Explore collections

Transport Collection

Local significance and National interest. The collection held by the National Waterways Museum contains over 100 boats on several sites, of which over half are floating exhibits. The boats range from canoes and other small craft, through traditional narrowboats, barges, tugs, maintenance and coastal craft.

Subjects

Canals; Waterways heritage; Boats; Transport infrastructure; Transport; Waterways

Science and Industry Collection

Local significance and National interest. Collection of tools and industry related items.

Subjects

Waterways heritage; Waterway engineering; Waterways; Science; Tools; Industry

Costume and Textiles Collection

Local significance and National interest. Collection of textiles related to the inland waterways.

Subjects

Waterways heritage; Textiles; Transport; Waterways; Costume

Decorative and Applied Arts Collection

Local significance and National interest. Collection of ceramics, glass and painted ware associated with the inland waterways.

Subjects

Ceramics; Waterways heritage; Decorative arts; Waterways; Glass; Crafts

Library and Archives Collection

National significance. The current national collection on canals includes plans, maps, registers, documents, photographic material, periodicals, books, sound and film material. It includes company records and material from private collectors.

Subjects

Inland water transport; Canals; Waterways heritage; House barges; Waterways; River barges; Inland waterways

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Cardiff Castle is not fully furnished, as the furniture and fittings in the castle were removed by the marquess in 1947 and subsequently disposed of; an extensive restoration has been carried out, however, of the fittings originally designed for the Clock Tower by Burges. The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, founded in 1949, was housed in the castle’s main lodgings for many years, but moved into the castle’s former stables north of the castle in 1998. A new interpretation centre, which opened in 2008, was built alongside the South Gate at a cost of £6 million, and the castle also contains “Firing Line”, the joint regimental museum of the 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards and the Royal Welsh.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article “Cardiff Castle”, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Source: Wikipedia

Date: 2025

Licence: CC-BY-SA

Carisbrooke Castle Museum was founded in 1898 by Princess Beatrice, Queen Victoria’s youngest daughter, who was Governor of the Isle of Wight. It was created as a memorial to her husband Prince Henry of Battenberg who had died in 1896. Prince Henry had been the previous Governor of the Isle of Wight.

The early museum was placed in the room above the Gatehouse at Carisbrooke Castle and its scope was Isle of Wight history with its core collection a group of objects from the Stuart period. These objects were specifically connected with King Charles 1 and his children, Princess Elizabeth and Prince Henry.  All three were imprisoned in Carisbrooke Castle during the Civil War period and Princess Elizabeth died at the Castle. Several significant objects were donated by Princess Beatrice and her mother Queen Victoria.

The collection was augmented in 1911 by part of the local history collection of the closed Newport Museum, which had been founded in 1852. This included local archaeology. From that time Carisbrooke Castle museum illustrated the Island’s past from prehistory to the 19^th century with collections of archaeology, fine and decorative art and social history. Princess Beatrice continued to influence the collecting policy and she and other members of the Royal Family presented gifts to the early museum. Princess Beatrice died in 1944.

The local, social history collections continued to grow under the care of the early Curators Frank Morey and his sister Kathleen Morey. By 1950 the museum had outgrown its accommodation and so King George VI gave permission for the museum to move within the Castle from the gatehouse to its present location in the former Governor’s house. In 1974 the Isle of Wight County Council set up a museum service and also began to collect similar items relating to local island history, including archaeology.

In 1981 the County Council agreed to take responsibility for the field archaeology and all the pre- Norman objects in the collection. The significant collection of Island archaeological material dating from the Palaeolithic to the Anglo-Saxon times was transferred to the Isle of Wight County Council Museums service on long term loan, where it has remained.  At that time a narrower field of collecting was negotiated alongside the Council’s Heritage Service.

Carisbrooke Castle Museum agreed to collect post- medieval domestic artefacts and paintings from 1500 onwards. The Museum also agreed not to collect industrial archaeology, maritime material and fine art unrelated to Carisbrooke Castle.

Since this date further revisions have been made to our collecting remit in conversation with the Council and in reference to other local collections, these are reflected by the policy outlined below

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2021

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collections consist of approximately 35,000 items held at Carisbrooke Castle Museum and a further 30,000 archaeological artefacts on long-term loan to Isle of Wight Council.

The collections include applied art, fine art, photography, social history, science and technology, archaeology, and archives and cover subject areas such as military, maritime and childhood. They cover a timespan from prehistory to the present day.

Significant groups of material in the collection are:

Applied Art

The museum has strong applied art collections covering costume and textiles, ceramics (handcrafted and souvenir ware), silver and metalwork, furniture, glass, decorative boxes, jewellery and other applied arts including a good collection of sand pictures, perhaps unique to the Isle of Wight. Collections have strong connections to Isle of Wight businesses and organisations, themes of royalty, and ecclesiastical institutions (although large number of loans in this category).

Fine Art

Carisbrooke Castle Museum has an excellent collection of topographical views of the Isle of Wight mainly dating from the late-eighteenth, nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Other subjects include royalty particularly relating to King Charles I and Princess Beatrice. Collections include paintings, prints and drawings and works in other media, and artists represented in the collection include: JMW Turner, John Nixon, William Buck, Thomas Hosmer Shepherd, Charles West Cope, Arthur Stockdale Cope, George Brannon, Fanny Minns and Ellen Cantelo.

Photography

One of the greatest strengths of the collection are the negatives and lantern slides from the Milne collection. Another significant group is the photographs of local shipwrecks which are of variable quality as photographs, but of clear relevant to the Isle of Wight. Some of the photographs of the castle itself and of various pageants were also of interest and a few other individual works stand out: the two portraits of Tennyson by Julia Margaret Cameron and a photograph called ‘Grief’ by the Swedish-born British photographer Oscar Gustav Rejlander.

Social History

The museum at Carisbrooke Castle was set up as a museum of local history and its collections of social history include objects relating to the domestic and working life of the people of the Isle of Wight. For a small independent museum, the social history collections are exceptionally good. The collections overwhelmingly date from the late-eighteenth, nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries with very little contemporary collecting.

Arms, Armour and Militaria

The collections are strong in military related items covering a range of collections types including arms and armour, medals, uniforms, silver and metalwork, social history and archives. The army, navy and air force are all represented. Particular strengths are collections relating to the Isle of Wight Rifles and items with royal connections.

Science and medicine

Carisbrooke Castle Museum has groups of material relating to science and technology, the most important material that the museum holds are the objects and archive relating to seismologist John Milne.

Archaeology

Carisbrooke Castle Museum has archaeology from Europe, Western Asiatic and North Africa including archaeology of the Isle of Wight, Mesopotamia and Egypt. The majority of the archaeology collection consists of approximately 30,000 items on long-term loan to Isle of Wight Council and with a smaller collection of archaeology held at Carisbrooke Castle Museum. Generally, archaeology held by the Isle of Wight Council covers Palaeolithic to Medieval periods, whereas the majority of finds at Carisbrooke Castle Museum are post-medieval British and some finds said to be from Europe, Asia and North Africa several of which connect to the museum’s development and history.

Coins and Medals

The numismatic collection at Carisbrooke Castle Museum contains something approaching 2,000 items and, in many respects, is quite typical of the collections held by museums up and down the country. It includes British and foreign coins, trade tokens, jetons, banknotes, commemorative medals, campaign medals and gallantry awards, orders and decorations, and what can conveniently be grouped as ‘paranumismatic’ items (i.e. miscellaneous tickets, checks, passes, etc.). Again typically, much of this material has a strong local bias, but there are also a number of individual pieces or groups of much greater significance.

Archives

Carisbrooke Castle Museum holds paper archives including documents, manuscripts and correspondence from Medieval period to the twentieth century. One of the earliest documents is a charter of Nicholas the Sumpter dated 1266. There are also documents relating to local businesses, events, personal correspondence, programmes, certificates and other ephemera. Themes include military, royalty, maritime and tourism.

Other significant collection areas by theme

• Personal objects given as gifts to the museum by members of the Royal family including Queen Victoria, Princess Beatrice, Prince Henry of Battenberg, King George V and Queen Mary and Lord Louis Mountbatten.
• Stuart and civil war material connected with King Charles I and his imprisonment at Carisbrooke Castle.
• Objects commemorating the life and death of Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Charles I, who was also imprisoned at the castle.

Closed Collections

These are collections of material which have been identified as of significance and with potential for display or educational use but which do not relate to the museum’s current collecting policy. They will continue to be held in a closed collection (to which there shall be no further acquisitions).

These collections are:

• A collection of objects associated with the history of lighting
• A collection of toys, games and items related to childhood
• A collection of early printed Bibles and other early printed books with no IW connection
• A collection of historic costume with no specific Isle of Wight provenance or story

Source: Collection development policy

Date:

Licence: CC BY-NC

Foundation and former homes (key people and places)

In 1989, a group of cartoonists and collectors came together to form The Cartoon Art Trust (CAT), a registered charity, with the aim of founding a museum dedicated to collecting, exhibiting, promoting and preserving the best of British cartoon art. Simon Heneage, chair of trustees, a collector and Mel Calman, pocket cartoonist for the Times, founded the charity and other trustees included Diana Willis (daughter of H. M. Bateman), Oliver Heath Robinson (son of William Heath Robinson), Nicholas Garland OBE (political cartoonist at The Daily Telegraph), Ann McMullan MBE (niece of Pont), and John Jensen (cartoonist).

The collection was stored with Ciantar Associates, experts in conservation of cartoons and prints.

By 2002 Ciantar Associates returned the collection (then 600 items) to the Cartoon Art Trust at its new home in the Brunswick Centre in London and with the then new curator Anita O’Brian, funded by a grant from the Pilgrim Trust. The Cartoon Art Trust gallery was rebranded as The Cartoon Art Trust Museum.

In February 2006, after a decade of exhibiting in smaller venues with no permanent home, at Carriage Row in Eversholt Street, at Hatton Garden and at the Brunswick Centre (sponsored by Allied London Properties), in The Cartoon Museum (now renamed) opened to the public at its first permanent home in Little Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London. Oliver Preston, chair, welcomed patron Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, who opened the new museum, and was shown around its galleries, and its collections and library. As well as a permanent display of the history of British cartooning and comics, over 50 temporary exhibitions were displayed from 2006–2019 including shows on Private Eye, William Heath Robinson, Steve Bell, Giles, Pont, H.M. Bateman, Viz Comics, Ronald Searle, The Beano, Ralph Steadman, Rowland Emett and many more.

At the end of 2018 the museum’s lease was set to expire and landlords were asking for an uplift in rent from £75,000 to £150,000. Trustees managed to secure a 25-year lease at a peppercorn rent from landlords Great Portland Estates under a section 106a, enabling the museum to have a new – permanent home from the beginning of 2019. £1,100,000 was raised from charitable trusts to renovate the space into a modern new museum and building works were carried out in 2019, coming in £100,000 under budget. Large Donors included GPE (£250k), Garfield Weston (£100k), the Sackler Trust (£150k), the Hintze Family Trust (£250k over 5 years), The Fleming Trust (25k), the Swire Trust (£30k), The Pilgrim Trust (£25k), Clore Duffield (£50k), and others. The new museum opened in July 2019, with two exhibition galleries, and a Clore Learning Studio, and office premises were rented on a 5 year lease in Margaret Street nearby.

History of major acquisitions and bequests

At the heart of the museum lay its growing collection of cartoons, caricatures and comic art. At the outset, each trustee donated cartoons from their private and family collections to form the basis of the CAT Collection. The trustees focused the collection primarily on British cartoons, caricature and comics but earlier in the 1990s trustees started accessioning works by overseas artists (including Goscinny, David Levine and Olaf Gulbrannssen.)

The museum has received significant donations by contemporary cartoonists, their families, individuals, institutions and collectors from the 1990s to 2023.

Major and significant donations of collections to the museum, have included:

1990, CAT trustee donations:

• H. M. Bateman cartoons from his daughter Diana Willis, trustee
• Pont cartoons from Ann McMullan MBE, niece.
• William Heath Robinson, Ronald Searle and other cartoons from Simon Heneage, chair of trustees.
• Cartoons from John Jensen, Mel Calman and Nicholas Garland OBE, trustees.

1999, The Allan Cuthbertson bequest: A large collection of original caricatures in watercolour and drawings from the estate of actor Allan Cuthbertson. The donated works included many by his favourites George, Isaac and Robert Cruikshank, and Thomas Rowlandson, George Woodward, Edmund Dulac, James Gillray, Henry William Bunbury, Hablot Browne (‘Phiz’), John Leech, Charles Keene, Robert Dighton, J. J. Grandville, Richard Newton, George du Maurier, Linley Sambourne, Bernard Partridge, George Belcher, Ronald Searle (Ulysses) and many others. In addition original artwork by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo for a cover of Asterix.

On 3 October 2000, further items relating to the above bequest, including specialist and valuable books and drawings which were purchased at a Bonhams auction (by Amanda Jane Doran and Oliver Preston) at a sale of the books from Cuthbertson’s library, and further pictures with a monetary bequest received from his estate. These book purchases formed the core of the library’s Special Collection. Further artwork purchased at the sale included, Ronald Searle’s The Rake’s Progress and James Gillray’s Doublures of Caricature.

2004, Brian Alfred Baker bequest: A significant collection of American comics. In 2007, due to a donation from Baker Tilly, the museum purchased a further significant collection of British comics from the 1950s and 1960s (1600 comics in total).

2007, Donation of William Heath Robinson works by Simon Heneage: The collection features 260 drawings by William Heath Robinson. Following a summer exhibition in 2007, ‘Heath Robinson’s Helpful Solutions’, and after opening at premises in Little Russell Street – at a permanent home – co-founder of CAT and ex-chairman Simon Heneage donated 260 original artworks and sketches by William Heath Robinson, as well as Georgian prints by James Gillray and others, and a Bohn edition of James Gillray’s complete works.

2007, Purchases with the aid of the Art Fund and the V&A Grant Purchase Fund: The museum received funding from the Art Fund and the V&A Purchase Fund to acquire items including:

• Le Ministre d’Etat, an original caricature of Charles James Fox by James Gillray from the sale of Tony Banks collection
• An original Private Eye poster from autumn 1961, drawn by Willie Rushton to advertise the publication of the new satirical magazine
• The complete set of Ronald Searle’s bronze and silver medals
• A James Gillray copper plate
• Many other items purchased with matched fundraising over the past fifteen years.

2009, Donations from artists’ estates: the families of Rowland Emett, JAK, Marc Boxer and Norman Thelwell donated original artwork to the museum.

2010–2011, Ronald Searle bequests: A Night at Wrestling donated by Ronald Searle after CAT’S Searle exhibition, along with a number of other items. At Searle’s death in 2011, Ronald Searle’s son and daughter made further donations, including the artist’s drawing box and equipment. There are also a number of individual donations of works by Ronald Searle from private donors. The museums holds around 285 works relating to Ronald Searle including original artwork and designs, artist’s materials, lithographs, advertisement posters (c.40), pub glass advertisement (Lamb’s Navy Rum), homages to Searle by other cartoonists and the previously mentioned silver and bronze medals.

2012, H. M. Bateman Family donation: the museum held an exhibition of work by H. M. Bateman titled The Man Who Went Mad on Paper. Diana Willis and Bateman’s family donate H. M. Bateman’s only Royal Academy exhibited drawing, The Mad Artist.

2013, Douglas Glanville Jensen bequest: Around 275 works by the artist, mostly drawn animation cells and artist’s roughs.

2014, Gift from the Art Fund: 84 cartoons and caricatures by George Rowland Halkett (1855-1918), many of which were included in the CAT World War I exhibition in 2014.

2014, Robert S. Sherriff’s bequest: 900 cartoons donated by bequest from the Estate of Alexandra Sherriffs, mostly theatrical cartoons drawn in the late 1920s and 1930s. Note that these works were formally recorded in CAT acquisitions documentation in 2014, however the works were deposited in the museum in 2005. Works from the collection were exhibited in a dedicated show in 2013.

2014, The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) Collecting Cultures/Comic Creators funding: HLF awarded The Cartoon Museum £164,000 towards acquiring a wide range of British comic art dating from the late 1900s to the present. The Cartoon Museum’s Collecting Cultures/Comic Creators Project far exceeded the 100 items envisaged at the outset, with more than 400 items purchased. Many of the works were displayed for the opening exhibition at the new museum at Wells Street in 2019.

2015, Bernheim bequest: Around 30-35 works by various artists including Trog, John Jensen, Dave Brown and German cartoonists Horst Haitzinger, Hans Steger and Hans Peter Wyss.

2016, Estate of Malcolm Douglas: 297 works including comic pages from ‘Ham Dare’, ‘Street-Hogs’ and ‘Dan Dross’.

2016, Roger Woolnough collection: Collection of 177 works by various artists, including James Gillray, Robert Dighton, George Cruikshank, JF Sullivan and Frederick Townsend. Bequeathed by Roger Woolnough through the Art Fund.

2003–2023, Donations to the collection by trustees: including Lord Baker of Dorking, Martin Rowson, Steve Bell, Diana Willis, Simon Heneage, John Jensen, Mel Calman, Ann McMullan MBE, Pat Huntley, Nicholas Garland OBE, Patrick Holden, Oliver Preston, Paul ffolkes-Davis and Pat Huntley.

2022, Donations by contemporary political cartoonists: a donation of over 150 original cartoons of Boris Johnson, and themes on Brexit, Covid and the Russo-Ukranian War to coincide with the museum’s exhibition, This Exhibition is a Work Event: The Tale of Boris Johnson (October 2022–April 2023).

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2023

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Cartoon Museum actively collects cartoon, caricature, comic and animation art dating from the 1700s to the present day.

There are around 5,600 items in the CM collection (as of January 2023) stored across three locations: the Museum Store at 63 Wells Street, a store at the museum offices at 4 Margaret Street and a small selection of outsized objects at Big Yellow Storage in Camberwell.

The museum also holds a Reference Library and Special Collections which consists of around 18,000 books and comics.

The collection consists mostly of original works on paper or board as well as a small selection of ephemera (correspondence, photographs etc) and 3D objects. A small selection of these 3D objects are larger in scale, including: a Spitting Image puppet of Roy Hattersley, three 3D models of Heath Robinson machines (the pea machine, the self-creaming machine for cats and the wine-pouring machine), bound book of suppressed plates by James Gillray, an original bronze printing plate created by James Gillray and two tablecloths signed by cartoonists (one from the British Cartoonists Association, one from the National Cartoonists Society of America).

The vast majority is of British origin, however the CM does collect international examples by influential cartoonists and comic artists and as such, there are some international artworks in the collection, primarily from France, USA.

As noted, animation is included in the CM’s collection remit, however at present the CM’s collection of animation-related material is limited. The CM defines animation as the technique of photographing successive drawings or positions of puppets or models to create an illusion of movement when the film is shown as a sequence.

The CM animation collection is currently limited to one box of animation-related items created by Douglas Granville Jensen, stored in Box B5.2. Currently, the museum accepts animation related items which relate to popular or well-known animations (for example we are currently considering a Captain Pugwash collection of items for donation). We consider offered donations but are not actively seeking out animation related items for collection. A more precise collecting policy for animation should be developed as part of the next Collections Development Policy.

The CM began to collect digital-born artwork in 2022. A full Digital-Born Acquisitions Policy, detailing how digital-born works should be transferred, maintained, cared for and shared, is currently under development and is planned for completion in 2023. Once complete, the policy should attached as an appendix to this Collections Development Policy.

The Cartoon Museum is currently undertaking an audit of the Collection and a cataloguing project of the Library and Special Collections. These projects will provide a comprehensive understanding of what is held in the Collection, Library and Special Collections and are taking place 2022–2025.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2023

Licence: CC BY-NC

Prior to the Declaration of Trust in 1977 the collection as it then was was loosely under the control of the Regiment and housed in various rooms of Great Castle House. The declaration gave further impetus resulting in the eventual opening of the Museum in the ground floor of the western wing of GCH. Many of the original documents are in the archives of the Beaufort Estate and the Lieutenancy of Monmouthshire. An early decision was made to regard the Museum as the ‘Castle and Regimental Museum’ telling the history of Monmouth as a military defensive centre with an obvious focus on Henry V. It is essentially a timeline from pre-history to the present day with significant sections on periods of importance to the Regiment and country – wars with and threat from France, Crimea, Boer War, the Territorial Army, WW1, WW2 and post war conflicts involving reservists from the Regiment.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2018

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Museum Collection contains approximately 2900 items related to the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (Militia) and predecessor regiments in the form of uniforms & badges, swords & weapons, medals, paintings & drawings, books, documents and photographs. There are also miscellaneous items such as engineering instruments, Home Front artefacts, photographic slides, sheet music and maps.

The military history of Monmouth and Monmouthshire from pre-Roman times is illustrated chronologically. There is particular emphasis on Henry V and Agincourt given that he was born in the adjoining Castle ruins and the decisive role of Monmouth archers at the battle.

The Regiment dates from at least 1539 and all the major periods in its history are displayed; Civil War, growth of the Militia throughout the 17th Century, Napoleonic Wars, The Crimean War, Cardwell reforms, change to Engineers in 1877, becoming Royal Engineers in 1896, the Boer Wars, WW1, WW2, the Cold War and modern day mobilsation.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2018

Licence: CC BY-NC