Closure of the Red House Museum scheduled for December 21st.

BBC News features the closure of the Red House Museum scheduled for December 21st.

Kirklees Council said the Dewsbury Museum and Red House closures are part of its museums service reorganisation, which will save £531,000. The council will now see if anyone is willing to take over the running of the building and a decision will be announced next year. However, if no-one comes forward with a viable plan the building may be sold on the open market. Councillor Graham Turner said: "The council did not want to be in this position. Nobody wants to close museums but we do need to react to these times of austerity and make savings.

"I am sorry people will no longer be able to access these museums, but I can assure you we will do everything possible to look after the collections."
He added: "Museums are not just about buildings, it's about using the collections to tell the story of our past and how they influence what we do today."

The thing about the Red House Museum is that it is mostly about the building. If it is eventually sold as private property and turned into flats the whole point of it will be lost. Not to mention the stained glass windows. bronteblog

Red House and Charlotte Bronte

Red House in Gomersal, a village south of Bradford was once the home of Charlotte Brontë's close friend Mary Taylor. This former cloth merchant's residence is beautifully furnished as a family home of the 1830s, from the elegant parlour to the stone flagged kitchens. Charlotte often stayed there in the 1830s and the Taylors appear as the "Yorkes" and the house as "Briarmains" in her novel "Shirley".

Information and photographes of the Red House friendsofredhousegomersal