I'd read that it was a Heritage Open Day weekend where free access is given to places which are usually closed to the public or charge for admission. As Mick now had a free day, we decided to head off to Colne Valley Museum.
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Colne Valley Museum is situated in Golcar, a village located on a hillside crest above the Colne Valley. Three former 1840's weavers' cottages were converted, in 1970, in to the museum. I'd read that there'd be weaving, spinning and clog making demonstrations, and though Mick wasn't particularly interested, I thought it would make an interesting day out.
Unfortunately, photography wasn't allowed so I'm unable to show any photos of the inside of the museum. The museum is run entirely by volunteers, and they were excellent in their knowledge of the period. They'd dressed up and really looked, and talked, the part. The loom chamber had an impressive range of machinery, though there were no demonstrations of how they actually worked on this particular day. There was a lady doing some spinning though and she was more than happy to explain everything. There were lots of spinning wheels on show. The clog maker was very busy and there were lots of examples of his work to see.
My favourite part of the museum was the period living room and wash kitchen. It must have been a hard life back in the mid nineteenth century.
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After visiting the museum, we had a little wander around the village.
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There's lots of ginnels, small paths or alleyways, around Golcar and there's now a Ginnel Trail which takes you right around the village and allows you to take in the views. We didn't walk the trail on this occasion though.
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The older part of the village has many examples of weavers' cottages built for the domestic woollen industry. These houses have long rows of windows. Living accommodation was on the lower floor, with the loom chamber on the upper floor, just as we'd seen in the museum.
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It was a nice outing, but I was pleased to get home really. I'd woken up feeling a little groggy and wondered if I was coming down with something. It's now turned in to a cold. I could hear coughing during the night last night and Eleanor's got up for school this morning feeling a little worse for wear, she's coming down with it too, though there's no keeping her off school, she always manages to drag herself in.
That's the sort of place that I'm always happy to visit.
ReplyDeleteSorry to read that you've got a cold and hope that you'll feel better soon. Flighty xx
I love seeing how people lived years ago, though I wouldn't fancy living that way myself, I'm so used to all my mod cons. Just looking in the wash kitchen made me thankful that I have an automatic washing machine. Thank you for your good wishes.
DeleteWhat a lovely sounding place! I really want to go.Do you mean that the whole village were weavers working from home? Back before big factory weaving? It would make an interesting compare and contrast with Styal Mill and their mass manufacturing, then.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that way. It was really interesting because through my genealogy hobby, I discovered that Mick's ancestors, the Hootons from North Meols, now Southport, were among the first hand loom weavers in England, right back to the seventeenth century. I love this kind of history and the museum brought it all to life.
DeleteThats a lovely village too Jo, I only went a couple of times to Golcar when my boys were small and played football there.I suppose the museum wasnt there then. I didnt even know there was one.
ReplyDeleteHope you feel better soon, I feel a bit better today.
We enjoyed what we saw of it, I'm sure the Ginnel Trail would be interesting to do. I'm feeling a bit better today too, though Eleanor's really suffering, bless her. I hate colds.
Deletehi jo
ReplyDeletewhat a lovely place, thanks for sharing.
i hope you feel better soon.
greetings regina
We thought it was a lovely place too. Thank you for your good wishes.
DeleteThat looks like an interesting little village. I like the idea of the alleyways through the whole thing. I love visiting places where the workers dress up and play the part of the historical period and people of the time.
ReplyDeleteIt's great that people give up their time and volunteer at places like this, keeping the past alive. I'd like to do the Ginnel Trail, I just didn't feel like it on this occasion.
DeleteTake it easy.
ReplyDeleteLove from Mum
xx
I have been doing. I've got a good family who look after me when I don't feel very well.
DeleteI love anything to do with social history and this place sounds fascinating. You'll have to go back and do the trail one day.
ReplyDeleteI hope you and Eleanor are both feeling better, coughs and colds can be so draining when they interrupt your sleep.
Lisa x
We'll definitely have to go back and do the trail, I really just wanted to get home on Saturday though. I'm feeling a bit better today, thank you, but Eleanor's come home from school feeling rough. She's just going to have a bath and then it's to bed with a hot water bottle and a Lemsip for her.
DeleteI love visiting places like that. It just confirms how lucky we are to live in this time, I think.
ReplyDeleteI hope you and Eleanor get over your colds really quickly.
You're right, we're so lucky. It must have been so hard, just living day to day in those times. Thank you for your good wishes, I'm feeling much better today, but Eleanor's suffering, bless her.
DeleteNever heard of ginnel before - wonder where that word comes from besides England.
ReplyDeleteGinnel is derived from the northern English dialect. There's plenty of people from other parts of England who have asked me what a ginnel is before, it's a word which is quite obviously only used up north.
DeleteLooks like a dream village to me, I want to live in a small village... You know I don't like when museums won't let you take pictures, I understand that they say the flash can ruin pictures but what about the other gorgeous stuff? It's a shame as we want to remember, you know?
ReplyDeleteBut you got a day out with the family, so that's great!
Tammy x
There's lots of lovely villages in England. I would have liked to have had some photos to show on the blog, there were some really interesting things in the museum. There was some beautiful needlework which had been framed and hung on the walls which had been done by children, I was fascinated with those.
DeleteI like the idea of a 'ginnel trail'. As a northern lass brought up in the south, 'ginnel' was a word I used with my grandparents but never used at school in Oxford. I still used to be horribly teased for my northern vowel sounds. Nowadays it seems a bit 'cooler' to have an accent! Jx
ReplyDeleteWe must go and do the Ginnel Trail sometime. I think it depends which accent you have whether it's deemed cool or not. I don't think a Yorkshire accent is particularly cool, though many people can't distinguish between Yorkshire and Lancashire. I have to admit that I have a soft spot for an Irish accent.
DeleteI think the Ginnel Trail sounds very interesting. Some of my friends live in terraced houses with a ginnel and it means that they use the back door more than the front. You get to see the adjoining gardens as the ginnel gives access to these. It's a shame you couldn't take photos. I would like to see the clog making and will keep my eye open for any event that includes that. I also enjoy watching clog dancing.
ReplyDeleteHope you're all feeling a bit better. Once school starts and the weather changes everyone is more vulnerable to coughs and colds.
My mum always used to call a ginnel in between houses an entry, it must have been a Derby thing as my mum is from Derbyshire rather than Yorkshire. I would have loved to have taken photos, it was the living room and wash kitchen which I really enjoyed seeing. I'm starting to feel a bit better now, thank you. I always seem to succumb at this time of year.
DeleteIt sounds like a nice place to visit. I really do enjoy learning about the history of a place and being able then to go off and do more digging or walking around and placing houses and landmarks to their respective eras. Very interesting stuff indeed :)
ReplyDeleteBest wishes,
Tash from vintagepretty.org
It was a really interesting place to visit. If I'd been feeling a little better than I was, we would probably have done the Ginnel Trail, but we'll have to go and do that some other time.
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