Plans underway for permanent museum in Knaresborough

Organisers want to an independent community hub which celebrates the town's history

Author: Natalie HigginsPublished 23rd Jan 2021

Exciting plans are underway to open an independent museum in Knaresborough.

The Knaresborough Museum Association, which was set up last year, are securing a lease for the ground floor of the former Castle Girls' School to be transformed into Knaresborough Museum - showcasing the history of the town and forming a community hub.

The group's vision is to also celebrate the town's geology, archaeology and social history.

Pop up museums have been held by the Association across the town, but they've decided to answer the calls from residents to have a permanent museum set up by the end of this year.

Kathy Allday is the Chair of Knaresborough Museum Association, she said:

"Knaresborough has such fantastic history but it's just not being celebrated. We held these pop up museums and people loved them. They were so successful!

"Everyone said we should have a permanent museum so we started working on what will be a fantastic centre for the town and the entire community to enjoy."

The group need to raise £35,000 to get the ball rolling and hope to have immersive exhibitions, interactive installations and room for local art, photography and historical documents to be displayed.

The group have already raised £3000 after launched last week.

Kathy Allday, added: "The town has amazing geology and social history and there's no way to read about it and hear the stories so we want to make sure if we're going to do this, we're going to do it well.

"This is just such an exciting project with so much potential and we need the local community to help out with that.

"We want to start modestly and find out feet, but then we're going to make the museum grow into something much bigger for people not just in Knaresborough to enjoy."

Those who want to find out more about the project or the fundraiser can do so by clicking here.

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