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Wakefield Museums and Castles
Aladdin’s Cave: The Cliffe Collection
Wed 1 January 2025 - Wed 31 December 2025
Featherstone Library Museum Hub
Our latest display at Featherstone Library Museum Hub remembers Miss Cliffe's draper shop.
Annie Cliffe was a well-known business owner in the early 20th century. She ran Cliffe’s Drapers on Station Lane, Featherstone, from the 1920s to the late 1960s.
Lots of people remember her shop as an ‘Aladdin’s Cave’!
We look after a collection of over 600 items of Miss Cliffe’s unsold shop stock. It is a special and rare time capsule of local working-class fashions.
Visit the hub to see a rainbow of colourful retro and vintage clothing. The pieces are back on public display for the first time since Miss Cliffe's shop closed.
(Photo shared with thanks to Wakefield Libraries)
1 January 2025 - 31 December 2025
Featherstone Library Museum Hub
Inside Featherstone Library
Free, no booking required
All ages
Visitor information
The hub is within Featherstone Library, Victoria Street, Featherstone, WF7 5BB
The library is open:
- Monday: 9:30 am - 6:00 pm
- Wednesday: 9:30 am - 5:00 pm
- Thursday: 9:30 am - 5:00 pm
- Friday: 9:30 am - 1:00 pm
- Saturday: 9:30 am - 1:00 pm
For full visitor and access information please visit the Featherstone Library website.
Acknowledgements
We'd like to thank Laura West for all their work on this display. Laura worked on the Cliffe Collection during a student placement with us. They studied Public History at the University of York.
Laura says:
“I loved it, it was the highlight of my MA degree. I was given such a valuable opportunity to work on so many different areas of museum work- cataloguing, handling, packaging, curating, exhibiting. It felt incredibly special to work with such a historically rich collection, which for me not only highlighted the importance of working-class histories but also local Yorkshire histories.”
Read more about Laura's discoveries in their special blog post.
Laura also brought Miss Cliffe's drapers back to life in an interactive shop. Explore the Aladdin's Cave yourself!
Get involved
If you have a Featherstone story to share or an idea for a future display, we would love to hear from you. Email us at museums@wakefield.gov.uk