Red House Museum was a historic house museum, built in 1660 and renovated in the Georgian era. It closed to the public at the end of 2016 but remains as a Grade II* listed building in Gomersal, Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England.

History

Red House was built by William Taylor whose descendants owned it until 1920. The Taylor family had lived in Gomersal for more than a century when in 1660, William Taylor built a brick house next to their old one. The family were farmers and clothiers who developed their business into cloth finishing and became merchants.

The entrance hall contains an 18th-century staircase with slender wooden balusters leading to a galleried landing of the same period. It contains a display of old gateposts on the lawn.

A two-storey stone barn with a stone slate roof and cart entrance is situated to the west of the house. The stone coach house has four open-fronted arches. Its interior has been restored. Charlotte Brontë, who had been a pupil at Roe Head with Mary Taylor, the daughter of Joshua Taylor, a banker and wool merchant was also a visitor. She immortalised the family as the Yorkes and the house as Briarmains in her novel Shirley.

Mabel Ferrett (1917–2011), poet, publisher, literary editor and local historian, worked at the museum and wrote The Taylors of the Red House (1987).

Closure

As a result of government funding cuts, Kirklees Council considered that it could only afford to operate two museums, one in the north of the borough and one in Huddersfield. Red House, the Tolson and Dewsbury Museums were consequently threatened with closure. The Council for British Archaeology Yorkshire said the authority wanted to save £531,000 by 2017–18. Friends of the museum and literary groups concerned with the loss of a Brontë connection were dismayed at the prospect of the museum closing and campaigned to keep it open. Kirklees Council closed Red House on 21 December 2016. Its contents will be stored or dispersed and the building is to be sold.

As of June 2018 the building was still unsold and almost £30,000 had been spent on its upkeep. It sold at auction in December 2024 for £650,000.

References

  • Red House Museum – Kirklees Council
  • www.yorkshire.com: Tourist information about Red House