One of the UK’s oldest museums – an institution dating back to the Victorian era – has been forced to close thanks to austerity cuts.

The 120-year-old Dewsbury Museum in West Yorkshire is a victim of the government’s deficit austerity programme – a series of sustained reductions in public spending, intended to reduce the government budget deficit and the welfare state in the UK.

Kirklees Council made the decision to close the museum, along with Red House Museum in Gomersal, last month, with the latter allowed to stay open until 21 December following appeal.

The local authority’s budget for museums and galleries is being cut in half from April 2017, with the council forced to draw up new plans to restructure its offering. The decision to close the museums will save £531,000 (US$660,000, €596,000) a year.

The Grade-II Listed Dewsbury Museum was originally a 17th century cloth merchant’s home and was frequently visited by Victorian author Charlotte Bronte, with it featured in her 1849 novel Shirley.

Dewsbury Museum underwent a £1m (US$1.2m, €1.1m) renovation in 2010 to improve visitor facilities and features a toy gallery, recreated 1940s classroom, and the 'Discovering Dewsbury' local history gallery.

"The council did not want to be in this position. Nobody wants to close museums but we do need to react to these times of austerity and make savings,” said councillor Graham Turner.

"I am sorry people will no longer be able to access these museums, but I can assure you we will do everything possible to look after the collections."

If no-one is found to run them, both museums’ collections will be transferred to other local museums or will enter storage, with the building itself to potentially be sold on the open market. In the interim, the museum’s café will remain open, as will its greenhouse and playground.