Ilkley Manor House,

Ilkley Ilkley is a spa town and civil parish in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, in Northern England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, is a local heritage museum, art gallery, and live venue, and was established in the present building in 1961 to preserve local

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

artefacts after the

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath, Somerset, Ba ...

expanded and much

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

material was lost. It was managed by Bradford Council Museums and Galleries department but had to be closed in 2013 owing to lack of funds. In order to keep the building open to the public, the Ilkley Manor House Trust was formed, and in April 2018,

Bradford Council City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council is the Local government in England, local authority of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. Bradford has had an elected council since 1847, which has been reformed on several occasions. ...

transferred the Manor House and three adjacent cottages to the Trust as a community asset transfer.

History of the Ilkley Museum

The following are key events in the history of the Ilkley Museum before the artefacts were moved to Ilkley Manor House:Gavin Edwards and Denise Shillitoe, ''Ilkley and its Museum 1892–1992'', 1992. (Available at the Museum.) * 1892: A museum was established by the Museum Committee, whose president was Dr G. Carter, under the auspices of the Ilkley Ratepayers' Association. This had become urgent when the expansion of the spa town of Ilkley caused disturbance of

and other remains under the town. It was said that

material was being carried away by the cartload, and local

antiquarians 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 artefacts, archaeological and historic sit ...

had been attempting to rescue and preserve some of these artefacts but they had nowhere to display them. The present

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

building, known then as the ''Old Castle'', was the committee's first choice but it was too expensive and so they bought the Old

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

Chapel which had been built in 1834. The opening ceremony was on Thursday 25 August 1892. The Rev. Dr Collyer, who gave the opening speech, asked his audience to guard both the rescued artefacts and the

remains that were still buried under Ilkley. The first curator was Herbert Oxley, who was paid £1 per week. On 14 September it was renamed the Ilkley Museum and Antiquarian Society. * 1893: The earliest exhibits were: local

geological Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth s ...

and

botanical Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

specimens; drawings of local stones with

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

or early

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

cup and ring engravings; local

relics including a triple vase; relics of a local character, James Fletcher the fiddler, known as Blind Jim. The Museum had his portrait and

18th century The 18th century lasted from 1 January 1701 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCCI) to 31 December 1800 (MDCCC). During the 18th century, elements of Enlightenment thinking culminated in the Atlantic Revolutions. Revolutions began to ch ...

chair.''Antiquary'', 1893. * 1896: Ilkley Urban District Council took over the museum. Oxley, the curator, died and was replaced by his wife. * 1908: The museum was moved to the upper floor of the new Public Library, which had been opened in 1907. William Graham took over as curator; he held the post until 1942. * 1922-28: Donations had expanded the collection, but the museum could not afford to move to larger premises. An unmanageably large collection of non-local objects interfered with classification, labelling, and display of its local core items: the

artefacts. Furthermore, the ''

Ilkley Gazette The ''Gazette & Observer'', in full the ''Ilkley, Wharfedale and Aireborough Gazette & Observer'', was a weekly newspaper published by Wharfedale Newspapers of Ilkley, West Yorkshire, England, and part of the Newsquest group. It began publicati ...

'' had received a letter of complaint that the museum was more like a curiosity shop and therefore the collection had to be reduced. Many non-local items were returned to owners or sold to Keighley Museum, which was based in Victoria Hall on Hard Ings Road at that time, such as the Ellison collection of classified

specimens. Other items held at the museum include: photographs of notable local people; a stuffed

albatross Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Paci ...

; valuable coins; a

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

mug;

Japanese armour Scholars agree that Japanese armour first appeared in the 4th century, with the discovery of the cuirass and basic helmets in graves. During the Heian period (794–1185), the unique Japanese samurai armour ''ō-yoroi'' and ''dō-maru'' appeared. ...

; Anglo-Saxon cross carvings; a "famous

triple vase ..found near the Assembly Hall in Weston Road"; a serpent (musical instrument);

boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool typically constructed with airfoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight, designed to return to the thrower. The origin of the word is from Australian Aborigin ...

s; a

sawfish Sawfish, also known as carpenter sharks, are a family of very large rays characterized by a long, narrow, flattened rostrum, or nose extension, lined with sharp transverse teeth, arranged in a way that resembles a saw. They are among the lar ...

. Arthur M. Woodward, the classifier of the

artefacts, was absent in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

when this article was written, so there may have been intimations of an administrative power struggle involved in the publication of this piece in the ''Gazette''. * 1939–1948: The museum exhibits were packed away to make room for wartime administration. The curator, William Graham, died and was not replaced. Items in storage became muddled together or went missing. * 1949: The museum was re-established, with Grace Simpson restoring order and Elsie Fletcher becoming Honorary Curator. It was reopened on 4 June 1949 as Ilkley Museum. * 1954: Elsie Fletcher started the Olicana Museum Society, which later became the Olicana Historical Society. This society, which still exists today, focuses on archaeological and historical heritage and organises talks and excursions. * 1955–1961: The Old Castle — Ilkley Manor House's current building - became available to the Museum but was facing demolition and required cash and conversion from cottages into one building. Costs were quoted at £7,000-£10,000, but there were contributions from Ilkley Urban District Council and Percy Dalton, and a grant from the Ministry of Works. The Manor House Museum and Art Gallery was opened on 8 July 1961. Manor 003

Ilkley Manor House from 1961

The following list details key events in Ilkley Manor House's history since it was converted into a museum and art gallery in 1961: * 1961–1974: The restored ''Old Castle'' building itself became the main exhibit of the Museum. By 1963, both upper rooms were art galleries and Arthur Kitching, the second curator of the Manor House Museum, started in his role. He himself was a respected artist and exhibited his work at the House. * 1963: The Friends of the Manor House was formed. * 1974-77: The caretakers had lived upstairs in the west wing of the Manor House but their rooms were turned into offices. Also in 1974, the Arts and Museums Division of the Bradford Metropolitan District was formed and so the Manor House was able to get some of its lost exhibits back, and benefited from communal museum resources. In 1977, Arthur Kitching stepped down as curator. * 2013: Bradford Metropolitan District Council announced that due to lack of funds, Ilkley Manor House would receive no more funding. A group was set up to campaign for funding and halt the closure of the House. * 2016: Ilkley Manor House Trust is formed. * 2017: Bradford Council allows the Manor House to be transferred to the Trust and run as a community asset. * 2018: After being closed for five years, Ilkley Manor House is reopened by its patron,

Alan Titchmarsh Alan Fred Titchmarsh (born 2 May 1949) is an English gardener, broadcaster and writer. After working as a professional gardener and a horticultural journalist, he became a radio and television presenter and a novelist. Early career Alan Fred T ...

. * 2021: The Friends of the Manor House is disbanded. * 2022-present: In early 2022, the Manor House launched the Supporters' Scheme and the two Verbeia altar stones (the Roman original and the 1608 replica) were moved to be placed together in the Heritage Room.

Current exhibits

The majority of the local historical artefacts are now housed in the Heritage Room which is on the ground floor of the solar wing. There are items dated from the Neolithic period, to Roman, to Medieval, as well as Victorian, Edwardian, and more recent years. File:Verbeia Altar Stones.jpg, The original Roman altar on the left and the 1608 replica on the right. The original is dedicated to the goddess of the

River Wharfe The River Wharfe ( ) is a river in Yorkshire, England originating within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. For much of its middle course it is the county boundary between West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire. Its valley is known as Wharfedale. ...

, Verbeia. File:Manor 033.jpg,

arrowheads File:Manor 013.jpg, alt=Gritstone bas-relief tombstone of Romano-British woman. There is a woman sculpted into the stone. She is seated in a high-backed chair. She has two plaits hanging down the front of her body and her right hand is poised towards her left shoulder.,

Gritstone Gritstone or grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for ...

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

tombstone of

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...

woman Vedica, who died aged 30. File:Manor 016.jpg, alt=Sandstone bas-relief tombstone of Roman family. There are three figures: a boy, a mother, and a father. They are wearing Roman clothing and hairstyles.,

Sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

family. File:Manor 017.jpg,

Samian ware Terra sigillata is a term with at least three distinct meanings: as a description of medieval medicinal earth; in archaeology, as a general term for some of the fine red ancient Roman pottery with glossy surface slips made in specific areas ...

sherds. File:Manor 012.jpg,

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

carved

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

blocks. File:Manor 021.jpg, Carved

head; possibly

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

. File:Manor 025.jpg, Oak bench from home of

Thomas Chippendale Thomas Chippendale (June 1718 – 1779) was an English woodworker in London, designing furniture in the mid-Georgian, English Rococo, and Neoclassical styles. In 1754 he published a book of his designs in a trade catalogue titled ''The Gen ...

, possibly made by him or his father. File:Manor 024.jpg, Oak bench from home of

, possibly made by him or his father: closeup.

The Manor House (Old Castle) building

The Manor House building is of historic interest.West Yorkshire Archaeological Service, ''Historic Houses of West Yorkshire: The Manor House Ilkley'' (leaflet), 1987 & 1982. (Available free at the Museum.) This is the oldest dwelling-house in Ilkley and was built along with All Saints' Parish Church on the site of the Roman fort,

Olicana Ilkley Roman Fort is a Roman fort on the south bank of the River Wharfe, at the centre of the modern town of Ilkley, a Victorian spa town in West Yorkshire, England. Identification The traditional view is that ''Olicana'' is the fort at Ilkley, ...

. The church was built in

times on top of the ''Principia'' or headquarters building of the

fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

. The Manor House was built into the west defences: that is, it was incorporated with part of the free-standing defensive west wall of the

, and many robbed-out

small squared stone blocks are now part of the building. Before it became the museum, Ilkley Manor House was known as 'The Castle'. The origin of this name was probably due to the Roman fort, i.e.

castrum ''Castra'' () is a Latin language, Latin term used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire for a military 'camp', and ''castrum'' () for a 'Fortification, fort'. Either could refer to a building or plot of land, used as a fortified milita ...

, from which we get the diminuitive form '

castellum A ''castellum'' in Latin is usually: * a small Roman fortlet or tower,C. Julius Caesar, Gallic War; 2,30 a diminutive of (' military camp'), often used as a watchtower or signal station like on Hadrian's Wall. It is distinct from a , which ...

'. The House has evidence of a

Pele Tower Peel towers (also spelt pele) are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, mainly between the mid-14th century and about 1600. They were free-standing ...

which may also explain why it was historically known as 'The Castle'. This is unlikely, however, because there is no evidence that the building itself was used for fortification. The front of the building faces south. The left or west wing, which now contains the buttery and storeroom, is partly

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

and was built on the

wall. The interior entrances to the buttery and storeroom have 14th-century shouldered corbelled arches, or ' Caernarfon lintels'. The

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...

ed windows are 17th century. The central

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

covers the main eating

hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and the Early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gre ...

with fireplace, and the right or east gable is the

solar Solar may refer to: Astronomy * Of or relating to the Sun ** Solar telescope, a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun ** A device that utilizes solar energy (e.g. "solar panels") ** Solar calendar, a calendar whose dates indicate t ...

wing, which contained upstairs accommodation for the owner, with a

garderobe Garderobe is a historic term for a room in a medieval castle. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' gives as its first meaning a store-room for valuables, but also acknowledges "by extension, a private room, a bed-chamber; also a privy". The word der ...

and fireplace. The upper floor of the solar wing is now home to the Solar Art Gallery. The front walls and windows of the central

and

wing are 16th century. The front doorway with pointed arch is possibly late Norman. The back or north

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

of the building is partly built with stones robbed from the

. The passage doorway may be

, but the archway and right (west) wing are 17th-century. The wall beneath the central and east gables on this side is 15th- to 16th-century. The lowest large window in the

wing on this north side is 17th-century; other north-

windows are more modern. In the interior roof of the solar room, the rigid 15th- or 16th-century

structure A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

of king posts, tie beams and principal

rafter A rafter is one of a series of sloped structural members such as Beam (structure), steel beams that extend from the ridge or hip to the wall plate, downslope perimeter or eave, and that are designed to support the roof Roof shingle, shingles, ...

s forms the main frame of the roof, as a series of triangular

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as Beam (structure), beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so ...

es. File:Ilkley Manor House Fireplace.jpg, alt=A close-up view of Ilkley Manor House's fireplace in the main hall. On the top right, you can just about see a rectangle where there was possibly a bread oven. There is a black metal fireback which is possibly Victorian or Edwardian. The fire itself is a replica using electrical lights to create a flame effect and real logs. There are also two battery-operated candles in holders on either side of the fire., A close-up view of Ilkley Manor House's fireplace in the main hall. On the top right, you can just about see a rectangle where there was possibly a bread oven. File:Manor 004.jpg, View up the chimney File:Manor 020.jpg, 15th-16th century roof interior.

Educational facility

The Manor House, specifically the ground floor room of the solar wing (now known as the 'Heritage Room'), is used for educational purposes and various local schools visit to learn about the history of the area. Children usually learn about Roman British history as this fits in with the national curriculum. At the House, children can learn about: the remains of the Roman fort; the life of a Roman soldier in Britain, including the replica of a Roman helmet; Roman British military campaigns; the operation of the fort and

vicus In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (plural ) designated a village within a rural area () or the neighbourhood of a larger settlement. During the Republican era, the four of the city of Rome were subdivided into . In the 1st century BC, Augustus ...

. In addition, visitors to Ilkley Manor House can read the two new interpretation boards: 'Discover the History of the Roman Fort' is opposite the Roman wall to the west of the House and discusses the occupation of the site by the Romans; the second, 'Journey Back in Time', is near the Northern Gate Marker to the north-east of the House and discusses what life may have been like.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ilkley_Manor_House Museums established in 1892 Museums in the City of Bradford Art museums and galleries in West Yorkshire Country houses in West Yorkshire Archaeological museums in England History of West Yorkshire Local museums in West Yorkshire 1892 establishments in England Ilkley Museums in West Yorkshire Museums in Yorkshire History of Yorkshire Contemporary art galleries in England Contemporary art galleries in the United Kingdom