Bracken Hall Countryside Centre and Museum is a

children's museum Children's museums are institutions that provide exhibits and programs to stimulate informal learning experiences for children. In contrast with traditional museums that typically have a hands-off policy regarding exhibits, children's museums feat ...

, natural history education centre and nature centre established in 1989 at Bracken Hall on the edge of Baildon Moor, close to

Shipley Glen Shipley is a historic market town and civil parish in the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, by the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, north of Bradford. The population of the Shipley ward on Bradford City Council taken at ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England. In 2013 the Bradford Council removed their funding of the museum. The Friends of Bracken Hall worked to gather support in order to reopen the museum, and whilst the centre was planned to re-open in late 2015, it was finally re-opened to the public in April 2016 with the help of Baildon Town Council.

Site layout

Museum building and front garden

Building

This c. 1890s Yorkshire

gritstone Gritstone or grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for pa ...

building was once a bailiff's house, then a farm house,Information from museum officer. and it still has the original big, old, panelled front door. It is of the traditional rural, symmetrical, four-up, four-down domestic design which was common in the

Georgian era The Georgian era was a period in British history from 1714 to , named after the Hanoverian Kings George I, George II, George III and George IV. The definition of the Georgian era is often extended to include the relatively short reign of Willi ...

and continued throughout the 19th century. This type of house has two rooms each side of the front door, stairs in the middle leading back from the front door, and two upstairs bedrooms each side of the stairwell, with a 19th-century dressing room above the front hall. The walls between front and back rooms are

load-bearing A load-bearing wall or bearing wall is a wall that is an active structural element of a building, which holds the weight of the elements above it, by conducting its weight to a foundation structure below it. Load-bearing walls are one of the ea ...

, and supported by the two chimneys, which allow fireplaces in all eight main rooms.

Bradford City Council City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council is the local authority of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in West Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, ...

has built an extra ground-floor room onto the left hand side, and this contains the museum entrance door and reception. The two original downstairs front rooms are now the Archaeology room and Exhibition room. The public cannot see the two downstairs back rooms, the stairs or the upstairs rooms, which are now accessed from behind the reception desk; therefore the public has access to just a quarter of the original building. The back door leads from the new entrance room to the back garden and the toilets.

Museum layout

This

and countryside centre specialises in interactive displays for all ages, indoor and out. When the museum is open, the public can walk through the ground floor rooms of the museum, and through the back and front gardens which are dedicated to wildlife discovery. The whole site and surrounding moor and glen are used for public groups on Wild Wednesdays and on guided walks, and for school groups when the museum is closed to the public: all these groups b
appointment

Front garden

This changes with the seasons. In May and June there are many wild flowers, including green alkanet, herb Robert and

creeping buttercup ''Ranunculus repens'', the creeping buttercup, is a flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to Europe, Asia and northwestern Africa. Habitat It is a very common weed of agricultural land and gardens, spreading quickly by it ...

. There are bird feeders which attract various

finches The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where they are usua ...

and tits, and an animal hutch for a rabbit or

guinea pig The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy (), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus ''Cavia'' in the family Caviidae. Breeders tend to use the word ''cavy'' to describe the ani ...

. There is a double gate so that the animal could occasionally be safely let out to graze under staff supervision. Image:Brackenhall 082.jpg, Front garden with Shipley in the distance. Image:Brackenhall 097.jpg, Bird feeders. Image:Brackenhall 099.jpg, Green alkanet, herb Robert and

Entrance room

Image:Brackenhall 045.jpg, Wormery. Image:Brackenhall 040.jpg,

Honeycomb A honeycomb is a mass of Triangular prismatic honeycomb#Hexagonal prismatic honeycomb, hexagonal prismatic Beeswax, wax cells built by honey bees in their beehive, nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen. beekeeping, Beekee ...

from

beehive A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus '' Apis'' live and raise their young. Though the word ''beehive'' is commonly used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature ...

, for children to handle. Image:Brackenhall 041.jpg,

Wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

nest (remains of), for children to handle. Image:Brackenhall 058.jpg, Put hands in holes to identify natural objects by touch. Image:Brackenhall 056.jpg, Interactive wildlife pop-up board for young children. Image:Brackenhall 059.jpg, Interactive wildlife identification display for children. Image:Brackenhall 046.jpg, Garden birds in safety glass, fixed low down for children. Brackenhall 047

Due to the vigorously interactive nature of children, and the transient nature of wildlife, some of the following displays will be regularly replaced with other items of interest.

Video microscope

In the Entrance room next to Reception is a six-foot-high, interactive video

microscope A microscope () is a laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic means being invisibl ...

. You place a dish of natural objects (for example

houseflies The housefly (''Musca domestica'') is a fly of the suborder Cyclorrhapha. It is believed to have evolved in the Cenozoic Era, possibly in the Middle East, and has spread all over the world as a commensal of humans. It is the most common f ...

) on the lighted tray at the bottom, and move it around until it shows in the video screen at the top. The tray is at child-height to enable youngsters to take part. On the screen a

housefly The housefly (''Musca domestica'') is a fly of the suborder Cyclorrhapha. It is believed to have evolved in the Cenozoic Era, possibly in the Middle East, and has spread all over the world as a commensal of humans. It is the most common fl ...

looks bigger than your hand, so that its details might be observed easily. Brackenhall 038

Fishtanks and wormery

Along the back wall is a gallery of fishtanks, containing (depending on availability) animals such as

tadpoles A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found in ...

, bullheads,

goldfish The goldfish (''Carassius auratus'') is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It is commonly kept as a pet in indoor aquariums, and is one of the most popular aquarium fish. Goldfish released into the wild have ...

and

water flea The Diplostraca or Cladocera, commonly known as water fleas, are a superorder of small crustaceans that feed on microscopic chunks of organic matter (excluding some predatory forms). Over 1000 species have been recognised so far, with many more ...

s.Information from museum staff. In the far corner of the back wall is a wormery.

Honeycomb and remains of wasp nest

On the wall opposite Reception there used to be an indoor

with an observation panel for the children, but it was dismantled due to

colony collapse disorder Colony collapse disorder (CCD) is an abnormal phenomenon that occurs when the majority of worker bees in a honey bee colony disappear, leaving behind a queen, plenty of food, and a few nurse bees to care for the remaining immature bees. While s ...

. It has been replaced with an information board about

bees Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...

, and a

honeycomb A honeycomb is a mass of Triangular prismatic honeycomb#Hexagonal prismatic honeycomb, hexagonal prismatic Beeswax, wax cells built by honey bees in their beehive, nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen. beekeeping, Beekee ...

for the children to handle. The wall-display explains

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...

hierarchy A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an important ...

, bee behaviour and

hive A hive may refer to a beehive, an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species live and raise their young. Hive or hives may also refer to: Arts * ''Hive'' (game), an abstract-strategy board game published in 2001 * "Hive" (song), a 201 ...

structure. There is also an information board about

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

s. Like the

board, this board explains behaviour and nest structure, but it also mentions the

's usefulness in

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...

pest control. Below it are the remains of a

nest so that the children can compare the papery and waxy textures of the nest and honeycomb.

Computer nature guide and ID-by-touch box

This computer uses a ''Dangerous Creatures''

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

, a program for children which allows them to learn about wildlife outside the UK while being entertained. It is situated halfway along the wall opposite Reception. Near the computer is an identification-by-touch display of natural objects.

Interactive animal ID displays

On the same side wall opposite Reception there are two interactive boards. One, made of painted plywood, is for young children, and has large wooden handles which cause rabbits, birds and other animals to pop up out of holes in the screen. The other is for slightly older children, and contains safety-glass panels with pictured or

mounted Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

animals behind. There is a row of wooden flaps painted with animal pictures. The children try to name the animals, then lift the flaps to read the names.

Mounted birds in glass case

This safety-glass display is behind the entrance door, and set low enough for young children to see some of the

birds at eye-level. It contains garden birds, a

wren Wrens are a family of brown passerine birds in the predominantly New World family Troglodytidae. The family includes 88 species divided into 19 genera. Only the Eurasian wren occurs in the Old World, where, in Anglophone regions, it is commonly ...

's nest and a

tawny owl The tawny owl (''Strix aluco''), also called the brown owl, is commonly found in woodlands across Europe to western Siberia, and has seven recognized subspecies. It is a stocky, medium-sized owl, whose underparts are pale with dark streaks, an ...

. This display plays birdsong recordings, which young children can learn quickly. This serves as an introduction to ''pishing''.

Reception

Staff at the Reception desk have answer-cards for the various quizzes.

Local archaeology and history room

This room contains displays of archaeological, geological and local history exhibits which are aimed at both adults and children. The museum's prime exhibit, the Heygate stone, is central. The walls have information boards, and there are various other exhibits here.

Heygate stone

This is one of the nationally important

Rombalds Moor Rombalds Moor is an area of moorland in West Yorkshire, England, between the Airedale and Wharfedale valleys. The towns of Ilkley and Keighley lie to its northern and southern edges, respectively. The moor is sometimes referred to as Ilkley Moor ...

cup and ring rocks. They were engraved in the

neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

era, and the larger engraved rocks have been left on the moor as it is thought that their meaning may be associated with the landscape. This more portable rock is in the museum for safety: the plough-marks on the rock indicate one of the reasons for this. The Heygate stone is one of the clearest examples of this type of

petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

. A cast of the engraving reveals that the two larger ring-marks are superimposed on the others.Information from exhibit-labels in the museum. The stone was found in Near Hey Gate Field near

Baildon Baildon is a town and civil parish in the Bradford Metropolitan Borough in West Yorkshire, England and within the historic boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It lies north of Bradford city centre. The town forms a continuous urban ...

by a local landowner on 25 September 2001, and it is believed that it was originally a rock with a larger area of 5000-year-old

s that had been quarried nearby in recent history, then dressed on two sides for wall-building. It is at the landowner's wish that the stone is preserved at the museum, as near as possible to its original site, because it cannot now be returned to the position where it lay in the

era.

Local finds

This glass case contains

and

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

items found in the Baildon Moor area. There is an iron sickle, and a

burial

urn An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape or ...

found in 1904 on Pennithorne Hill. There is a

jug and a lead

spindle whorl A spindle whorl is a disc or spherical object fitted onto the spindle to increase and maintain the speed of the spin. Historically, whorls have been made of materials like amber, antler, bone, ceramic, coral, glass, stone, metal (iron, lead, lead ...

found on Hope Hill. From the same place are some

arrow heads An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetration (weapons), penetrating a target, as well as to fulfill some special ...

, thumbscrapers and piercers - all made of

knapped Knapping is the shaping of flint, chert, obsidian, or other conchoidal fracturing stone through the process of lithic reduction to manufacture stone tools, strikers for flintlock firearms, or to produce flat-faced stones for building or facing w ...

flint. There are also

Roman coins Roman currency for most of Roman history consisted of gold, silver, bronze, orichalcum and copper coinage. From its introduction to the Republic, during the third century BC, well into Imperial times, Roman currency saw many changes in form, denomi ...

, one of which was found in

, across the road.

Quern-stone

Within reach of children, there is an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

beehive

quern-stone Quern-stones are stone tools for hand-grinding a wide variety of materials. They are used in pairs. The lower stationary stone of early examples is called a saddle quern, while the upper mobile stone is called a muller, rubber or handstone. The ...

with removable wooden handle and plenty of grain for grinding. Visitors are invited to look at a drawing of the inner structure of the object, and to try to work out how to grind the corn. When turning the headstone, you can feel how the grain lessens the friction enough for the headstone to turn easily, while the roughness of the stone continues to provide enough friction to grind the corn: a paradox perhaps, but it works. However, to allow entry of grain, the central wooden spindle of a

is by necessity very loosely fitted through the hole in the headstone, which means that the headstone can move sideways, and young children's fingers must be supervised.

Local fossils

There is a display of locally-found fossils including the big ''

Calamites ''Calamites'' is a genus of extinct arborescent (tree-like) horsetails to which the modern horsetails (genus ''Equisetum'') are closely related. Unlike their herbaceous modern cousins, these plants were medium-sized trees, growing to heights o ...

'', a

horsetail ''Equisetum'' (; horsetail, snake grass, puzzlegrass) is the only living genus in Equisetaceae, a family of ferns, which reproduce by spores rather than seeds. ''Equisetum'' is a "living fossil", the only living genus of the entire subclass Eq ...

-type, and the little '' Gastrioceras'', a kind of

ammonite Ammonoids are a group of extinct marine mollusc animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs, commonly referred to as ammonites, are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid and cuttlefish) ...

. There are also fossils of ''

Lepidodendron ''Lepidodendron'' is an extinct genus of primitive vascular plants belonging to the family Lepidodendraceae, part of a group of Lycopodiopsida known as scale trees or arborescent lycophytes, related to Isoetes, quillworts and Lycopodiopsida, lyco ...

'', ''

Stigmaria ''Stigmaria'' is a form taxon for common fossils found in Carboniferous rocks. They represent the underground rooting structures of coal forest lycopsid trees such as ''Sigillaria'' and ''Lepidodendron''. These swamp forest trees grew to 50 me ...

'', '' Carbonicola'', ''Dunbarella'' and '' Lingula'': all found in the Baildon Moor area.

Local geology

There is an information board about local sedimentary rock, with a display of small, loose stones for children to handle. These include

ironstone Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...

, iron slag,

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

and

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

. The information board has a cross-section of Baildon Moor, showing the layers of different sedimentary rock and faults. Children who later walk or picnic on the moor across the road will see the large rocks, weathered to show faults and sedimentary layers.

Local oral history

This is heard via the headphones display. Oral history is vital to preserve a sense of community and identity in the locality. Image:Brackenhall 019.jpg,

Archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

and local history displays. Image:Brackenhall 020.jpg,

and local history displays. Image:Brackenhall 032.jpg, Cast of Heygate stone, showing cup and ring overlaps. Image:Brackenhall 022.jpg, Interactive

display. Image:Brackenhall 023.jpg, Interactive

display. Image:Cliffecastlemus 016.jpg,

Quern-stone Quern-stones are stone tools for hand-grinding a wide variety of materials. They are used in pairs. The lower stationary stone of early examples is called a saddle quern, while the upper mobile stone is called a muller, rubber or handstone. The ...

s at

Cliffe Castle Museum Cliffe Castle Museum, Keighley, West Yorkshire, England, is a local heritage museum which opened in the grand, Victorian architecture, Victorian, neo-Gothic Cliffe Castle in 1959. Originating as Cliffe Hall in 1828, the museum is the successor t ...

, showing central wooden spindle. Image:Brackenhall_Gastrioceras.jpg, '' Gastrioceras'' fossil (''

ammonoid Ammonoids are a group of extinct marine mollusc animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs, commonly referred to as ammonites, are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid and cuttlefish) ...

'': coiled-shell swimming animal). Image:Brackenhall 037.jpg,

Geological Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Eart ...

samples, for visitors to handle. Image:Brackenhall 028.jpg, Headphones with recordings of

and Baildon Moor local history.

Front door lobby

In the lobby or original entrance hall you can see the inside of the heavy, panelled, original front door. There is a sheaf of wildlife-identification quiz-sheets, and a board of numbered pictures to identify. The pictures include some unusual specimens, so the quiz is pitched at both adult and child level. There are various displays and wildlife pictures here, which are regularly rotated according to requirement.

Exhibition and activity room

This would have been the right-hand reception room of the original Bracken Hall farmhouse. It is used as a gallery. The table contains reference books which may assist with part of the wildlife identification quiz. The room is also used for educational group visits.

Display of past and present nature study

This corner display, behind safety-glass, contains evidence which children can use to compare old and new methods of studying

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

. For example, they can see the more academic approach of previous centuries, including the obsession with

classification Classification is a process related to categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated and understood. Classification is the grouping of related facts into classes. It may also refer to: Business, organizat ...

and dusty books, together with hand-coloured drawings and a brass

optical microscope The optical microscope, also referred to as a light microscope, is a type of microscope that commonly uses visible light and a system of lenses to generate magnified images of small objects. Optical microscopes are the oldest design of microsco ...

. They can compare what was once known as '' botanizing'' with the modern muddy-boots-and-''

fieldwork Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct fie ...

'' approach, expensive cameras and cheap field-guides.

Autumnal nature tableau

Here is another example of the taxidermist's art. There are autumn seeds to identify in this display, and an opportunity for a close-up view of some of the UK's more shy animals: the

weasel Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slender bo ...

shrew Shrews (family Soricidae) are small mole-like mammals classified in the order Eulipotyphla. True shrews are not to be confused with treeshrews, otter shrews, elephant shrews, West Indies shrews, or marsupial shrews, which belong to different fa ...

and

jay A jay is a member of a number of species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the Crow family (biology), family, Corvidae. The evolutionary relationships between the jays and the magpies are rather complex. For examp ...

. Image:Brackenhall 050.jpg, Exhibition and activity room. Image:Brackenhall 052.jpg, Display of past and present botanizing. Image:Brackenhall 053.jpg, 19th-century brass

Image:Brackenhall 048.jpg, Quiz forms in lobby

Back garden

Back yard

This is accessed via the back door of the Entrance room, or by walking left across the front lawn. In the back yard are the toilets, and an animal hutch.

Side garden

In the side garden there is a raised lawn, with a minibeast trapdoor laid on the bare earth. This allows small invertebrates to shelter under it, and children can expose them by lifting the trapdoor. The trapdoor is light enough for a five-year-old to lift easily.

Slug Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a smal ...

snail A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastro ...

earthworms An earthworm is a terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. They exhibit a tube-within-a-tube body plan; they are externally segmented with corresponding internal segmentation; and they usually have setae on all segments. Th ...

woodlouse A woodlouse (plural woodlice) is an isopod crustacean from the polyphyleticThe current consensus is that Oniscidea is actually triphyletic suborder Oniscidea within the order Isopoda. They get their name from often being found in old wood. ...

and

millipede Millipedes are a group of arthropods that are characterised by having two pairs of jointed legs on most body segments; they are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name derived from this feature. Each double-legged segment is a resu ...

s are likely inhabitants here. On the lawn is another animal hutch, a safety cage for beehives - disused due to

- and a shed with batboxes fixed to the side. There are two old

bramley apple ''Malus domestica'' (Bramley's Seedling, commonly known as the Bramley apple, or simply Bramley, Bramleys or Bramley's) is a cultivar of apple that is usually eaten cooked due to its sourness. The variety comes from a pip planted by Mary Ann Brai ...

trees, and a facsimile cup and ring stone for the children to handle.

Side path

Here is an old bathtub full of wild flowers growing, and a safety cage for the now-disused entrance to the indoor beehive.

Bumble bees "Bumble Bees" (originally called "Bumble Bee") is a song recorded by Danish- Norwegian dance-pop group Aqua. It was released as their eleventh single overall, and the third from their album ''Aquarius''. The song more closely resembled their ear ...

still constantly try to use the entrance in early summer. Wellington boots dry on the bench: it can be muddy here for most of the year. Image:Brackenhall 062.jpg, Animal hutch in back yard. Image:Brackenhall 063.jpg, Minibeast trapdoor, for children to observe

slug Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a smal ...

etc. Image:Brackenhall 065.jpg, Slug under minibeast trapdoor, '' Arion fasciatus''. Image:Brackenhall 068.jpg, Backyard view of hutch and shed with bat-boxes. Image:Brackenhall 071.jpg, cup and ring marks created by

archaeologists Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

with a deer

antler Antlers are extensions of an animal's skull found in members of the Cervidae (deer) family. Antlers are a single structure composed of bone, cartilage, fibrous tissue, skin, nerves, and blood vessels. They are generally found only on male ...

pick Image:Brackenhall 073.jpg, Wellington boots drying on a bench Image:Brackenhall 074.jpg, Safety cage around entrance to indoor

(now dismantled) Image:Brackenhall 069.jpg, Disused

beehives A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus '' Apis'' live and raise their young. Though the word ''beehive'' is commonly used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature ...

Pond area

The children's dipping pond is accessed from the side lawn or from the front lawn. It contains yellow flags,

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

newt A newt is a salamander in the subfamily Pleurodelinae. The terrestrial juvenile phase is called an eft. Unlike other members of the family Salamandridae, newts are semiaquatic, alternating between aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Not all aqua ...

s, efts and other pondlife. Brackenhall 085

Image:Brackenhall 075.jpg, Wildlife pond for children, with flag leaves. Image:Brackenhall 077.jpg, Green alkanet ('' pentaglottis sempervirens'') Image:Brackenhall 079.jpg, Yellow flag in pond Image:Brackenhall 078.jpg, Closeup of green alkanet ('' pentaglottis sempervirens'') Brackenhall 076

Baildon Moor and Shipley Glen

Across the road from the museum is Baildon MoorBradford.gov.uk: pdf map of Baildon Moor and Shipley Glen, showing Bracken Hall.
/ref> which has long been used by the public as a recreation area. There was once a Victorian funfair on the moor, and its story can be read on the wall of the Archaeology room. On the moor opposite Bracken Hall there is a

stone circle. Five minutes' walk away, on the far side of this bit of moor, is

, where some of the Bracken Hall nature walks take place, and where the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

coin in the Archaeology room was found.See ''Archaeology room'' section. There is limited parking on the edge of the moor for visitors to the museum. The museum gardens and moor may be muddy after rain: boots are advisable. Brackenhall 107

References

External links

Bracken Hall - Baildon Town Council

Friends of Bracken Hall

Baildon.org: History of Baildon Moor.

Baildon maps: satellite map of the Baildon area.

Natural History Museum picture library and search facility.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bracken Hall Countryside Centre And Museum Museums in the City of Bradford Natural history museums in England Country houses in West Yorkshire History of West Yorkshire Museums established in 1989 Local museums in West Yorkshire Nature centres in England Children's museums in the United Kingdom