Yesterday I went to Cliffe Castle in Keighley to look at the original weather diaries written by Abraham Shackleton of Braithwaite near Haworth. He kept records from 1801 until the end of 1857. Some of the records cover the time that the Bronte family were living in Haworth, so it's been fascinating to see the weather conditions at the time. The diaries aren't on permanent display in the Museum so we had to arrange to see them especially, which made the trip even more exciting.
The books are beautifully hand written with daily records and then month summaries with one book showing yearly averages and comments. He notes rainfall (with rain days), wind strength and direction, barometer measurements and temperature.
Most of the pages are self explanatory, but I can't quite figure all the records out - which units of measurement he was using. He often didn't have a column heading, so it might take some time to work it out.
Visually they are like codes that need cracking - secret messages or puzzles.
I loved going to the Museum and seeing the weather diaries in the flesh and being able to touch and read through them (i had to wear gloves obviously).
Cliffe Castle
After speaking to a colleague at school today about the project, she told me that weather records were kept by staff when Haworth Primary was Hartington Middle School, 70s-90s.
ReplyDeleteThere may be a possibility to get hold of some of them if you are interested.