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SIGNS OF THE TIMES
FROM THE YORKSHIRE
DALES NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY NEWSDESK
END OF AN ERA
YORKSHIRE DALES AUTHOR & HISTORIAN DIES
Grassington, May
11, 2006
The
well-known and highly respected Yorkshire Dales author and historian
Marie Hartley has died at the age of 100.
Miss
Hartley, who was born into a family of wool merchants in Morley, Leeds
in 1905, was the founder president of the Friends of the Dales
Countryside Museum and the co-author of a number of books about
Yorkshire which she wrote between 1934 and 1998 firstly with her friend
Ella Pontefract and later with Joan Ingilby. She first visited the Dales
in the 1930s and was living at Askrigg in Wensleydale when she died.
In
1997 she and Joan were each awarded an MBE. Both also received a Silver
Medal award from the Yorkshire Archaeological Society for their
contribution to Yorkshire history.
The
beginnings of the Dales Countryside Museum – which is now owned and
managed by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) – go
back to the 1940s when Marie and Ella attempted to stop the region
losing an important collection from a private museum at Leyburn by
buying 13 lots. Over the years, other items were bought and donated,
providing an insight into personal, domestic and working life in the
Dales.
Marie
and Joan researched the Dales knitting industry and wrote ‘The Old
Hand-knitters of the Dales’. This resulted in the amazing collection
of knitting sticks that can be seen within the textile section of the
Museum. In 1964 Marie and Joan decided they "would record in book
form all the old ways of life in the dales on the farm and in the
home". Their pioneering work produced photographic records of Dales
people at work and the collecting of artefacts began in earnest as they
acquired objects to enable Marie to produce drawings for their books.
By
the late 1960s it had become widely known that Marie and Joan had
created a "sort of museum" and the donation of objects by
local people continued.
In
1972 Marie and Joan offered their collection to the then North Riding
County Council and, after many years in store, a collaboration between
the National Park Committee and the County Council resulted in premises
being acquired at Hawes to house the collection. The
UpperDalesFolkMuseum finally opened in 1979. This partnership continues
today, with the collection now owned by North Yorkshire County Council
but housed and managed by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority at
its facility, re-named the Dales Countryside Museum.
YDNPA
Chief Executive David Butterworth said: “The Dales Countryside Museum
has lost one of its greatest supporters.
“Marie’s
death is the end of an era for the Yorkshire Dales but her enduring
legacy will be a collection of local, regional and indeed national
significance. Her combined skills as photographer, writer and
artist created a unique record of the past way of life in the Dales,
often showing the exact context within which artefacts we now hold
within the National Park Authority’s Museum collection were used.”
Museum
Manager Fiona Rosher said: “Few curators are able to draw on the
knowledge and expertise of the founder of the Museum collection and I
feel extremely privileged to have been in this position over recent
years.
“Marie
was an inspiration to all who work to preserve and interpret the
cultural heritage of the Dales and beyond and the creation of the Dales
Countryside Museum must rank as one of her greatest achievements.
It is a legacy that we value and we will work to ensure it goes from
strength to strength.”
The
Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority celebrated the life and work of
Marie Hartley at an exhibition held at the Dales Countryside Museum in
September 2005.
//ends//
For
more information please call the Yorkshire Dales National Park
Authority's Media Office on 01756 751616. Alternatively, please email media@yorkshiredales.org.uk
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