Museums and art galleries

Bradford District is home to some of the most exciting museums and galleries in Yorkshire. From the Baroque splendour of Cartwright Hall Art Gallery to the spectacular building of Keighley's Cliffe Castle Museum, there is always something new to do or see, and admission is free!

Together, they bring our district’s history and heritage to life!

Many of the museums and galleries have rooms for hire for meetings and special events. Whether you are planning a visit for yourself or a group, pursuing academic research or looking for a unusual venue for your event, or a school looking or interactive, hands-on, curriculum-linked workshops, you'll find all the information you need at the Bradford District Museums & Galleries Website

Bradford Industrial Museum

Bradford Industrial Museum is based in what used to be Moorside Mills in Eccleshill. It was originally built around 1875 as a small worsted spinning mill. In 1974, Bradford Council created a unique museum, which now contains permanent displays of textile machinery, steam power, engineering innovations and motor vehicles.

Bradford Industrial Museum - a Victorian mill building surrounded by cobbled streets and with a blue sky behind it.

Bolling Hall Museum

Bolling Hall Museum is a fascinating journey through the lives and times of the Bradford families who lived there for more than five hundred years. You can find it just a mile from Bradford city centre, sitting in a beautiful, quiet, leafy garden.

Bolling Hall in the background with lawns and flowers in the foreground.

Cartwright Hall

Inside Cartwright Hall you can find incredible paintings, drawings and sculpture from the district’s own world-class art collections. Bradford was one of the first UK local authority museum services to start collecting works by South Asian and Black artists and Cartwright Hall showcases this amazing collection as well as works by Lowry, Warhol, Lichtenstein and Anish Kapoor.

Cartwright Hall with gardens and Osman Yousefzada’s sculpture ‘ Possession I’ in the foreground.

Cliffe Castle

There really is something for everyone at Cliffe Castle in Keighley. You can see sparkling Victorian rooms, overflowing with paintings, furniture and art of every style. But there are also rooms dedicated to nature, the district’s archaeology and a display of stained glass by Morris and Co. It’s an absolute feast for the imagination.

Cliffe Castle museum with flower beds and a lamp post in the foreground.