Exhibitions and Events at the museum

“The Story of the Wainstall Waifs” – extended until Saturday 20th April 2024

Our brand new exhibition in the museum is based upon research by Kim Pearson and tells the story of the Wainstalls Waifs and their journey from workhouse to independence. All of the around 250 waifs came from Liverpool to work in the mills of the Calverts at Wainstalls. They were not necessarily all orphans and most came from the the Brownlow Hill Workhouse, then Kirkdale Industrial School and then Calverts. The Calverts Mill at Wainstalls dates back to to the early 19th century and was a worsted spinning textile mill. Conditions of work were harsh but by the 1860s various Factory Acts now protected workers in respect to hours worked but, contrary to some opinions the Wainstalls Waifs were not slaves but most of the income they earned went towards their upkeep in the various cottages they lived in which were adjacent to their mill workplace.

Before being transported by train to Luddendenfoot the girls were given a medical for Tuberculosis which in those days was a rampant disease and a major killer. They would then be taken by cart from the station to the fresh moorland air of Wainstalls – another world from the squalid urban environment of Liverpool. Girls were preferred to boys as they were thought more reliable and were recruited from the age of 10.
It should be remembered that the Wainstalls Waifs, as they are now referred to, were employed under contract as apprentices, but in fact through their experiences in the mill they worked in, they in effect learnt a trade as worsted spinners. The skill they acquired was a form of female empowerment and although the girls were no longer under the guardianship of I&I at 17 or 18, and they were free to leave, many stayed, earned a wage and integrated into the local Wainstalls community. Some later married local men.
The graves of some of the Wainstalls girls can be seen in the Luddenden Dean graveyard (the chapel was destroyed by fire in the late1950s), on Heys Lane, Wainstalls. The road to Castle Carr is higher up.
Entry to the exhibition is included in the general admission charge to the museum of £5 adult, £4 concession, with free entry for children. The exhibition runs from Saturday 13th January to Saturday 6th April 2024. We are open every Saturday 10am to 4pm and most Thursdays in the school holidays.

Calderdale Industrial Museum Association Talks 2024

We have member talks every month, here is some information about the upcoming talks in April and May 2024.Doors open at 7pm, with the talk starting at 7.30pm. All are welcome.
The April talk will be given by Corinne McDonald and features the Picker Making Industry in and around Todmorden. In 1925 Todmorden was making more pickers than any other town in England. How and why did this come about?
The May talk will be given by Chris Toole. He will examining paternalism in mid 19th century Halifax and the impact of the Akroyd and Crossley families on the town.
Free entry to members of Calderdale Industrial Museum Association, £4 to visitors. Tea/coffee/biscuits will be available for a small donation.

If you would like to become a member of Calderdale Industrial Museum Association and enjoy free entry to the museum, free entry to talks and invitations to special events, please click HERE for further information, or contact the museum. Membership is £15 for one, or £23 for two people at one addres

 

New Bobbin Trail

Why not visit Calderdale Industrial Museum in 2024, we are open from Saturday 6th January 2024 and have a new “Bobbin Trail” around the museum. Bobbins are used to weave cloth which was a very important industry in Calderdale. Take our trail to find out more about other trades and industries that were in this area. There are pictures of bobbins hidden in the museum. Every time you find one there are questions to answer. One set of questions our very young visitors may enjoy or if you like a challenge you can answer the more challenging set (or even both!). If you enjoy the trail and would like a bobbin of your own, we have a wide range of toys and gifts made from bobbins in our shop.

Yorkshire through Lens and Brush

– A Respective of Photographs and Artwork by Terry Sutton

Terry Sutton has been capturing the changing lives and scenery of West Yorkshire for more than sixty years. We are delighted to present a retrospective of his vast output of photographs, sketches and paintings. In the 1970’s he began a series of illustrations based on photographs of the relentlessly changing industrial landscapes of what was once the “industrial West Riding”. Cinemas, chapels, railway stations, warehouses, mills and other buildings were abandoned and left for years to fall into dereliction. To many, these once important servants of our communities became eyesores, for Terry, the textures, colours and strange beauty provided inspiration for his first book, Yesterday’s Yorkshire – A Celebration of the Industrial West Riding published in 2001. His second book  Hard Graft – Yorkshire at Work pays tribute to Yorkshire’s rich heritage of craftmanship and industrial achievement.

Privacy Policy        Cookie Policy            Accessibility        Terms             Like us on Facebook  Twitter and  Instagram