Thermopylae.

The Friends of the Rydings are pleased to have provided funds to enable the model of the Thermopylae to be displayed.  Visitors can see the ship, in its new case, on the first floor landing.

The plaque reads:

A thing of beauty is a joy forever.

The clipper ship

Thermopylae

launched 1869

On her maiden voyage created a record

unrivalled in sail

London to Melbourne in sixty days

Built and presented by Mr W.H. Haviour Brighouse

The ship, the Thermopylae, was a tea clipper.  Built in 1868, she was famous for racing the Cutty Sark from Shanghai to London in 1872.  The Thermopylae won the race by seven days.

We believe that W. H. Haviour was a cabinet maker operating from Brighouse in the early 1900s (Malcolm Bull’s Calderdale Companion ref. H1155).