashi Honganji
temple at Kyoto
. It was not appropriate for him to take home one of these stone babies which were images intended to bring luck to childless women, but Clayton convinced the jūshoku to allow him to have one, after insisting that he was not a missionary
. So in 1887 yet another image of a baby was added to the number already in Bankfield House's decorations while the childless Elizabeth Akroyd was still alive and her husband had died the same year.
Emile Clement
(1844–1928) donated or sold some of his Western Australia
n aboriginal
material to the museum, but this collection was later given to Manchester Museum
.
Henry Ling Roth
was an anthropologist
and curator of the Halifax
museums between 1900 and 1925. He published numerous items on anthropology, including 23 numbers of Bankfield Museum notes. He was "The man who developed a small, confused, unattractive museum into an important centre of spectacular interest and research". The museum had followed the 18th century pattern of displaying curiosities
, but Roth classified and rearranged the displays for educational purposes about peoples of the world and of the past. His main interest was textile
s, so he displayed textile machinery
from Calderdale
and "an old spinning jenny
in use at Dobcross
until 1916." He acquired and displayed spinning wheel
s, loom
s and textiles from the southern and eastern continents. He was commended for this in 1916.
Edith Durham
was an anthropologist
and collector of Balkan
textiles who donated her collection to the museum in 1935. It is thought that the museum possibly acquired this important collection as Bankfield still carried the reputation given to it by Ling Roth
, or perhaps because Roth's successor from 1925 to 1932 as curator was George Carline, brother of Edith Durham's friend Hilda Carline. The Durham collection was displayed at Bankfield in the "Bread and Salt in our Hearts" exhibition in 1997.
-inspired textiles. There are regular events, including talks for the public, and workshops and drop-in activities for children, plus Key Stages 2 and 3 education programmes.
Regimental museum
In countries whose armies are organised on a regimental basis, such as the army of the United Kingdom, a regimental museum is a military museum dedicated to the history of a specific army regiment.-England:*Army Medical Services Museum...
and textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
s gallery in Boothtown, Halifax
Halifax, West Yorkshire
Halifax is a minster town, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It has an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is notable for its past ownership and development by Colonel Edward Akroyd, MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
, and its grand interior.
History
When Edward Akroyd (1810–1887) bought this building in 1838, on his engagement to Elizabeth Fearby of York, it was a much smaller eight-roomed house, built ca 1800. He and his brother Henry were working for their father Jonathan Akroyd, a rich worstedWorsted
Worsted , is the name of a yarn, the cloth made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from the village of Worstead in the English county of Norfolk...
mill
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
owner, and living at Woodside Mansion in Boothtown
Boothtown
Boothtown is a suburb of Halifax, West Yorkshire, England.Located on the A647 Halifax to Bradford. It was on this road that Percy Shaw came up with the idea of cat's eyes as an aid to road safety...
. Jonathan died in 1848, and it was possibly Edward's inheritance which paid for the development of Bankfield which began around this time. Edward encased the 18th century building in fairfaced stone and added two loggia
Loggia
Loggia is the name given to an architectural feature, originally of Minoan design. They are often a gallery or corridor at ground level, sometimes higher, on the facade of a building and open to the air on one side, where it is supported by columns or pierced openings in the wall...
s, a dining room, Anglican
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
chapel and kitchens.
By 1867 Akroyd was Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Halifax
Halifax, West Yorkshire
Halifax is a minster town, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It has an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece...
and obliged to entertain on a grand scale. When the future Edward VII
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
visited Halifax to open the town hall
Halifax Town Hall
Halifax Town Hall is a grade II listed, 19th century town hall in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. It is notable for its design and interiors by Charles Barry and his son, Edward Middleton Barry, and for its sculptures by John Thomas.-History:]...
in 1863, the royal party ate lunch and dinner with the mayor who had more space at Manor Heath, although the prince did visit the Akroyd family business at Haley Hill Mills
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
. For this reason, the 1867 wing, designed by John Bownas Atkinson of York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
at a cost of £20,000, was spacious and decorated to impress. It had a porte-cochere
Porte-cochere
A porte-cochère is the architectural term for a porch- or portico-like structure at a main or secondary entrance to a building through which a horse and carriage can pass in order for the occupants to alight under cover, protected from the weather.The porte-cochère was a feature of many late 18th...
, saloon
Bar (establishment)
A bar is a business establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises.Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go...
, drawing room
Drawing room
A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained. The name is derived from the sixteenth-century terms "withdrawing room" and "withdrawing chamber", which remained in use through the seventeenth century, and made its first written appearance in 1642...
s, library and billiard room
Billiard room
A billiard room is a recreation room, such as in a house or recreation center, with a billiards, pool or snooker table...
. At its busiest, the mansion had 25 servants. Akroyd extended his influence beyond Haley Mills and Bankfield by building Akroydon close by: a model village of gothic terraced houses, allotments
Allotment (gardening)
An allotment garden, often called simply an allotment, is a plot of land made available for individual, non-professional gardening. Such plots are formed by subdividing a piece of land into a few or up to several hundreds of land parcels that are assigned to individuals or families...
, park, cooperative
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
, stables and All Souls Church
All Souls Church, Halifax
All Souls Church, Halifax, is a redundant Anglican church in Haley Hill, Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.-Early history:...
, all designed by George Gilbert Scott
George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott was an English architect of the Victorian Age, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches, cathedrals and workhouses...
.
By 1887 the business was in decline and Akroyd was dying. He sold the building to Halifax Corporation for £6,000 and retired to St Leonards
St Leonards
- Places :in the United Kingdom:*St Leonards, Buckinghamshire*St Leonards, Dorset*St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex*St Leonards, East Kilbride*St Leonards, Edinburgh*St Leonards railway station*St Leonard's , Lambeth, London...
where he died. The house was immediately turned into a museum and branch library, but over time the original features were neglected, and some elements were lost; however the building was listed grade II in 1954. The building has now been restored as far as possible. Calderdale Council has done this because "Together Akroydon and Bankfield symbolise the importance of the textile industry to Victorian Britain and the central role that Halifax played in this story." Meanwhile 25,000 natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
specimens were transferred to Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
City Museums in 1990 and the archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
collections transferred to Kirklees
Kirklees
The Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 401,000 and includes the settlements of Batley, Birstall, Cleckheaton, Denby Dale, Dewsbury, Heckmondwike, Holmfirth, Huddersfield, Kirkburton, Marsden, Meltham, Mirfield and Slaithwaite...
Museums in 1979. A number of collections, in particular a large textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
collection, were listed in 1999 but are not now on display for visitors.
Duke of Wellington's Regiment Museum
The museum was partly closed for phase one of a refurbishment in 2005, and was reopened on 22 October 2005 by Lady Jane Wellesley the daughter of the 8th Duke of Wellington. It was again partly closed to complete phase two in 2008 and reopened on 11 November 2008, after receiving further Heritage Lottery FundHeritage Lottery Fund
The Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...
grants. The museum shows the history of the regiment
Regiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
from its beginnings in 1702 as the Earl of Huntingdon's Regiment of Foot to its demise, when it was amalgamated with the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire
Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire
The Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the King's Division. It was created in 1958 by the amalgamation of The West Yorkshire Regiment and The East Yorkshire Regiment...
and The Green Howards
The Green Howards
The Green Howards was an infantry regiment of the British Army, in the King's Division...
to form the Yorkshire Regiment
Yorkshire Regiment
The Yorkshire Regiment is one of the largest infantry regiments of the British Army. The regiment is currently the only line infantry or rifles unit to represent a single geographical county in the new infantry structure, serving as the county regiment of Yorkshire covering the historical areas...
on 6 June 2009, using accounts from serving soldiers and interactive displays.
The regiment comprised the combined 33rd and 76th
76th Regiment of Foot
The 76th Regiment of Foot was originally raised as Lord Harcourt's Regiment on 17 November 1745 and disbanded in June 1746. Following the loss of Minorca to the French, it was raised again in November 1756 as the 61st Regiment, but renumbered to 76th, by General Order in 1758, and again disbanded...
foot Regiments, which were linked in 1881, as the 1st and 2nd battalions. Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
was colonel of the 33rd, named after him when he died. The 76th served in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and carried two stands of Queens and Regimental colours, one which was an honorary stand awarded by the East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
, so the combined regiment carried four colours on parade. Recruits are mainly from West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
for services in India.
The regiment's headquarters (now an area headquarters of the Yorkshire Regiment) and archives are at Wellesley Park in Halifax
Halifax, West Yorkshire
Halifax is a minster town, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It has an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece...
. The regimental collection is here because in 1859 Edward Akroyd paid for and recruited the 4th Yorkshire West Riding Rifle Volunteers, and they later became the Dukes 1st Volunteer Battalion. As MP he supported the establishment of the Regimental Depot in Halifax
Halifax, West Yorkshire
Halifax is a minster town, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It has an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece...
. The Bankfield Museum assists with research and educational activities in connection with this department.
"The Regiments’ Battle Honours range from the Battle of DettingenBattle of DettingenThe Battle of Dettingen took place on 27 June 1743 at Dettingen in Bavaria during the War of the Austrian Succession. It was the last time that a British monarch personally led his troops into battle...
(1743) to the Battle of the HookBattle of the HookThe third Battle of the Hook was a battle of the Korean War that took place between a United Nations force, consisting mostly of British troops, supported on their flanks by American and Turkish artillery units against a predominantly Chinese force...
, Korea (1953) and then to a Theatre Honour in the Iraq War (2003), together with many other unrecognised actions. Twenty one Battalions served during the First World War and during the Second World War men from twelve Battalions served as tank crews, artillery men and engineers in addition to their traditional role as infantryman. Since 1945, the Dukes have served with United Nations Forces in several operations, in addition to their tours of duty in Northern Ireland."
Exterior
The wide eaves and fairfaced stone give the building an Italianate appearance. The pillared and enclosed entrance lobby was originally an open porte-cocherePorte-cochere
A porte-cochère is the architectural term for a porch- or portico-like structure at a main or secondary entrance to a building through which a horse and carriage can pass in order for the occupants to alight under cover, protected from the weather.The porte-cochère was a feature of many late 18th...
, or covered entrance-way for carriages, which would drive under the stone canopy for the passengers to disembark.
The forecourt has a bowed screen wall. The stone mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
has an irregular shape due to various extensions. It consists of two arcaded
Arcade (architecture)
An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....
storeys above a basement, especially in the 1867 wing. There are great eaves below a hipped
Hip roof
A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...
and slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
d roof, and it is generally designed in the style of 14th to 15th century Italy
Renaissance architecture
Renaissance architecture is the architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 17th centuries in different regions of Europe, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture. Stylistically, Renaissance...
. The basement is rusticated
Rustication (architecture)
thumb|upright|Two different styles of rustication in the [[Palazzo Medici-Riccardi]] in [[Florence]].In classical architecture rustication is an architectural feature that contrasts in texture with the smoothly finished, squared block masonry surfaces called ashlar...
. From the back the low belvedere
Belvedere (structure)
Belvedere is an architectural term adopted from Italian , which refers to any architectural structure sited to take advantage of such a view. A belvedere may be built in the upper part of a building so as to command a fine view...
tower which lights the back staircase is visible. The arcaded
Arcade (architecture)
An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....
loggia
Loggia
Loggia is the name given to an architectural feature, originally of Minoan design. They are often a gallery or corridor at ground level, sometimes higher, on the facade of a building and open to the air on one side, where it is supported by columns or pierced openings in the wall...
s, originally open to the air, are now enclosed and altered.
Interior
The grand staircase is marbleMarble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
, and the decorations are inspired by the fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
es of Pompeii
Pompeii
The city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning...
and Herculaneum
Herculaneum
Herculaneum was an ancient Roman town destroyed by volcanic pyroclastic flows in AD 79, located in the territory of the current commune of Ercolano, in the Italian region of Campania in the shadow of Mt...
, although the wall-design at the bottom of the stairs appears to be Egyptian revival
Egyptian Revival architecture
Egyptian Revival is an architectural style that uses the motifs and imagery of ancient Egypt. It is attributed generally to the public awareness of ancient Egyptian monuments generated by Napoleon's conquest of Egypt and Admiral Nelson's defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of the Nile during 1798....
. The dining room is now the temporary exhibition gallery. It has a classical style
Classical architecture
Classical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...
marble fireplace, and a plaster frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
featuring the royal coat of arms
Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom
The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom is the official coat of arms of the British monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II. These arms are used by the Queen in her official capacity as monarch of the United Kingdom, and are officially known as her Arms of Dominion...
. The Regimental Museum occupies the original drawing room
Drawing room
A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained. The name is derived from the sixteenth-century terms "withdrawing room" and "withdrawing chamber", which remained in use through the seventeenth century, and made its first written appearance in 1642...
suite. Below the library was the billiard room
Billiard room
A billiard room is a recreation room, such as in a house or recreation center, with a billiards, pool or snooker table...
, accessible from the bottom of the staircase, through the red door on the right. The 1867 block has warm air grilles in the skirting boards, and the heating was probably provided by a boiler. However there is a legend that hot air was ducted from the Haley Mill nearby. On the floors of the marble gallery and the chapel lobby are encaustic tile
Encaustic tile
Encaustic tiles are ceramic tiles in which the pattern or figure on the surface is not a product of the glaze but of different colors of clay. They are usually of two colors but a tile may be composed of as many as six. The pattern is inlaid into the body of the tile, so that the design remains as...
s by Maw & Co. of Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
.
The saloon
This is now the entrance hall and shop, and the walls are used to display temporary exhibitions. The saloonState room
A state room in a large European mansion is usually one of a suite of very grand rooms which were designed to impress. The term was most widely used in the 17th and 18th centuries. They were the most lavishly decorated in the house and contained the finest works of art...
was also the grand hall, reception room, picture gallery and ballroom
Ballroom
A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms...
, with a little furniture at the sides, many oil paintings and gasoliers
Chandelier
A chandelier is a branched decorative ceiling-mounted light fixture with two or more arms bearing lights. Chandeliers are often ornate, containing dozens of lamps and complex arrays of glass or crystal prisms to illuminate a room with refracted light...
. It has rooflights with painted plaster decorations in the classical style
Classical architecture
Classical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...
around them. The marble fireplace features two large putti holding trumpets. Putti are also the central feature on the grand staircase ceiling - possibly a wistful element as Akroyd and his wife had no children.
The library
This is now the World of Textiles gallery, with the exhibits in the original oak bookcases. It was a very light room, the north and east walls having three great windows on each, and fittings for three chandelierChandelier
A chandelier is a branched decorative ceiling-mounted light fixture with two or more arms bearing lights. Chandeliers are often ornate, containing dozens of lamps and complex arrays of glass or crystal prisms to illuminate a room with refracted light...
s on the ceiling. The windows have etched glass semicircular panels at the top, in designs reflecting the stylised patterns on the ceiling. In one of the bookcases is a display of silverwork by Halifax
Halifax, West Yorkshire
Halifax is a minster town, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It has an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece...
jeweller Charles Horner
Charles Horner (jeweller)
Charles Horner was an English jeweller and founder of the Halifax jewellery business Charles Horner of Halifax. Located in Halifax, West Yorkshire, the Charles Horner factory produced a range of products during the 20th century, together with other items like silverware, tableware and...
(1837–1896).
Ceiling
The library was originally also the smoking room
Smoking room
A Smoking room is a room which is specifically provided and furnished for smoking, generally in buildings where smoking is otherwise prohibited....
, so it is surprising that the original painted ceiling has survived and could be fully restored. The ceiling is heavily painted, gilded and sculptured in an eclectic manner, taking its general design from classical
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
sources. The background is cream, but there is much use of Pompeii
Pompeii
The city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning...
an red, an earth colour which gained popularity in Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
after the renewed excavations by Giuseppe Fiorelli
Giuseppe Fiorelli
Giuseppe Fiorelli was an Italian archaeologist born in Naples, Italy. His excavations at Pompeii helped preserve the city.Fiorelli's initial work at Pompeii was completed in 1848. He was then imprisoned for some time because his radical approach to archaeology and strong nationalist feelings...
in 1860. Small panels feature clearly painted classical
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
motifs and portraits with distressed
Distressing
Distressing in the decorative arts is the activity of making a piece of furniture or object appear aged and older, and there are many methods to produce an appearance of age and wear. Distressing is viewed as a refinishing technique although it is the opposite of finishing in a traditional sense...
backgrounds, to look like pieces of ancient fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
es. Four medallions show the named poets Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
, Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
and Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language....
, all admired by the Romantics
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
. All the spaces on the cream background are filled with illustrations imitating the original maiolica
Maiolica
Maiolica is Italian tin-glazed pottery dating from the Renaissance. It is decorated in bright colours on a white background, frequently depicting historical and legendary scenes.-Name:...
style, featuring stylised goats and faun
Faun
The faun is a rustic forest god or place-spirit of Roman mythology often associated with Greek satyrs and the Greek god Pan.-Origins:...
s, cornucopia
Cornucopia
The cornucopia or horn of plenty is a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce, flowers, nuts, other edibles, or wealth in some form...
, grapes, birds and flowers, but also angels and putti
Putto
A putto is a figure of an infant often depicted as a young male. Putti are defined as chubby, winged or wingless, male child figure in nude. Putti are distinct from cherubim, but some English-speakers confuse them with each other, except that in the plural, "the Cherubim" refers to the biblical...
in the centre. The decoration around the edge has a Green Man
Green Man
A Green Man is a sculpture, drawing, or other representation of a face surrounded by or made from leaves. Branches or vines may sprout from the nose, mouth, nostrils or other parts of the face and these shoots may bear flowers or fruit...
.
Fireplace
The fireplace is red Rouge de Rance
Rouge de Rance
Rouge de Rance is a Devonian red reef limestone from the town of Rance in the province of Hainaut .The red "marble" of Rance in the Belgian province of Hainaut knew a large popularity as a prestigious building material for decorative use...
marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
with cream and black marble, patterned with inlaid semi-precious stone including green malachite
Malachite
Malachite is a copper carbonate mineral, with the formula Cu2CO32. This green-colored mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, and most often forms botryoidal, fibrous, or stalagmitic masses. Individual crystals are rare but do occur as slender to acicular prisms...
: all imported materials. The intertwined initials of Edward and Elizabeth his wife are central on the fire surround and fireback, which is prominently dated 1867. The inlay features the White Rose of York
White Rose of York
The White Rose of York , a white heraldic rose, is the symbol of the House of York and has since been adopted as a symbol of Yorkshire as a whole.-History:...
shire, possibly in Parian marble
Parian marble
Parian marble is a fine-grained semitranslucent pure-white and entirely flawless marble quarried during the classical era on the Greek island of Paros in the Aegean Sea.It was highly prized by ancient Greeks for making sculptures...
, which is repeated on the carved corinthian column
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
s on the fire surround. The mantelshelf is massive enough to support three lifesized marble busts: Edward Akroyd on the left, his father Jonathan in the centre, and his wife Elizabeth on the right. The bust of Elizabeth is remarkable in that it has the trompe-l'œil effect of a veil over the face. The glazed hearth tiles are similar to Mintons tiles but are probably locally made.
Back staircase
On the wall of the stairwell are low reliefRelief
Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
plaster sculptures of Night and Day after works by the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen
Bertel Thorvaldsen
Bertel Thorvaldsen was a Danish-Icelandic sculptor of international fame, who spent most of his life in Italy . Thorvaldsen was born in Copenhagen into a Danish/Icelandic family of humble means, and was accepted to the Royal Academy of Arts when he was eleven years old...
. They symbolically divide the night quarters upstairs from the day quarters downstairs. The oak balustrade
Baluster
A baluster is a moulded shaft, square or of lathe-turned form, one of various forms of spindle in woodwork, made of stone or wood and sometimes of metal, standing on a unifying footing, and supporting the coping of a parapet or the handrail of a staircase. Multiplied in this way, they form a...
has turned
Woodturning
Woodturning is a form of woodworking that is used to create wooden objects on a lathe . Woodturning differs from most other forms of woodworking in that the wood is moving while a stationary tool is used to cut and shape it...
balusters and brass
Brass
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...
finial
Finial
The finial is an architectural device, typically carved in stone and employed decoratively to emphasize the apex of a gable or any of various distinctive ornaments at the top, end, or corner of a building or structure. Smaller finials can be used as a decorative ornament on the ends of curtain rods...
s in the shape of lions, because Elizabeth's family coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
featured lions. The ceiling is heavily coffer
Coffer
A coffer in architecture, is a sunken panel in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault...
ed, but there are windows round the top of the stairwell and a great glass chandelier
Chandelier
A chandelier is a branched decorative ceiling-mounted light fixture with two or more arms bearing lights. Chandeliers are often ornate, containing dozens of lamps and complex arrays of glass or crystal prisms to illuminate a room with refracted light...
, so it is very light - in fact the stairwell is built as a separate tower so as to permit so many windows.
People associated with the museum
The Halifax Literary and Philosophical Society was started by 13 HalifaxHalifax, West Yorkshire
Halifax is a minster town, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It has an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece...
merchants, professionals and military officers in 1830 for research and study, to promote science and the arts and to start a museum to display their collections. These collections of curios
Cabinet of curiosities
A cabinet of curiosities was an encyclopedic collection in Renaissance Europe of types of objects whose categorical boundaries were yet to be defined. They were also known by various names such as Cabinet of Wonder, and in German Kunstkammer or Wunderkammer...
were acquired from their Grand Tour
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...
s and travels for business and military purposes; they were objects of geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
, natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
, anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
, the arts
Fine art
Fine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....
, as well as oddities from around the world. Their museum was at first successful but by 1895 had declined, so was closed and the exhibits given to Halifax museums. Some of Bankfield's share has survived and a few items are exhibited to demonstrate Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
antiquarian
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
taste.
Lemuel Clayton was a Halifax
Halifax, West Yorkshire
Halifax is a minster town, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It has an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece...
councillor, silk spinner and one of the co-founders of Bankfield Museum in 1887. He was a member of the Literary and Philosophical Society, had travelled the world and amassed a collection of curios
Cabinet of curiosities
A cabinet of curiosities was an encyclopedic collection in Renaissance Europe of types of objects whose categorical boundaries were yet to be defined. They were also known by various names such as Cabinet of Wonder, and in German Kunstkammer or Wunderkammer...
, and these curios were some of the first exhibits shown in the museum. One of the curios was a stone carving of a baby which he acquired in 1886 from the Higashi Honganji
Higashi Honganji
, or, the Eastern Temple of the Original Vow, is one of two dominant sub-sects of Shin Buddhism in Japan and abroad, the other being Nishi Honganji...
temple at Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
. It was not appropriate for him to take home one of these stone babies which were images intended to bring luck to childless women, but Clayton convinced the jūshoku to allow him to have one, after insisting that he was not a missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
. So in 1887 yet another image of a baby was added to the number already in Bankfield House's decorations while the childless Elizabeth Akroyd was still alive and her husband had died the same year.
Emile Clement
Emile Clement
Emile Louis Bruno Clement was a prominent collector of ethnographic artifacts and natural history specimens from northwest Australia at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.-Biography:...
(1844–1928) donated or sold some of his Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
n aboriginal
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
material to the museum, but this collection was later given to Manchester Museum
Manchester Museum
The Manchester Museum is owned by the University of Manchester. Sited on Oxford Road at the heart of the university's group of neo-Gothic buildings, it provides access to about six million items from every continent and serves both as a resource for academic research and teaching and as a regional...
.
Henry Ling Roth
Henry Ling Roth
Henry Ling Roth was an English-born anthropologist and museum curator, active in Australia.-Early life:Roth was born in London, the son of Dr Mathias Roth, an Austrian-born surgeon, and his English wife Anna Maria, née Collins. Henry was educated at University College School, London, and studied...
was an anthropologist
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
and curator of the Halifax
Halifax, West Yorkshire
Halifax is a minster town, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It has an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece...
museums between 1900 and 1925. He published numerous items on anthropology, including 23 numbers of Bankfield Museum notes. He was "The man who developed a small, confused, unattractive museum into an important centre of spectacular interest and research". The museum had followed the 18th century pattern of displaying curiosities
Cabinet of curiosities
A cabinet of curiosities was an encyclopedic collection in Renaissance Europe of types of objects whose categorical boundaries were yet to be defined. They were also known by various names such as Cabinet of Wonder, and in German Kunstkammer or Wunderkammer...
, but Roth classified and rearranged the displays for educational purposes about peoples of the world and of the past. His main interest was textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
s, so he displayed textile machinery
Textile manufacturing
Textile manufacturing is a major industry. It is based in the conversion of three types of fibre into yarn, then fabric, then textiles. These are then fabricated into clothes or other artifacts. Cotton remains the most important natural fibre, so is treated in depth...
from Calderdale
Calderdale
The Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England, through which the upper part of the River Calder flows, and from which it takes its name...
and "an old spinning jenny
Spinning jenny
The spinning jenny is a multi-spool spinning frame. It was invented c. 1764 by James Hargreaves in Stanhill, Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire in England. The device reduced the amount of work needed to produce yarn, with a worker able to work eight or more spools at once. This grew to 120 as technology...
in use at Dobcross
Dobcross
Dobcross is a village in Saddleworth—a civil parish of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It is located in a valley in the South Pennines, along the course of the River Tame and the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, east-northeast of Oldham and west-southwest of...
until 1916." He acquired and displayed spinning wheel
Spinning wheel
A spinning wheel is a device for spinning thread or yarn from natural or synthetic fibers. Spinning wheels appeared in Asia, probably in the 11th century, and very gradually replaced hand spinning with spindle and distaff...
s, loom
Loom
A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads...
s and textiles from the southern and eastern continents. He was commended for this in 1916.
Edith Durham
Edith Durham
Mary Edith Durham was a British traveller, artist and writer who became famous for her anthropological accounts of life in Albania in the early 20th century.-Early life:...
was an anthropologist
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
and collector of Balkan
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
textiles who donated her collection to the museum in 1935. It is thought that the museum possibly acquired this important collection as Bankfield still carried the reputation given to it by Ling Roth
Henry Ling Roth
Henry Ling Roth was an English-born anthropologist and museum curator, active in Australia.-Early life:Roth was born in London, the son of Dr Mathias Roth, an Austrian-born surgeon, and his English wife Anna Maria, née Collins. Henry was educated at University College School, London, and studied...
, or perhaps because Roth's successor from 1925 to 1932 as curator was George Carline, brother of Edith Durham's friend Hilda Carline. The Durham collection was displayed at Bankfield in the "Bread and Salt in our Hearts" exhibition in 1997.
Events
The museum hosts a series of temporary exhibitions; for example in 2009 there was an exhibition of ChineseChinese art
Chinese art is visual art that, whether ancient or modern, originated in or is practiced in China or by Chinese artists or performers. Early so-called "stone age art" dates back to 10,000 BC, mostly consisting of simple pottery and sculptures. This early period was followed by a series of art...
-inspired textiles. There are regular events, including talks for the public, and workshops and drop-in activities for children, plus Key Stages 2 and 3 education programmes.
External links
- Calderdale Council: Webpages for Bankfield Museum
- Calderdale Council: Webpages for Duke of Wellington's Regiment Museum
- English Heritage National Momuments Record: Bankfield Museum: Grade II listing and description
- Calderdale Council: DisabledGo.info: Bankfield Museum access details
- TourismLeafletsOnLine.com: Bankfield Museum Halifax leaflet