Collections

Calderdale Museum Service maintain the sites and collections at Bankfield Museum, Shibden Hall, the Smith Art Gallery and two other museum stores in the region. These sites house a range of over 70,000 objects.

When the museum at Bankfield opened in 1887, most of the collections were from the Halifax Antiquarian Society. Over the years, curators have collected from around the world. We now have an eclectic mix of:

  • archaeology
  • ethnographic materials
  • art
  • sculpture
  • industrial heritage
  • social history.

Shibden Hall

Shibden Hall displays collections relating to the house and people who have lived there, including Anne Lister (1791 - 1840), the noted diarist. Within Shibden you can see Anne's travel writing case, some of her books, her funeral hatchment and three portraits of her. Much of the furniture on display would have been from Anne's time at the Hall. Sadly, Anne's vast library was sold off after her death and no clothing or other personal items remain.

Some of the paintings that decorate the walls of the hall can be viewed in our online exhibition: Shibden Hall Paintings.

Shibden is also home to the Folk Museum displaying a range of rural crafts.

Bankfield Museum

You can find out more about the former owner of Bankfield Museum, Colonel Edward Akroyd.

Collections on display at Bankfield Museum cover local history, costume, art, toys, military history, jewellery and textiles from around the world. Bankfield Museum is where much of our art and costume collections are stored when not on display at Smith Art Gallery, Shibden Hall or in Bankfield's galleries and can be accessed for research purposes.

You can view our oil paintings online at Art UK.

Bankfield is also home to the Duke of Wellington's Regimental Museum and hosted the award winning exhibition For King and Country about Calderdale in the First World War in 2014-2018.

Smith Art Gallery

Calderdale Council has an important collection of fine art featuring, in the main, local artists and local scenes. Some of this work is on permanent display at the Smith Art Gallery in Brighouse which also hosts temporary exhibitions. See our exhibitions page for details. You can view our oil paintings online at Art UK.

Loans

Calderdale Museum Service can loan items to other Accredited Museum Services, subject to approval. Please contact collections@calderdale.gov.uk with any requests.