Keighley’s Cliffe Castle Museum has re-opened its doors in time for summer following a year-long refurbishment.

Cliffe Castle Museum was originally the spectacular mansion of the local Victorian millionaire and textile manufacturer, Henry Isaac Butterfield.

It stands in attractive hillside grounds with greenhouses a garden centre, aviaries and a children’s play area.

The house is now a large museum with a wide variety of displays. These include an array of glittering minerals, local rocks and fossils (including a 2m long fossil amphibian), mounted birds and local mammals, original furnished rooms with chandeliers, William Morris stained glass, old dolls, toys and domestic items and a programme of temporary exhibitions.

Among new items unveiled for the refurbished museum are an ancient burial urn discovered in Stanbury, a sea turtle served to distinguished guests at one of Keighley’s first Mayoral functions and a portrait of Queen Victoria.

Cliffe Castle was built by Keighley industrialist Henry Butterfield in the 1870s, and for years stood as one of the district’s most grand homes. In the 1950s Sir Bracewell Smith bought the house and turned it into a building and art gallery for the people of Keighley.

It adopted many of the exhibits from its predecessor, Keighley Museum. Owned and run by Bradford Council, the building shut last April for a major refurbishment including a complete electrical re-wiring.

During this work, grand chandeliers and stained glass windows were cleaned and restored, walls were re-painted to their original colours and 3,000 sheets of 23 half carat gold leaf were used to return the inside to how it would have looked in the Victorian era.

Paintings that hung in its grand rooms have been returned thanks to Dr Richard and Lady Rozelle Raynes, descendents of the Butterfields. One – of Queen Victoria – hasn’t been in the house since it became a museum in the 1950s. It was found by a museum worker in an antique shop in Nottingham.

The project cost £370,000, but many of the new items were donated to the museum.

The museum has retained its unique charm, while some rooms recreate the house’s past, others are packed with artefacts of Keighley’s history, while yet more rooms contain Egyptian statues, a bee hive and natural history exhibits.

Joining the museum’s famously quirky exhibits, which include a two-headed sheep and Bloss, the earliest surviving specimen of an Airedale Terrier, is a sea turtle that was served as a meal at a mayoral ceremony in 1882 before being stuffed.

There is also a Stanbury Urn – a 4,000-year-old urn discovered buried at a Stanbury farm in 2007. The Bronze Age artefact contained human remains and a battle axe and has never been on display to the public before.

The museum will soon be complemented by a £4.5 million project to restore the building’s surrounding parks and gardens to their Victorian splendour.

Learning activities and events take place throughout the year in the InSight room. Groups of all kinds can be catered for, from schools to senior citizens, and activities can be tailored to your needs.

WHAT'S ON THIS SUMMER

Cliffe Castle celebration day August 24, 12-3pm The event launches the restored Bracewell Smith Hall with its new display of paintings and objects all within the setting of a fabulous 1950s classical interior. The event includes: Family activities (12-3pm). Music from the Castle’s past. Lecture by Ian Dewhirst on the History of Keighley Museum (2pm). The museum hosts new displays of costume, restored Victorian reception rooms, displays on life at Victorian Cliffe Castle as well as the permanent displays.

  • Address: Cliffe Castle Museum, Spring Gardens Lane, Keighley, West Yorkshire, BD20 6LH telephone: 01535 618231 website: www.bradfordmuseums.org. Opening times Tuesday to Friday 10-4pm Saturday and Sunday 11-4pm Last admissions are 3.30 and museum is closed Mondays (except bank Holidays), Christmas day, Boxing Day and Good Friday How to find it Cliffe Castle lies in a park on the outskirts of Keighley off the A629 Skipton Road. Approximately 12-25 minutes walk from the railway station, 6-15 minutes walk from the bus station. Buses (for example Bradford to Skipton) pass the lower main gates. The 903 bus service operates from Keighley Bus Station and serves Cliffe Castle on a limited basis. Admission free. Access and facilities - Wheelchair access is limited to the ground floor - about three quarters of the displays. Ramped access to the cafe and some of the hillside park. Disabled parking spaces and toilet facilities. For further Cliffe Castle disabled access information visit DisabledGo. Museum shop - The shop in the museum offers a wide range of souvenirs and gifts including cards, books and toys. Specialities include mineral specimens and jewellery, and also a selection of dinosaur books and toys. Café - Meals and light refreshments are available in the Cliffe Castle Coffee Lounge in the park. The café is privately run and opening hours are seasonal (closed Mondays throughout the year but open Bank Holiday Mondays). Telephone 01535 606593. Plant nursery shop - The shop stocks a variety of plants and gardening sundries plus dried flowers and gifts. The friends of Cliffe Castle - The Friends of Cliffe Castle (registered charity 1129655) support the work of Cliffe Castle Museum, Keighley, and organise a programme of talks and summer excursions. Contact them via Cliffe Castle 01535 618231.