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Welcome to

The Cosgrove Hall Films Archive.

Preserving over fifty years of British animation history, the Cosgrove Hall Films Archive is cared for by the Creative Industries Trafford (CIT) team at Sale Waterside, preserving hundreds of original animation artworks, puppets, production materials and stories from the legendary Manchester animation studio (1976 - 2009).

The Chorlton-cum-Hardy based studio was founded by Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall in 1976, the archive contains artwork of some of their best-loved children’s characters from the last fifty years, including Danger Mouse, Count Duckula and The BFG (1989). It also contains original stop motion models from The Wind in the Willows, Chorlton & the Wheelies (1976) and many other stop motion classics.

The CIT team at Waterside have acted as custodians of the archive since 2017, our role has been to house and preserve the collection, documenting and repacking hundreds of drawings, models and artworks from the collection. With the help of ITV and Westley Wood (ex-development producer for Cosgrove Hall) the CIT team rescued the archive with the sole intention of preserving its history and artifacts.

Westley says: ‘The work from Cosgrove Hall Films is part of Manchester’s cultural heritage and was important to the development of the animation industry in the UK. It’s with enormous gratitude and pleasure that we are working with the Sale Waterside team, to set up a new home and preserve the archive for people to love and enjoy for generations to come.’

In 2021 our archive expanded to include the sets from Postman Pat's Special Delivery Service with kind support from the Mackinnon & Saunders team, NBC and Dreamworks.

Over the years we’ve shared the collection from stop-motion puppets and hand-painted animation cels to scripts, storyboards and set props, through exhibitions, research, digitisation and creative community projects and Waterside hosts a number of animation related networking events and talks surrounding the archive and animation. We share some of our progress on our blog.

In 2026 we opened a permanent display in a new, purpose-built space in Sale Library which opened on Friday 16 January 2026 showcasing the history of Cosgrove Hall Films and exploring traditional hand-made animation techniques used by Cosgrove Hall.

About the Collection

The archive contains a mixture of 2D and 3D assets, since Cosgrove Hall Films produced both hand drawn animation and stop motion animation simultaneously. Our 2D store contains hundreds of plan, script, storyboard and editing material from an assortment of Cosgrove Hall Films series, including Engie Benjy, Bill and Ben and the Likeaballs. 2D also encompasses a smaller selection of hand drawn set designs and character designs on paper. hand drawn backgrounds. We also look after, several hand painted transparent cels and model sheets from Danger Mouse, Count Duckula, Avenger Penguins, The BFG, Victor and Hugo and more.

Our 3D store contains an extensive array of stop motion models from Cosgrove Hall Films, including puppets from your favourite animated series, such as Wind and the Willows, Truckers, Engie Benjy, Fetch the Vet, Oakie Doke, Fetch the Vet, Noddy, Postman Pat, Cinderella and many more. Set props from Fool of the World and the Flying Ship and Wind and the Willows. Props from the set of Noddy and Engie Benjy. A number of model-making materials are also included, including armatures, original moulds, spare model parts. The 3D store also contains some costume, mainly from Wind in the Willows and Truckers. In 2021 our collection acquired the sets from Postman Pat: Special Delivery Service, Entertainment Rights & Cosgrove Hall Films produced Postman Pat between 2003–2008.

The majority of our collection is made up of physical assets left over from Cosgrove Hall Films, but it also contains some material from other production companies with links to Cosgrove Hall Films. Such as, Stop Frame Productions (Sally & Jake, Grandma Bricks), Westley Wood’s Compost Corner, Barry Purves’s Rigoletto, Mackinnon & Saunders (Postman Pat), Entertainment Rights (Postman Pat), Woodlands Productions (Original Ivor Wood Postman Pat puppets). In 2021, the CHF archive expanded to include the sets from Postman Pat's Special Delivery Service with kind support from Mackinnon & Saunders team, Dreamworks and NBC.