Explore Rare Orchid Specimens at Cliffe Castle Herbarium

Discover the remarkable botanical collections housed at Cliffe Castle

Cliffe Castle in Bradford is home to an extraordinary herbarium containing over 60,000 preserved plant specimens. These collections offer a fascinating glimpse into botanical history and provide valuable resources for researchers studying plant distribution and conservation. Anisiya, a final-year Archaeology student at the University of Bradford, has been working closely with Bradford District Museums and Galleries (BDMG) to investigate these collections for her dissertation, focusing particularly on orchid specimens.

What is a Herbarium?

A herbarium is a carefully curated archive of dried, pressed, and mounted plant specimens, typically displayed on paper or in books. These botanical collections date back centuries and remain crucial for understanding plant biodiversity and environmental changes over time. The method of preserving plants began in the 1500s and continues to be used today.

Historical Collections and Notable Botanists

The majority of the herbarium specimens at Cliffe Castle were collected during the 19th century, a period when botanical collecting was popular among Victorian botanists, both amateur and professional. Two significant collections stand out:

• Frederic Arnold Lees (1847–1921): A Yorkshire doctor and botanist who collected around 25,000 native British plant and fungi specimens. Lees is renowned for authoring The Flora of West Yorkshire, considered one of the best regional floras in England at the time. His collection was acquired by Bradford Corporation in 1906 and is now preserved at Cliffe Castle.
• William Arthur Sledge (1904–1991): A Leeds-based botanist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Leeds, Sledge collected over 6,000 native British specimens, focusing on sedges and grasses. He co-authored a supplement to Lees’ Flora and was a founding member of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Trust (now Yorkshire Wildlife Trust). His collection was gifted to BDMG to complement Lees’ herbarium.

Orchid Specimens of Special Interest

Among the herbarium’s treasures are several rare and historically significant orchid specimens:

• Lady’s-slipper Orchid (Cypripedium calceolus): A critically endangered species with its last wild site in the Yorkshire Dales, protected by dedicated guardians since 1930. The orchid was heavily collected during the Victorian era, leading to its decline. Cliffe Castle holds specimens collected by both Lees and Sledge, including a notable example from Mid Wharfdale in 1884.
• Summer Lady’s-tresses (Spiranthes aestivalis): Now extinct in Britain and the Channel Islands, this orchid’s last recorded sighting was in the New Forest in 1959. The Lees collection contains seven sheets of this species, accompanied by notes on its rarity and distribution changes.
• Ghost Orchid (Epipogium aphyllum): Known for its elusive nature and rarity, this orchid was thought extinct in Britain between 1987 and 2009. Cliffe Castle’s herbarium includes specimens collected outside Britain, from Switzerland and Germany, highlighting the species’ mysterious reputation.

Visit Cliffe Castle to See the Herbarium

Visitors can explore these remarkable specimens and learn more about the collectors’ legacies at Cliffe Castle, open from 27th March to 27th September. The herbarium offers a unique opportunity to engage with botanical heritage and the ongoing story of plant conservation in Yorkshire.

For further details and to read the full blog post, please visit the Bradford Museums blog.