Curling stones, electric hair curling machines and butter churns
What on earth are polished granite curling stones doing in Pateley Bridge? Amanda Brown visited to find out what's going on.
After all, Pateley is a good drive from the nearest ice rink and probably a few 100 miles from a curling club. Looking at the curling stones in the Nidderdale Museum though is also a salutary reminder of how much the climate has changed in the last century.
The stones once belonged to the now-defunct Pateley Bridge Curling Club when the sport was popular on Gouthwaite Reservoir and Glasshouse Dam in the early 20th century during ‘proper’ winters when Arctic blasts froze the water enough for the curlers to take to the ice. By 1929, opportunities to curl had become few and far between and the stones ended up under 4ft of water in the boathouse at Glasshouses until they were recovered in 1979.
The museum, housed in the old workhouse behind Pateley’s High Street has so many objects and titbits of information like this across the 11 rooms that not only reflect how Nidderdale once was but also how life in general has changed. After all, you only need to look at the electric hair curling machine in the hairdresser’s window to see that change hasn’t all been for the worse.
Don’t go to the museum expecting to be wowed by the latest AI-powered immersive experience – the nearest you’ll get is the video telling the story of the building of the dams at Scar House and Angram – but the old-school simplicity is part of its Yorkshire charm.
It just tells it how it is, without any great fanfare, using donated artefacts, photos and archive material re-creating slices of social history including an old cobbler’s shop, the general store, the Victorian parlour, or the story behind the Nidd Valley Railway.
Curated, and cared for by volunteer staff, the museum is a great way to while away a few hours. Whether it’s looking at a butter churn that once belonged to ‘the Queen of the Dairymaids’ Mrs Mudd; discovering how forged metal sheep horn burns were used by farmers to create distinct markings on their flocks; or simply appreciating the incredible engineering feat of the dam builders, for its size, the museum punches way above its weight.
Do you remember riding on one of the odd 'horses' like the one in the photo? It's outside Nidderdale Museum. When I saw it, I was right back to childhood, with socks that wouldn't stay up.