Blogs & News

19th century black and white print of mill workers

Blogs & News : Life in Manchester – Libbie Marsh’s Three Eras

'How long is it since you were a beauty?' Life in Manchester - Libbie Marsh's Three Eras, 1847 Life in Manchester – Libbie Marsh’s Three Eras was one of Elizabeth Gaskell’s earliest works and was published under the pen-name ‘Cotton Mather Mills, Esq.’ This very short story looks at motherhood, loss and marriage through the reality of working-class life in Manchester – a precursor to later novels like Mary Barton and North and South. What's Libbie Marsh's First
Cranford illustration women at table

Blogs & News : ‘Cranford is in possession of the Amazons.’

'In the first place, Cranford is in possession of the Amazons... whatever does become of the gentlemen, they are not at Cranford.' Best known for the TV adaptation starring Judi Dench, Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel Cranford started life as a series of short stories. The first, ‘Our Society in Cranford’, appeared in 1851. It introduced gentle incidents of rural life including characters like the much-loved Miss Matty and her upright sister Miss Jenkyns. There were seven more short stories
House through Autumn leaves

Blogs & News : Your Next Chapter of Autumn Events from Elizabeth Gaskell’s House

Autumn is just around the corner. So, are you ready for a new chapter of online Autumn Events 2025? You can choose between literary workshops featuring favourite writers like Jane Austen (and, of course, Elizabeth Gaskell) or a packed programme of fascinating online talks. We’ve got North and South fashion, the Lady of the Lamp Florence Nightingale, Victorian Ghost Stories and much much more. You can browse the full listing of Autumn Events 2025 at this link here.

10 year Anniversary : 34. A Year in the Life of Elizabeth Gaskell’s House

16-20 June 2025 I've not been in the House since Sunday 15 June as I was at the annual AIM (Association of Independent Museums) Conference at the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth for 3 nights. With the hot weather returning, we saw our visitor numbers drop once again although perhaps not quite as bad as some days in early May as we also had two private group tours on Tuesday and a school group to welcome on Friday.

blog : Transport on Plymouth Grove

In early May, I enjoyed a volunteer trip to the Museum of Transport, Greater Manchester (MoTGM) with other volunteers from Elizabeth Gaskell's House. (Lizzie, one of our other volunteers, has already reported on the enjoyable volunteer trip to the Greater Manchester Museum of Transport, which you can read here). During the trip, I was keen to try and find out more about the transport options which would have been available to the Gaskell family in their time at
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