Step back into history at Goole Museum with a newly acquired photograph album

Goole Museum has recently taken in a very exciting new acquisition; a photograph album containing a unique collection of Victorian and Edwardian photographs of Goole, dating between 1865 and 1900.

The town and port of Goole was established in 1826 by the Aire & Calder Navigation Company, an enterprise which connected the industrial and coal mining regions of the West Riding to the Humber Estuary. The growth of the coal and general cargo trades continued well into the nineteenth century, and the images contained within the album capture a remarkable era of development and prosperity within the country’s most inland port town.

Several of the photos show navvies digging out Goole’s later docks during the 1880s, including Aldam and Stanhope Docks. Another rare and remarkable photo captures Victorian dock workers bagging grain on the deck of a vessel and on the quayside.

Away from the docks, other photos show local rugby and hockey teams, while another captures a group of Edwardians, complete with a ‘photo-bombing’ suffragette holding a ‘Votes for Women’ banner!

A number of other images have been taken from a height and show Goole from above, with its cramped terrace streets and boulevards against the backdrop of the winding River Ouse and green fields.

Goole Museum curator Alex Ombler said : “The album is too old and delicate to handle, but we have created a handling copy for visitors to view these remarkable scenes from Goole’s history. Come in and have a look!”

Goole Museum is located in Carlisle Street and is open:

Tuesday to Friday: 10am to 5pm

Saturday: 9am to 4pm

Closed for lunch: 12 noon to 12.30pm.

Admission is free.