'Austerity vote' blamed for Bronte museum closure

Charlotte Bronte often visited Red House and featured it in her novel Shirley.

A museum with close links to the Brontes is set to close under plans to restructure museums and galleries in an area of West Yorkshire.

Kirklees Council voted to close Dewsbury Museum and Red House Museum in Gomersal at a cabinet meeting.

The Tolson Museum in Huddersfield will stay open until a new venue is found.

Council leader David Sheard said the closures were inevitable after people voted for austerity at the general election.

He said the authority's annual £1m museum budget needed to be halved.

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Opponents said the Red House Museum building should be protected because of its history and links to the Brontes.

Charlotte Bronte often visited Red House and featured it in her novel Shirley.

As well as an exhibition in honour of the author, the museum, which was once home to a cloth merchant, charts what life was like in the 1830s.

Supporters of Dewsbury Museum, which has recently been renovated, urged officials to keep it open.

The town's museum is the oldest in the district, opening to visitors in 1896.

It features a toy gallery and a recreation of a classroom in the 1940s.

Built in 1660, Red House was home to a family of cloth merchants and manufacturers

The Labour-led authority said its hands were tied due to austerity measures, and Dewsbury and Red House would close by 31 March 2017.

It said it was willing to hold talks with any group, or interested parties about future uses for the museum buildings.

Both museums have seen a sharp fall in visitors in recent years.

In 2011-12, Red House had 26,665 visitors, compared to 6,679 in 2015/16

Visitors to Dewsbury fell from 30,259 to 20,198 over the same period.