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The collection was begun under the guidance of Mrs Yvonne Huntriss (Museum founder) to preserve the history of Bloxham, its residents and activities associated with the village. The Museum has been running for 42 years.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2020

Licence: CC BY-NC

1. Farming: We have a comprehensive collection of farming implements
2. Wartime Memorabilia: Military and on the home front.
3. The Building Trade: Including bricklayers’ and masons’ tools; samples of techniques and materials: and examples of local blacksmiths’ work.
4. Domestic: Under subdivisions such as cooking, laundry, childcare. needlework, containers. crockery/cutlery and toiletry.
5. Craftsmen: We have an extensive collection of tools used by the village cobbler, carpenters, plasterers and plumbers. Also a few items belonging to wheelwrights, thatchers, saddlers, blacksmiths and printers.
6. Shops: Including tools used in shops and some old merchandise/bills/bags etc.
7. Education: Principally collection from Bloxham Village School and All Saints School.
8. Fire Protection: Tools used in firefighting.
9. Horticulture: Tools and containers and tiles associated with Bloxham gardens.
10. Field sports and Trapping: Collection of traps used in Bloxham countryside and one gun.
11. Medals and Coins: Coins dating back to Charles 1 found in locality and medals.
12. Medical care: Collection of old medicine bottles and local home remedies.
13. Religion: Bibles, prayer and hymn books and photos of church, church material and Sunday school memorabilia.
14. Transport: Collection of memorabilia from old railway. 2 model carts.
15. Recreation: Children’s toys and games, cameras and photographic. equipment, and a number of papers and smoking accessories.
16. Fossils/archaeology We have some fossils, fragments of medieval pottery, Roman artefacts, a small collection of Anglo-Saxon human remains. We do not intend to collect any human remains in future.

These areas are backed by a collection of photographs, posters, maps, pictures and books all of which help to present the above items in exhibitions. We can also draw on a collection of papers belonging to the Bloxham Feoffees on loan to us representing their work in the village in the past.

Recollections of villagers, many now gone, are stored on tapes, and press cuttings and research work on Bloxham is on file.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2020

Licence: CC BY-NC

Geology Collection

There is a good selection of Cornish minerals and fossils.

Subjects

Geology

Archaeology Collection

This collection contains a selection of artefacts from the local area including material from Nanstallon and masonry from Bodmin Priory and Friary.

Subjects

Archaeology

Agriculture Collection

There is a collection of hand tools, as well as posters, hand bills about farming activities, events and animal diseases.

Subjects

Agriculture

Biology Collection

There is a small collection of natural history specimens, including a Cornish Chough.

Subjects

Biology

Costume and Textile Collection

The costume collection holds some civic regalia and dress specifically related to St Lawrence Hospital.

Subjects

Costume and Textile

Photographic Collection

There is a good collection of photographs of local and topographical interest, including photographs relating to the police and fire service.

Subjects

Photographic equipment

Archives Collection

The archive collection includes: posters and hand bills about farming activities, events and animal diseases; and a wide range of material including books, pamphlets and photographs of local personalities.

Subjects

Archives

Social History Collection

The social history material includes: items of domestic life associated with the Cornish kitchen; trade tools, especially relating to the blacksmith and wheelwright; a good collection of artefacts and photographs related to the police service; a late 18th century fire engine and a selection of photographs related to the fire service; First and Second World War memorabilia; and a few items relating to the Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry.

Subjects

Social History

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collection was initially brought together by private individuals who were concerned that the history and heritage of the stationary steam engines that once powered the textile mills of Lancashire and Yorkshire was disappearing as the industry declined. A Society was established in 1966 and this was subsequently formally re-constituted as a company and charity in 1973, to whom all the assets were transferred. A museum was established in Bolton to display the collection of engines and other material as they were removed from mills when they were demolished or closed. This museum was itself demolished in 1991 as part of a wider site redevelopment but re-established in new premises in 1993.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2019

Licence: CC BY-NC

The main collection consists of 27 steam and two internal-combustion engines manufactured between approximately 1840 and 1960. The collection demonstrates the development of the steam engine during the relevant period and includes examples of beam, horizontal, vertical, inverted vertical and diagonal engine types. All engines can be demonstrated working in steam from a boiler.

A ‘non-dead-centre’ inverted vertical engine built by John Musgrave and Sons of Bolton is believed to be a unique example of this type of engine anywhere in the world. A twin rotative beam engine is similarly considered to be rare, possibly unique, and a ‘McNaughted’ compound beam engine is the only working example in England.

The collection also includes approximately 2000 photographs, prints, negatives and slides; approximately 1000 engineering drawings; approximately 1800 books, catalogues, reports and other printed ephemera and 400 other items of plant and equipment (eg makers plates, instrumentation, models, tools and accessories).

Virtually all items have been either used or manufactured in the textile districts in the north of England, particularly Lancashire and Yorkshire.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2019

Licence: CC BY-NC

Photography Collection

Local significance. Small collection of local photographs.

Subjects

Photographs

Agriculture

Land drainage, agricultural and horticultural material from the district.

Subjects

Agriculture; Horticulture

Agriculture Collection

Local significance. Land drainage, agricultural and horticultural material from the district.

Subjects

Agriculture; HorticultureDrainage engineering

Archaeology Collection

Local excavation finds, including leather. Local significance.

Subjects

Leather; Archaeology; Archaeological objects

Biology Collection

Local significance. A small collection of biological objects.

Subjects

Natural sciences; Biology

Costume and Textiles Collection

Local significance. A small collection of costume and textile objects.

Subjects

Textiles; Costume

Decorative and Applied Arts Collection

Local significance. Some material associated with period rooms.

Subjects

Decorative arts; Architecture; Crafts

Fine Art Collection

Local significance. Some local topographical works and maritime related paintings.

Subjects

Fine Arts; Paintings

Geology Collection

Small non-local collection of geology and palaeontology.

Subjects

Geology; Palaeontology

Maritime Collection

Model vessels, oil paintings, photographs and shipping blueprints.

Subjects

Models (miniatures); Maritime transport; Photographs; Paintings; Shipping

Numismatics Collection

Local numismatics and token collection. Local significance.

Subjects

Numismatics; Tokens

Science and Industry Collection

Local significance. Material associated with local crafts or manufacturing industry.

Subjects

Manufacturing industry; Trade (practice); Crafts; Industry

Social History Collection

Local significance. Local objects from society, social sciences.

Subjects

Domestic life; Social history

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Ancient Egyptian Collection

The society’s museum holds approximately 370 ancient Egyptian objects. Classes of objects represented in the collection include: amulets; canopic jars; coffins; faience figures; flints; funerary cones; glass vessels; metal figures; animal remains (mummies); human remains (mummies); ostraca; papyri; pottery; ‘Ptah-Sokar-Osiris’ figures; relief sculpture; scarabs; shabtis; cosmetic palettes; stelae (wood); stone figures; stone vessels; textile/leather; tomb models; tools/weapons; wooden figures. The collection also includes a cast of the Rosetta Stone, a set of original Belzoni prints, glass half-plate negatives of Egyptian monuments from c. 1900, and a cast of a relief of Thutmose III. Objects are known to have come from the following location in Egypt: Aswan.

Subjects

Third Intermediate Period (1069-664 BC); Ancient civilizations; Antiquity; Roman Period (30 BC); Middle Kingdom (2055-1650 BC); Archaeological objects; Egyptology; Late Period (664-332 BC); New Kingdom (1550-1069 BC); Predynastic Period (5300-3000 BC)

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Fine Art

The painting collection has works covering the period 1400-1900 from England, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Italy. The Spanish material, 80 works, much from the de Quinto collection is strong in the Madrid School e.g. Carreno, Camillo and Pereda. Other centres are Seville and Toledo and have works from the 15th -18th centuries. Significant are ‘The tears of St Peter’ by El Greco and 2 by Goya ‘Portarit of Melendez Valdes’ and ‘ Prison scene’. French pieces, about 500 include landscapes of 17th – 19th centuries by Allegrin, Boucher, Corot and Robert; 200 works of 1860s – 1870s including portraits by JD Court, seascapes by Baron Gudin, figure studies by Chaplin and genre by Adolphe Cals. A large group of Neo classical works including ‘Duchesse d’Angouleme’ by Baron Gros and studio portraits of Napoleon by Girodet. The Italian School has works from the main centres with the strongest from Naples with pieces by Fracanzano, Vaccaro, Mura, Solimena, and Giordano’ sketch ‘The triumph of Judith’ for the Treasury ceiling in the Certoas di San Martino in Naples. Portraits by Trevisani, landscapes by Canaletto, sketches by Giaquinto, Diziani and Tiepolo. High Rennaisance and Mannerism by Solario, Caprioli, Salvaiati and an early Renaissance work by Sassetta’s ‘Miracle of the Holy Sacrament’ of 1423-26. The drawings, watecolour and print colllection consists of about 3,000 works including some rare examples of French 18th century colour printing, good watercolours of local topography by Hearne, Turner and Girtin and a small (90 piece) collection of minatures, 30 illuminated manuscripts, a run of ‘Charivari’ from the 1840s and 50s with prints by Daumier.

Fine Art (Portraiture)

The Bowes Museum’s Fine Art collection contains nearly 1000 portraits including; sculptures, miniatures, oil paintings, watercolours, drawings, prints and metalwork. The collection includes examples of European portraiture from the seventeenth century through to the nineteenth century. The collection includes important works by Anne Vallayer-Coster, Anne-Louis Girodet, Francesco Trevisani, Francisco Jose de Goya, Francois-Joseph Kinsoen, Joshua Reynolds, Philippe de Champaigne and Lawrence Alma-Tadema.

Arms and Armour

The collection includes guns, edged weapons and a few pieces of armour.

Musical instruments

There is a collection of 70 musical instruments of which the most important is a series of early keyboard instruments by Haxby and Broadmood.

Numismatics

The collection includes coins and French commemorative medals dating from the Roman period to 19th century.

Archaeology (prehistory)

The Bowes Museum holds a large collection of prehistoric material relating principally to County Durham. Strengths include a large quantity of Mesolithic lithics from the immediate region and the Bronze Age hoard from Gilmonby. Lithics are the major element within this collection, with material coming principally from the local area.

Costume

The costume collection of 5,000 items has grown especially since 1950 and covers late 18th century – 1960s. It includes a group worn by Empress Eugenie in the 1850s and 60s, but is mainly English women’s, men’s and children’s garments worn and made in the North East , especially women’s dresses of the 1860s and 70s, haute couture including Paquin, Hartnell, Jacques Fath and Worth, and wedding dresses from 1800 to present with a Hartnell of 1928 with pearls and silver lace.

Archives

There are various library collections and an archive of note; a rare books library of local interst including newspapers collected by John Bowes, now has run of the Teesdale Mercury from 1912; periodical runs of The Gentleman’s Magazine, Country Life and Archaeologia; records of Teesdale Local history societies, Parish chest of Mickelton containing 16th and 17th century documents on the lawsuit between Sir Talbot Bowes and tenants, printed books by William Hutchinson, a Durham historian and native of Teesdale, William Shaw’s account book for his academy in Bowes the model for Dickens ‘Dotheboys Hall’; a French library of Josephine Bowes collection of French Literature, plays, revolutionary pamphlets and treatises, printed books owned by Louis XV, Madame Pompadour, the duc d’Orleans, Charles X and Pope Clement XI. The archive also contains extensive documentation of the Bowes purchases of 15,000 objects, furnishings of their houses, day to day social life, dress and furniture bills and archives of the Theatre des Varietes where Josephine performed on stage. 2,000 personal letters of John Bowes, Josephine’s letters commissioning Galle and others, largely uncatalogued.

Photography

Mainly from the Teesdale area including a large collection of local historic photographs in particular by Elijah Yeoman for his early landscapes, Rev. James Pattison and other anonymous photographers.

Glass

The glass collection of 700 pieces ranges from 17th – 19th centuries including exhibition pieces and a commissioned cabaret set from Emile Galle in 1871. There is a small collection of 16th and 17th century stained glass from Switzerland, Holland and Germany and domestic glass mainly Dutch and Bohemian and German; a set of amber and clear table glass engraved with the Bowes coat of arms and horses attributed to Karl Pfohl, a group by Salviati of Venice, a group of 18th century English drinking glasses presented by Sir William Burrell and a collection of English and Irish cut glass bequeathed by Mrs Norman Field in 1973.

Clocks

The clocks, 17th- 19th century, were collected more for design and movement than technical interest and include automatons especially the Silver swan, known since 1774 when it was in the museum of James Cox, a London goldsmith; a group of table clocks includes a lion clock from Augsburg, an 18th century celestial globe, a bracket clock in vernis martin, an imitation laquer clock and watches from the Napoleonic and Second empire period; a musical clock by P J van Bockstael of Rexpoede, another one by James Newton of London of 1754.

Natural Science

There are some geological specimens with a Bowes provenance and of local origin, but not a systematic collection. The mounted birds,190 cased specimens some by local taxidermists, British birds eggs, c.650, Molluscs about 500 includes British common water worn marine shells and insects, c 1000 are contained in 5 display boxes in a period room. All acquired at the beginning of the 20th century and there is no intention for active collecting.

Archaeology

The collection is in 2 parts; the founders collected Roman metalwork and glass as fashion dictated in the 1850s-70s, but these are not the basis of the main collection which is local and mainly from excavations including finds and archive from Barnard Castle, Piercebridge and Binchester Roman forts. Other material is from minor excavations, especially Teesdale, local donations and the Museum holds collections from across Co Durham and is a recognised store. Specific mention should be made of a late Bronze Age hoard from near Bowes, two Bronze Age swords and a gold hair ornament from Startforth, a group of Roman inscriptions including 2 altars dedicated to Vinotonus found on Scargill Moor and a building inscription from Greta Bridge.

Wood carvings

The collection of about 700 architectural and decorative carvings were mostly purchased through the Bowes’ dealers and attendance at the International Exhibitions of London and Paris, reflecting a fashion for collecting in the 1850s also evident in the South Kensington Museum of the time, when collections were made with the specific intention of providing samples for craftsmen to copy. Small domestic items of woodcarving, such as tobacco rasps, nutcrackers and boxes were also collected. Recent research has revealed 2 previously unrecorded marquetry panels by the late 18th century Italian cabinet maker Francesco Abbati and a rare Renaissance panel depicting the liberal arts.

Social History

The collections are essentially local history and include material already described under photography, archaeology and archives, but also include coins and French commemorative medals dating from the Roman period to 19th century about 200 in total; arms and weapons including guns, edged weapons and a few pieces of armour also about 200 in total.

Toys and Dolls

The toy collection includes cards and counter games collected by the Bowes and later dolls houses(19), dolls(200) and toys(450) including a Bing clockwork car ‘The Spider’. There are two 18th century dolls and a rare swimming doll; 19 dolls houses, some of exceptional quality e.g. a German kitchen of c.1700; also a wooden train owned by the son of Edward Pease one of the founders of the Stockton -Darlington Railway of 1825, probably the first toy train; mechanical toys including model engines, ships and a working model of Crow’s Fairground made in the 1950s.

Textiles

The textile collection is important as the tapestries numbering 176 is one of the largest in Britain covering 14th- 18th centuries and from all the major European centres in France, the Low Countries, England, Germany and Italy. 56 large scale works including 2 sets from 17th century Paris (Pre-Goblein) of 1650 4 pieces ‘Dido and Aeneas’ and 5 pieces of ‘Cupid and Pysche’ of 1670-90 from Beauvais; a fragment with coat of arms of ‘The Triumph of Time’ of 1507 from Brussels; 2 panels after prints by Durer; a full piece showing ‘Apollo and the Muses’ attributed to the Paris workshop of Raphael de La Planche woven for the Grimaldi family of Monaco c.1650. A large collection of seat covers form a unique collection of 17th and 18th century French upholstery. Josephine Bowes collected 700 examples. Canvas-work includes a large Elizabethan hanging and valances, a rare 18th century table carpet, 17th century panels e.g. ‘The Judgment of Solomon’ after B a Bolswert after Rubens. The 830 embroideries range from 14th -19th century and include French 17th century bed valances and gaming purses, English 18th century needle paintings by Mary Linwood; English 17th century; ecclesiastical embroideries and vestments include 14th century German orphreys and fine 18th century chasubles and English samplers. There are 200 pieces of lace and a small collection of 130 printed and woven textiles such as the French brocaded satin woven for the Tuileries in 1811-13. The Northern quilt and bedcovers collection is 125 and growing. 30 European and Oriental carpets mainly furnish the period rooms, and there are 19th century Barnard Castle carpets.

Ethnography

There is no discrete ethnographic collection as such, but material is scattered throughout the main collections; it includes ivories, metalwork, pottery and textiles from West Africa, the Arabian Gulf, Central Asia, South East Asia, Indian subcontinent, Latin America, Balkans and Mesopotamia. A small group survives from the George Brown collection (qv Hancock Museum) as associated with Barnard Castle. Chelmsford and Essex Museum transferred 61 items , mainly South African and African ,one Naga item in 1961. The Museum Ethnographers Group identified 1,000 objects in a survey of the British Isles in 1986; these included 800 or so oriental ceramics, North American stone implements, 41 Latin American items some Yaqui pots and a small number of mid European and oriental items from the Paris Exhibition of 1867.

Furniture

The furniture collection is 500 pieces in total. 17th and 18th century French used to furnish the Bowes houses, contemporary 1850s purchased from Monbro fils aine, Monbro bills, and furniture with original upholstery; European furniture from Italy, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland and Spain including 18th century beadwork pelmet from Brunswick and 16th century choir stalls from a monastic church in Schaffhausen, Switzerland; English furniture and panelled rococo interiors from Chesterfield House, London with ornament by Nicholas Pineau, palladian panelling from Gilling Castle made by Matthew Ward and a chimney piece from Lanercost Priory with ornament based on a design by Vredeman de Vries, a botanical cabinet of Mary Eleanor Bowes, a bookcase by William Hallett, early hutch table of 1530 with carved armorials of Sir William Calverley and Elizabeth Middleton, early 18th century red walnut seat furniture, large mahogany bookcase of 1800-10 by Thomas Hope.

Ceramics

The collection of ceramics is about 4,500 items with the full range of European wares from 1500 -1870. The collection comprises those of Josephine Bowes, Susan Davidson and Enid Goldblait and has Italian Maiolica ( 200 pieces) with a rare potter’s sample plate of 1577; French and German Faience (1,000 pieces-the best outside the V&A); Dutch delftware (500 pieces – again the best outside the V&A); French soft paste porcelain from St Cloud, Mennecy, Vincennes, and Sevres (1,000 pieces) including a teapot of 1758 decorated with a peacock on the rose Pompadour ground, 6 plates from the Marquis de Semonville’s ambassadorial service of 1792; Paris wares from the short-lived factiories of the Revolutionary period and an early documentary cabaret set from Limoges; German porcelain from Meissen, Frankenthal and Ludwigsburg and porcelain from Austria, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Scandinavia, Russia, Switzerland and Britain. Also some exhibition pieces from the Paris and London Exhibitions of 1867 and 1871. The Enid Goldblait collection added 500 pieces of European wares in 1988. There is a small but significant collection of 500 English ceramics from 1700-1850, some rare, and 1,000 pieces of Oriental export porcelain from Susan Davidson, Bowes’ cousin, in 1878.

Sculpture

The collection of about 150 pieces is diverse and covers 15th century to 1870s including carvings in wood, alabaster, plaster, bronze and marble in particular a parcel gilt statuette of St Sebastian of 1523, a marble relief of Mars by Antonio Lombardo of early 16th century, marble portrait bust of a young girl by Jean-Antoine Houdon of 1777, a plaster group of the Dukes of Cumberland and Gloucester by Jean-Pierre Dantan of 1834, an undated bronze of Mephistopheles by Emile Hebert and a silvered copper figure of Sappo by James Pradier of 1848. There are several 15th century wood carvings, 3 pieces of 15th century Nottingham School alabasters, a group of European ivories from several periods, 15th century stone ‘Passion and Resurrection of Christ’ from Monk Hesleden Church, Castel Eden, Co. Durham, a terracotta group by Claude Michel called Clodion of 1783 and a mid 17th century gilt-bronze fountain mask of a river god, one of several made for the Chateau de St Cloud, perhaps by Matin Desjardins, c 1650-60.

Metalwork

There is a small collection of European silver from 1600- 1850 of about 500 pieces and it ranges from a Jacobean spice box to important 19th century pieces. Most important is a collection of silver and silver gilt given ‘in lieu’ in 1982 from the estate of the 6th Marquess of Ormonde, some purchased in 1808-11 from Paul Storr, Benjaimin and James Smith, William Pitt, William Fountain and others; also Bowes family pieces including a wine goblet, Newcastle of c.1635, of Sir Talbot Bowes and a punch bowl of 1725, also Newcastle for George Bowes, 11 silver dinner plates, London 1699-1725 arms of George and Grizel Baillie, some French plate and a varied collection of Sheffield plate. Other work includes a collection of French ormolu furniture mounts, traditionally from the Tuileries and other Royal palaces sacked in 1871 Paris Commune, several pairs of ormolu fire-dogs or chenets depicting human figures, mythical animals or architectural motifs, a rare signed and dated ormolu plaque by Jean-Robert Mention of 1730 after ‘The Road to Calvary’ by Pierre Mignard in the Louvre. Objets d’art, 500 pieces, include jewellery, 2 documented jewelled snuff boxes, one of 1853 by Charles-Martial Bernard, and objects in iron and enamel, including locks, caskets, door-knockers, finials, a sundial and firebacks, one with the arms of the Dauphin.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC