Museum of North Craven Life @ The Folly, Settle

A scenic countryside landscape at sunrise or sunset, viewed from behind a metal gate and stone wall in the foreground. The sky dominates the upper half of the image, filled with dramatic streaks of orange, yellow, and gold near the horizon, fading into deep blue and gray tones higher up. Rolling green hills stretch across the middle ground, dotted with tufts of brown shrubs and divided by stone walls and hedgerows. In the distance, dark silhouettes of hills and ridges create a layered horizon. The lighting casts a warm glow on the landscape, highlighting the textures of the grass and stone. A moss-covered stone post is visible on the right side of the foreground, adding rustic detail to the scene.

A typically autumnal view from Malhamdale 🍂🍁🧡

📸 Andy Kay | #YorkshireDales #Malham #Autumn #MondayMotivation

This week, our Friday Club have been thinking about what makes our homes feels safe, warm and comforting.

Inspired by the witchmarks on our historic building, the group created their own protective marks featuring images of what makes them feel secure and happy in their homes.

We are delighted to share our new Main Hall Case display with you, co-curated with Dementia Forward's wellbeing cafe, Time Together Tuesdays.

Our museum collections contain historic bird records going back to the 1890s. We are working with conservation groups to combine this with modern scientific data.

Historic bird sighting of the month: on the 1 November 1974 a little auk was seen at Kirkby Malham.

In the same month, two others were also seen around Skipton. As far as we know this is the only time this species has been recorded in Craven.

📷 Sir Iain, CC BY-SA 4.0

Join us at The Folly for some half term fun! Tomorrow we will be making witch marks out of clay inspired by our historic building. Drop in between 11am and 4pm to make your own to take home. Suitable for little ones aged 3 and upwards. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

Introducing The Horner Community Quilt!

We worked with community groups across North Craven to create cyanotypes for our community quilt. These cyanotypes feature Horner photographs, drawings, writing and found materials that celebrate our community's relationship with the Horner Studio today.

Struggling to find ideas for your Halloween costume this year?

Check out some of the photographs in our museum online catalogue for inspiration!

This brilliant costume was one of many inventive creations on display at Settle's Jubilee Carnival of 1977.

hub.catalogit.app/museum-of-no...

Historic bird sighting of the month: 3 October 1981, a rare sighting of an osprey flying up the Ribble Valley.

Our collections contain historic bird records going back to the 1890s. We are working with conservation groups to combine this with modern scientific data.

📷Chuck Homler, CC BY-SA 4.0

Every fortnight we share a photograph from our Horner Collection which we would like to know more about.

Today we have this beautiful riverside scene for you. It may be a tricky location to identify, but we hope you enjoy the peacefulness of this scene regardless!

We can't wait to celebrate the work of our community at our Horner Celebration Day on the 11th of October!

Throughout the spring and summer we have worked with different community groups across North Craven to capture what the Horner collection means to people today in cyanotype prints

Our second exhibition showcases new pieces by the artist Katharine Holmes alongside work by her mother Philippa Holmes and grandmother Constance Pearson.

All three lived and worked in the same cottage in Malham. The exhibition explores their connections to landscape, people and life in the Dale.

We are thrilled to open our two new exhibitions showcasing the artistic landscapes of the Yorkshire Dales.

First is a collection of works in oil by artist Jonathan Little which were inspired by the unique natural beauty of the Dales - the dramatic contours, rich textures and shifting light.

We can't wait to welcome visitors to The Folly for our Horner Celebration Day! Join us on the 11th of October for a day of celebrating our unique historic photograph collection.
We look forward to seeing you there!

Our collections contain local bird records going back to the 1890s. We are working with conservation groups to combine this with modern scientific data.

Historic bird sighting of the month: on the 26 September 1953, a nightjar was killed near Austwick.

In the 1890s these birds were more common and were recorded breeding on Moughton Fell, but by 1953 they were very rare indeed.

📷 Alexey Tolmachov, CC BY SA 4.0

The Folly is hosting a Horner Celebration Day!

Join us at The Folly on the 11th of October from 11:00 - 16:00 to celebrate our collection of almost 2000 photographs taken in Settle's Horner Studio.

The cardboard Folly is set up and ready for our free Playtime sessions! Drop in today between 11:30-12:30, or Saturday 11-4!

#HeritageOpenDays

Every fortnight we share a photograph from our Horner Collection which we would like to know more about. In honour of #Railway200, today's photo is railway themed.

Do you recognise the train or the section of track where this picture was taken? Presumably this is part of the Settle-Carlisle line?

How do museum objects link to wellbeing?

Last week, Friday Club explored objects from the museum collection through the Five Ways to Wellbeing. The group worked together to choose objects that they thought related to being present, learning, connection, being active and giving

Please excuse our appearance, we are changing exhibitions!

Our autumn-winter season is due to fully open on the 27th September. Our local history, photography, and railway galleries are open as usual.

Thank you for your patience! We look forward to sharing these fantastic new exhibitions with you!

We are calling for expressions of interest in tendering for the fourth phase of repairs to The Folly.

Please share widely so we can reach as many potential contractors as possible.

More information here: thefolly.org.uk/about/the-tr...

Heritage Open Days starts this weekend and the theme this year is architecture!

Why not come along on a free tour of our Grade I listed building?

Lasting about an hour, our expert guides will let you in on some of the mysteries of the house and its curious history.

Sign ups on our website!

We are so excited to open our doors on Saturday 20th of September for our Heritage Open Days Family Fun Day! Come along and enjoy our architecture themed activities - all totally free!

Booking is available though the link: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/come-and-p...

Don't miss our special Heritage Open Days themed Playtime session next week!
Children from local schools have been busy over the summer holidays helping us create a giant cardboard Folly for little ones to play in during Heritage Open Days.
To book a slot here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/playtime-f...

What work does a burler and mender do? What did your first pair of shoes look like? Why did women in textile mills learn how to lip read? We always learn so much about our collections from our community handling sessions. It's a privilege to be able to listen to the memories our collections evoke

How do we want The Folly to feel?

It was wonderful to welcome our Friday Club back to the museum after the summer break. The group created prints of The Folly and wrote down how they want The Folly to feel as you walk though the door. How do you want your local museum to feel?

The Folly are running a free, drop in family activity every Wednesday during the school holidays.

This week, week we will be exploring the history of the railway through craft activities. Come along to transform a loo roll tube into your very own train!

Historic bird sighting of the month: on the 23 August 1968 a Montagu's Harrier was recorded in Settle for the first (and possibly only) time.

These birds of prey migrate to Europe in the summer to breed, and are very rare in the UK.

📷 Subramanya CK, CC BY-SA 3.0

There’s something not quite right about this portrait…

Who is this woman? Do you know why the Horner Studios would create a composite studio portrait for her?

If you have any ideas, please comment below!

🖼️ SETCL : 2022.1.44.31