He’s known for his opinions on many things, not least motors.

But what some people won’t know about Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson is that he hails from a family who qualify to be among ‘Dewsbury Greats’.

Jeremy traced his ancestors’ connections to the mill town while researching his roots for popular BBC1 series Who Do You Think You Are?

A photograph of the TV presenter and writer taken with archive staff at Huddersfield Library in 2004, while he was researching the Kilner family involved in a glassworks in Thornhill, forms part of an exhibition of Dewsbury Greats, one of many informative displays at the recently-refurbished Dewsbury Museum.

Wallace Hartley, the Dewsbury band conductor who played on to calm passengers on the ill-fated Titanic, Baroness Betty Boothroyd, the former Tiller Girl who became Speaker of the House of Commons, and supermarket boss Sir Ken Morrison, who has family links in Dewsbury, are just some of the other notable names appearing in this wonderful local history exhibition at Kirklees Council’s oldest museum.

Star Trek actor Patrick Stewart, who is from Mirfield, clergyman Patrick Bronte, father of the world-famous literary siblings, and sporting greats Eddie Waring and Eileen Fenton are also recognised in the display as having links to Dewsbury.

A film about Eileen Fenton’s cross-Channel swim and the bathing costume and swimming cap she wore are showcased in a glass cabinet within this Grade II-listed mansion, once used as a parks depot.

Dewsbury Museum has an interesting history itself. In 1893, Dewsbury Corporation, as it was then known, bought the 70-acre beauty spot within which it stands and, with the help of local gardener William Cox, transformed it into a magnificent stretch of parkland on the periphery of the town.

A committee was established to transform the mansion into a museum. In the early years of its existence, weird and wonderful objects reflecting Victorian collections were housed here.

By 1897, two rooms largely displayed Egyptian and Ethnographic artefacts and natural history specimens. These collections have since been re-housed at Bagshaw Museum in Batley.

Today’s visitors to Dewsbury Museum are taken on a journey through Dewsbury’s past and present. Displays give you a real sense of what life was like in the town in times gone by, and archive footage with some of the displays places you back in the moment.

Seeing a blackboard in the 1940s classroom and old desks with ink wells reminded me of my schooldays, albeit in the 1970s! And I felt my age having to explain to my little girl, Katy, who is growing up in an era of touchscreen white boards, that blackboards and chalk were the tools my teachers used.

Peeping into classroom cabinets, we discovered gas masks and tin hats, the life-saving equipment for scholars during the war years.

Katy loved ringing the bell on a tram carriage emblazoned with The Reporter, the weekly newspaper where I spent my early working years.

Window displays of bottles and ointments reminded us of medicinal treatments, but Codd bottles were a real purveyor of fond childhood memories – particularly for my husband, who enjoyed finding them when he was a lad.

Homage is also paid to Dewsbury’s industrial heritage. The town spawned many enterprises that achieved global acclaim, such as blanket manufacturers Wormalds and Walker.

Reading the reflections of life back then from people who lived through those times, I found particularly interesting.

Katy loved seeing the toys enjoyed by past generations, such as Action Man, Cabbage Patch Dolls, a Little Betty sewing machine and a toy till.

Outside there is as much to see and do too. Following a fire in a conservatory two years ago, the park has been re-planted to replicate a Victorian fernery, showcasing ferns and sub-tropical plants 19th-century adventurers would have brought back from their travels.

The wildflower garden is another lovely planted area to saunter around, there’s plenty of play equipment in the park for children, and the Legacy open-air gym is great for anyone feeling energetic enough for a workout.

Factfile:

Dewsbury Museum is at Crow Nest Park, Heckmondwike Road, Dewsbury.

For more information, call (01924) 325100 or e-mail dewsbury.museum@kirklees.gov.uk.