A shopping centre has become home to a living history museum.
Shoppers will be transported back to the 1850s if they wander into Huddersfield’s Packhorse Centre, the location of the Colne Valley Museum for this week only.
Looms, spinning wheels and period workers themselves can now be found in the formerly empty unit between Peters Outlet Store and the Card Factory until Saturday to give people a taste of 19th century life in Kirklees.
Visitors can also try their hand at creating authentic crafts at the pop-up museum, which is currently on tour while its permanent base in a row of old weavers cottages at Cliffe Ash in Golcar, undergoes a large £719,000 Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) Grant improvement scheme.
Spokeswoman and volunteer Anne Lord, has been greeting surprised shoppers in her weaver dress.
“It’s brilliant,” she said. “We’ve been touring the museum around but this type of location is a new one for us. It’s unexpected to find something like this in a shopping centre and lots of people have popped in to see us already.
“We’ve been giving demonstrations on rag rug making and spinning and anyone who wants to have a go is welcome to, while our big banners have lots of information on them about our museum and our HLF project.
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“We’ve also been playing with some traditional wooden toys and many people have been sharing their stories with us about using them. We’re also selling them, along with our hand crafted items, rag rug kits and Christmas gifts and are giving away free parkin testers.
“It’s important to have this because it gains awareness of the museum and reminds people that we still exist.”
Anne and her team are also looking for new volunteers at the pop-up.
She added: “We’d love more people to come get involved in the museum which we’ll be touring until next spring until we move back into the weavers’ cottages.
“We’ve employed builders who are due to start work on the building in November.
“People keep asking us if the style is going to be changed but we want to assure people via these pop ups that that’s not happening – it’s going to stay as a weavers’ cottage.
“The grant is helping us to create a full period weaver’s cottage with a bedroom which people will be able to look around, create a big exhibition gallery, conference room and heritage suite, where people will be able to access more of our collection online.”
The pop-up museum will be open from 10am to 4pm daily and will then move around the county.
Its next stops will be at St John’s Church on Church Street in Golcar and at the Pudsey Lace Fair on October 17 then at Cathedral House on St Thomas’ Road in Huddersfield on November 14 at the Huddersfield Family and District History Society show.
