A hand painted glass negative of red tulips with pale green leaves, the bulbs poking through the soil in a shallow pot

A hand painted glass negative of two pink tulips in flower and a third yet to flower

A hand painted glass negative of a single red and single white tulip

A hand painted glass negative of five red tulips growing in a shallow floral dish

Tulips have brought colour and joy to April for centuries.

These hand-coloured glass plate negatives showcase a variety of tulip displays in the 1920s / 1930s. 🌷🎨

They were donated by the Wakefield Paxton Society in the 1980s.

#Tulips #TulipSeason

glass negative photograph of a very happy smiling baby in a white frilly dress sat on an ornate chair

us now that bluesky's back

A very tall stalk of rhubarb with large green leaf - as tall as a nearby information panel that reaches waist height!

One of England's largest castles - and a rather large stalk of rhubarb! 🌱🏰

Find out about the 160 species of plants we grow at Pontefract Castle in our Medieval Herb Garden volunteer blogs: wmandc.co/herbs

#MedievalHistory #Gardening

A moodboard based on colourful plastic objects from around the home from the 1900s, with shads of yellow, blue, green, pink and red drawn out

We are looking to commission tactile accessible interpretation for our upcoming special exhibition at Wakefield Museum!

Fee: around £2,000 (plus VAT)

Closing date: 9am Monday 27 April

More info and apply: wmandc.co/tactile-comm...

#TactileInterpretation #Accessibility #MuseumJobs

our collection records the passing of time 🕰️

Aren't they stunning, and so well preserved!

They're so pretty! It's incredible to think they were worn by people almost 2,000 years ago...

Six assorted Roman gemstones featuring designs of animals and deities. They are different shapes and made of a variety of materials including red jasper, amber and pale blue chalcedony

Today's #OnlineArtExchange theme is ‘ancient art’.

We're sharing these gorgeous Roman engraved gemstones found in Castleford.

Tiny gems like these show just how skilled ancient craftspeople were.

More info: wmandc.co/roman-gems

@artukdotorg.bsky.social @tulliecarlisle.bsky.social #archaeology

A slightly weathered black cardboard box with 'Life puzzles - Journery to the moon; 400-piece interlocking jig-saw puzzle' and photo of the moon on the front, and a pile of jigsaw pieces in front of the box

A partially complete jigsaw puzzle of a close-up detailed image of the moon from 1969

Journey to (and back from) the Moon?

We've got a jigsaw for that 🧩🌕

This commemorative 'jig-saw' was produced by Life Magazine for the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing mission.

#ArtemisII #Moon

A baby Ilbert the Dragon toy next to a flag pole flying the rainbow infinity flag for Autism Acceptance Month at Pontefract Castle

April is #AutismAcceptanceMonth. We'll be flying the rainbow infinity sign flag for the month of April at Pontefract Castle 🌈💜

Everyone is welcome to be their full selves on a visit to our sites. Baby Ilbert is showing his support too.

More info: www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do/a...

Glass plate negative showing a couple (Horace and Louisa Simpson) posing on bicycles on a tree lined lane. Both wear straw hats.

Portrait, showing a baby in a frilly white dress (David Greenwood Simpson), on a chair upholstered with patterned fabric. Painted backdrop of trees and a wall behind.

Showing a family group at the seaside in Scarborough. Five adults and two children. They all wear large hats and are very well dressed. One of the children carries a bucket and spade.

A young boy on a donkey on the beach at Scarborough, with a large crowd on the sand behind and buildings on the promenade

Horace Simpson's family photographs are a charming insight into everyday life for a mining family in the early 1900s.

Horace's photos celebrate the birth of their sons and family outings. We hope you enjoy these photos as much as we do.

More info and photos at wmandc.co/simpson

An adult stood on the 'months' stone with their shadow being cast towards one of the points on the sundial at Pontefract Castle

The installation of the sundial, with stones being places in square holes dug into the ground

The sundial stones for 6 to 10 with icons representing different parts of Pontefract's heritage

The stones for 12, 1 and 2 with different icons representing Pontefract's heritage

We've got a special sundial at Pontefract Castle.

It both tells you the time and transports you through history!

We've got a handy guide to what each of the stones mean at wmandc.co/sundial

(Disclaimer: we can't guarantee the sun in West Yorkshire...)

Did you know Shakespeare's Henry VI Part 3 has an act set at Sandal Castle!

As it is Shakespeare Week we wanted to share an image from our Twixt, Aire and Calder website. It is an etching by local artist WH Milnes Junior!

#Wakefield #History ##ShakespeareWeek

@wakefieldmuseums.bsky.social

A young woman with dark curly hair in an updo, wearing a shoulderless white dress, holding an open white satin and black lace parasol over her shoulder. She looks into the distance away from us. The photo is in black and white and probably taken in the 1950s.

The same parasol as in Mary's picture, a little beaten by time. It is white satin, with black overhanging lace, on the end of a short bamboo handle

Pauline got in touch to share with us this photo of her late mother Mary.

Mary worked at the Castleford Picture House. She modelled items in our costume collection. Mary was born in 1931, this photo was taken c. 1950.

Pauline's enquiry has added something really special to our collections info!

A curly grey dog looking into the distance standing on an old castle wall on a windy day with moody grey skies

A man in raincoat and bobble hat walking a dog towards the camera with the ruins of Sandal Castle in the background

A small black and white dog in a red harness stood in the archway of part of the ruins at Sandal Castle

A small white terrier dog on a lead walking around Sandal Castle

We hope these pawesome photos of our four-legged visitors put a spring in your step 🐾🐕

Sandal Castle is the perfect spot for walkies as we march into the spring season!

Photo credits (all via Instagram):
1 - lowe_cp
2 - davidsmart26
3 - itchy_feet_restless_soul
4 - arthur_bibbidy_bob

A black and white photograph of an elephant walking down a street. A large crowd is following while police officers keep watch.

🐘 It's not every day you see an elephant crossing the street!

This is a picture of an elephant in Pontefract in the 1950s.

View the picture and more like it here: www.twixtaireandcalder.org.uk

#Animals #Elephants

@wakefieldmuseums.bsky.social @wfdhistsoc.bsky.social @handhyorkshire.bsky.social

We know - who knew a knitted receding hairline could look so cute?!

Waterton's nature reserve is recreated in intricate paper sculptures by local artist Andy Singleton.

You can experience them for yourself in our A World of Good gallery at Wakefield Museum!

Find out more about Waterton's life and legacy: wmandc.co/waterton

A stone wall with a gap in it showing a lush woodland beyond, part of Charles Waterton's famous Waterton's Wall

Waterton's nature reserve recreated in intricate paper sculptures

A paper sculpture of Charles Waterton, a wealthy Victorian man, looking through a telescope on his nature reserve

Two adult foxes and a fox cub in their den recreated in intricate paper sculptures

Happy #WorldWildlifeDay! Did you know the world's first nature reserve was created here, in Wakefield, 200 years ago? 🌍💚

Charles Waterton built his famous 'Waterton's Wall' around his home at Walton Hall in 1826.

This was considered strange in the 1800s. Today we recognise how important it was.

A vintage booklet of knitting pattern for 'boys' helmets', one showing a baby with a grey knitted widow's peak

want to knit a receding hairline for your baby? we've got just the pattern

A paper ticket giving entry to Pontefract Castle grounds in 1881 for £1, with faded handwritten parts, and fixed to a piece of cardboard for safe keeping

Pontefract Castle is free entry, for all! But it hasn't always been that way... 🏰

In the 1800s, the ruins were reworked into a Victorian 'pleasure park'. Entry was by subscription.

This ticket, giving a family entry for a year from August 1881 cost £1. That's around £70 today! 🤯

Museum display case featuring a costume and props from the computer game worms. The costume is the most striking part of the display. It is a pink, person-sized worm with thin black arms, large cartoonish eyes and a smiling mouth.

A museum panel that says '30 years of worms, a Wakefield game changer' There are silhouettes of computer games controllers and a floppy disk, and the Team 17 logo at the bottom of the panel.

Worms, worms, WORMS!! Love the new @wakefieldmuseums.bsky.social display celebrating 30 years since the launch of worms, the classic game by Wakefield-based @team17.bsky.social How is it 30 years since it came out?? #Worms #Wakefield #Gaming #nineties #Yorkshire #Museums

Pfft only copyright to blame there! Unless we'd got the Curator to do a voiceover (don't encourage him)

Worm your way to Wakefield Museum to meet our new not-so-little friend! 🪱

This giant Worms costume has kindly been lent to us by Team17. We're celebrating 30 years of Worms!

The worm is on display with a Banana Bomb, Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, and of course, a Concrete Donkey. 🪱🎮

#VideoGames

black and white photo of a large horse being rowed across a river on a rowing boat by two men. It is presumably a pit pony as there is a colliery in the background.

peter, the (year of the) horse is here

we feel you might appreciate this @themerl.bsky.social 🐴

black and white photo of a large horse being rowed across a river on a rowing boat by two men. It is presumably a pit pony as there is a colliery in the background.

peter, the (year of the) horse is here

A gilded portrait of Richard II sat on his throne at Pontefract Castle

Happy #ValentinesDay... unless you're Richard II 😬

Did you know that Richard II died on (or around) 14 February 1400 at Pontefract Castle?

He likely died of starvation - either self-inflicted, or a cruel punishment.

Shakespeare over-dramatised this (of course).

More info: wmandc.co/richard-ii

it's very cool! It'll be going on display with a bunch of other wonderful Worms memorabilia next week!

Did you guess? 👀

If you guessed a giant cartoon worm, well, you'd be correct! 🪱🎮

Thanks to Team17 for loaning us this cheeky chap and a bunch of other Worms memorabilia!

Find out more about Wakefield's gamechangers and 30 years of Worms on our website: wmandc.co/worms