Kirklees Council has confirmed that the Tolson Museum will not be shutting at the end of the year, but questions remain over its future in the longer term.
On 09 November 2026, when asked whether the Tolson – which sits in Ravensknowle Park at Wakefield Road, Moldgreen – will be closing at the end of 2026, a council spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that it will “remain open into the new year”. But there are still several uncertainties around what will happen further down the line.
While the Tolson will continue to operate as a museum at least for now, in November 2022, Kirklees Council’s then-Service Director for Culture and Visitor Economy, Adele Poppleton, stated that the premises will not be used as a museum in the future.
The Tolson’s collections are ultimately set to be transferred over to the new museum and gallery which is currently under construction in Huddersfield town centre. This comes as part of the council’s multi-million-pound Our Cultural Heart regeneration scheme. But work on the new facility isn’t due to be finished until the winter of 2028/29.
Speaking at a meeting four years ago, Ms Poppleton explained that the museum service will be withdrawing from the Tolson as things shift over to the new museum and gallery. At the time, she said that the council was looking at a “good purpose” for the Tolson, which would meet the covenant on the premises, but concrete plans are still to be brought forward.
The covenant instructs that the building can only be used for education or recreational purposes.
When asked for an update on the council’s current plans for the Tolson Museum, Cabinet Member for Place, Culture and Volunteering, Cllr Pip Harvey, said last week: “We’re currently examining all options for the future of the museum and gallery, and Ravensknowle Park itself.
“As someone born and bred in Huddersfield and a resident of Almondbury Ward, Tolson is close to my heart. Our heritage, history and identity matter, and so does protecting the legacy of what was gifted to the people of Huddersfield.
“No decisions have been taken at this stage however we want to get this right and ensure the community has a voice in shaping what comes next, including the development of the new museum and gallery in Our Cultural Heart.”
In October 2016, Kirklees Council’s Cabinet decided that the Tolson in Moldgreen was one of the three Kirklees museums earmarked for closure along with Dewsbury Museum and Red House Museum at Gomersal.
Back then, the Tolson was said to require £4.2m worth of renovation and repairs but it was proposed that the site would remain open until an alternative venue was found. The other two museum closures were pretty imminent, with each shutting for good that winter.
The Tolson was gifted to the people of Huddersfield by Legh Tolson in 1919 in memory of his two nephews who lost their lives in the First World War.
