Haworth Art Gallery

Originally called Hollins Hill, the Gallery is a Tudor-style Edwardian house designed and built for William Haworth and his sister Anne in 1909 by Walter Brierley, FSA of York. William and Anne were the children of Thomas Haworth (1819-1891), a successful cotton manufacturer in Accrington in the 1800s. William died in 1913 and Anne in 1920, when the house was bequeathed to the Corporation of Accrington. It opened as the town's public art gallery on 21st September 1921.

It is a fine example of the Arts and Crafts movement in architecture, including an oak-panelled entrance hall, and a staircase with heraldic stained glass windows. The main reception rooms, now used for temporary exhibitions, have plaster and wood decorations abundant with foliage, animals and birds.

Haworth stands in nine acres of parkland with a rose garden which Anne was particularly fond of. Visitors can picnic and follow a nature trail around the grounds which have fine views of the nearby hills.

The Gallery is home to the world famous collection of 'Favrile' vases, tiles and mosaics from the New York Studios of Louis Comfort Tiffany (1843-1933). An Accrington man Joseph Briggs, travelled to New York in 1891 to seek his fortune and helped to manage the Tiffany Studios for almost forty years. He presented his collection to the people of Accrington in 1933.

The unique Tiffany collection consists of over one hundred and forty pieces of 'Favrile' or hand-made glass.

The Gallery has an excellent collection of oil paintings and water-colours, mainly 19th century and includes work by Frederic, Lord Leighton, Claude Joseph Vernet, John Frederick Herring and William Shayer.

Local, regional and national artists and crafts people are featured in a programme of regularly changing exhibitions and there is also an annual 'Open' exhibition.

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