Craven Museum & Gallery

The museum's biology collection consists mainly of the collection of naturalists and enthusiast collectors. Collections include the Colonel Tottie 19th century bird egg collection, the entomology collection, the botany collection and the zoology collection.[14]

The geology collection is made up of a variety of rocks, minerals and fossils, most of which were collected by local collector Welbury Wilkinson Holgate and Dr Arthur Raistrick.[14] Many of the rocks and minerals are from the Craven area, like limestone. Fossils in the collection range from ammonites, coral, bivalves, to the vertebrae of an Ichthyosaurus.[14][15]

The archaeology collection ranges from the Paleolithic to the post-medieval period. Many items have been found in local excavations. Collections include cave finds from the nearby Elbolton and Victoria caves, a lithics collection, finds from Doggerbank, Roman finds from nearby Kirk Sink Villa and from the Sunderland collection, and an Elizabethan coin hoard.[16][17][18]

The museum has a collection of artefacts associated with social history in Craven. The artefacts cover homelife with a display of domestic appliances, childhood with a collection of toys; working life with exhibits on agriculture, lead mining, and notable people from Craven, such as the Calendar girls, the co-founder of Marks and Spencer, Thomas Spencer and Thomas Cresap, who became a pioneer in America.[19][20][21]

Over the last four decades, the museum has interviewed local people to find out more about the history of the Craven area. There are 70 tapes overall, covering topics such as life during the World Wars, working on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, and farming.[22]

The museum has an eclectic collection of oil and watercolour paintings, prints, textiles and sculptures, many made by local artists such as Reginald Arthur Smith, Kenneth Holmes, and William Shuttleworth.[23][24][25] The majority of the paintings feature local scenery or people such as Lady Anne Clifford of Skipton Castle.[26] A large portion of the art collection is made up of the famous Roebuck collection belonging to art collector Clement Roebuck.[27][28]

There is a collection of costumes and accessories in the museum, many of which are on permanent display.[29] These include dresses from the 18th century up to contemporary pieces like 1940s evening dresses, uniforms from the Skipton Brass Band and the Home Guard, and accessories include spectacles and ladies' handbags.[29]

An incomplete copy of Shakespeare's First Folio owned by a local businessman and donated by his daughter in the 1930s was misidentified as a second folio until recently, when it was identified by Anthony James West.[30] The folio is one of only four on display in the world.[31]

An Iron Age Celtic sword was found on the nearby Flasby moor. By 1880, it was owned by Captain Preston of Flasby Hall. The sword was eventually donated to the museum. The sword is made of iron and the scabbard of copper. It is lined with wood with typical Celtic decorations on it.[32] Because of how well it was preserved, it is believed that the sword was thrown into a pit as a ritual offering.[33]

The museum holds a tremissis, a Frankish gold coin, that dates from 580 AD to 630AD. It was found in the 1970s when the Holy Trinity Church in Skipton was undergoing construction.[34] A small hole near the edge of the coin suggests it may have been worn as a pendant.[34]

The museum holds a collection of 17 objects made by the famous carver Robert Thompson, otherwise known as 'Mouseman'. The museum received the collection from the son of Kenneth Hodgson, who was an avid collector of 'Mouseman' furniture.[35]

145 pieces of art given to the museum by millionaire Clement Roebuck in 1988.[36] Roebuck was an avid art collector and sat on the selection committee for the Huddersfield art gallery. He would often acquire pieces rejected by the committee. In his later life, he moved to Starbotton in Upper Wharfedale and then Langbar near Bolton Abbey.[37]

A Roman engraved amethyst intaglio was found in the nearby Hellifield and donated to the museum in 1934.[38][39] The carving presents a man, possibly Odysseus, offering wine to the cyclops Polyphemus before blinding him.[38]