Explore collections

Since its formation in May 2004, Chesham Museum (formerly Chesham Museum – The Stables) has collected around 5,000 objects. The Town Museum Project was originally set up to collect and mount a rolling programme of exhibitions in a display case in Chesham Library. The museum found its first home in the former stables of a public house on Bellingdon Road and in 2009 relocated to 15 Market Square. It was forced to close in 2017 due to a change in circumstances and all of the collection was put into local, secure storage. In 2022 the museum began a series of outreach activities, including a pop-up exhibition, handing boxes for schools, walks and talks. A new website was launched, showcasing the collection to a wider audience. In January 2024 the museum opened in new premises in Chesham Town Hall, with a secure lease for the foreseeable future.

Items are only be collected if they are from within or associated with Chesham Town, surrounding villages or the hamlets of Asheridge, Ashley Green, Bellingdon, Botley, Chartridge, Grove, Hundridge, Hyde Heath, Latimer, Ley Hill and Waterside. This is the area covered by the ecclesiastical parish of Great Chesham prior to 1875 when Ashley Green became a parish in its own right(Latimer and Chartridge were split from the Parish of Great Chesham in 1898).

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

Arms and Armour Collection

Personal and regimental material relating to the 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales Dragoon Guards), 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, the Cheshire Yeomanry and 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment including uniforms, equipment, weapons and weapon systems, furniture, silver, pictures, photographs, musical instruments, models, documents and personal effects. Items date from 1685 to present day (i.e. the historical period of the Regiments concerned) and include items from a wide range of provenance that reflect the postings of the Regiments throughout the world, operations participated in, social and sporting aspects and achievements and regimental traditions. There are also trophies of war captured or acquired from the enemy.

Subjects

Arms and Armour

Medals Collection

Medals relating to the 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment.

Subjects

Medals

Fine Art Collection

Includes the ‘Mecanee’ painting by George Jones.

Subjects

Fine Art

Decorative and Applied Art Collection

Uniforms including a 5th Dragoon Guards Jacket worn during the Union Brigade charge at Waterloo.

Subjects

Decorative and Applied Arts

Archives Collection

Several thousand photographs and both personal and military documents relating to the Cheshire Regiments.

Subjects

Archives

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Decorative and Applied Arts Collection

The strength of the collection is locally-produced ceramics: 19th and 20th century saltglaze and other stoneware made in Brampton and at Whittington Moor; Gordon collection of 1950’s studio pottery made by Wm Gordon at Brampton and Old Whittington; Eastwood Bequest of fine china including Royal Worcestershire and Derby; early 20th century glassware made in Chesterfield by Dema Glass; stained glass windows from local buildings; 17th, 18th and 19th century furniture, some of local provenance, displayed at Revolution House. Local and regional significance.

Subjects

Ceramics; Decorative glass; Furniture; Decorative arts; Stained glass; Fine and Decorative Art

Fine Art Collection

Local significance Syddall Collection of oils, pastels and pencil sketches by Joseph Sydall (1864-1942) of Old Whittington; oil portraits of local dignitaries and industrialists; watercolours of churches in Scarsdale Hundred by Samuel Hieronymous Grimm (1733-1794); various pictures in different media of local scenes, or by locally-based artists. Work by Phyllis Hanson, including documentary pictures of Chesterfield in the 1970s and 80s.

Subjects

Watercolour painting; Fine arts; Local history; Churches; Portraits

Costume and Textiles Collection

Local significance The collection includes clothing and uniforms, including WWII armed services and Home Front uniforms. Samplers and domestic textiles. Processional banners: Derbyshire Miners Federation and Sunday Schools. Banner made to celebrate centenary of Revolution of 1688, showing the Revolution House.

Subjects

Miners; Textile arts; Uniforms; Costume; Banners; Armed forces; Sunday schools

Social History Collection

Local significance 17th-20th century domestic kitchen and laundry equipment; small items of furniture; children’s toys; model railway and model engineering collection; straw work and other material associated with Napoleonic POWs; items from Chesterfield shops and businesses, local schools and police and fire services. Civic and commemorative items, including standard measures and civic plate.

Subjects

Schools; Domestic life; Trade (practice); Models (miniatures); Furniture; Civic organizations; Fire services; Social history; Police; Shops; Industry

Music Collection

Two harmoniums and a harp.

Subjects

Musical instruments

Geology Collection

Local significance Robinson collection of mineral samples both local and non-local formed by an amateur geologist. Various fossils mostly collected locally from coal seams. Does not normally collect in this field.

Subjects

Fossils; Geology

Biology Collection

Local significance One item only, Cinnamon starling in case.

Subjects

Natural sciences; Biology

Transport Collection

Wagon plates from Chesterfield wagon makers; railway material connected with local lines, stations and sheds; material relating to bus transport in Chesterfield. Local significance.

Subjects

Railway stations; Railways; Wagons; Transport; Bus services

Agriculture Collection

Local significance A small collection of equipment from farms in the area.

Subjects

Agriculture; Farms

Personalia Collection

Local significance Material relating to George Stephenson and family.

Subjects

Family; Personal history; Genealogy; Family archives

Archaeology Collection

Excavated material and finds for Chesterfield town, the wider Borough, Brackenfield and South Wingfield Manor. Includes Malvern Road hoard of Roman coins, Morton Hoard of Roman silver denarii, Clay Cross hoard of bronze palstaves. Local and regional significance.

Subjects

Archaeology; Coins

Photography Collection

Local significance See collections listed under ‘archives’. Also photographs of Chesterfield mayors; photographs taken by Council Departments in advance of development; Roberts collection of cameras. 1930s cinema projector and film stores. Also photographs of Chesterfield mayors; photographs taken by Council Departments in advance of development; Roberts collection of cameras. 1930s cinema projector and film stores.

Subjects

Photographic equipment; Photography

Military Collection

Local significance Social history collections include some material relating to local regiments. See also uniforms under Costume.

Subjects

Regiments; Social history; Armed forces

Numismatics Collection

17th-19th century trade tokens. Also see coin hoards under Archaeology. Local significance.

Subjects

Numismatics; Tokens

Archives Collection

A range of documents, books, maps and photographs. Goodlad collection of ephemera relating to Chesterfield businesses, leisure activities and scenes. 17th and 18th century race cards for Chesterfield races. Photographs and postcards of Chesterfield and NE Derbyshire places and scenes. Chesterfield back notes. Borough extension maps. Local significance.

Subjects

Local history; Postcards; Photographs; Maps

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Archaeology

Roman archaeological material excavated from the site, part of the Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site, and the There are 7737 ‘small finds’, 1604 coins, 130 environmental samples, 4427 leather items, 758 textiles, 1392 wooden objects, 1900 writing tablets, about 6 tons of pottery and several tons of bone. The collections also include the archive including site notebooks, finds record books, conservation records, filed plans, sections, drawings and published plans produced by the Trust in course of excavation. NB the writing tablets are all in the British Museum because of their undoubted international importance and security risk if they remained at Vindolanda.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Library was founded in 1653 under the terms of the will of Humphrey Chetham (1580-1653). In 1654 accommodation was provided to house the Hospital and Library with the purchase of the former College House of Manchester. Since 1655, following the conversion and restoration of the building, the combined institution of the Hospital and Library has collected material in the form of printed books, manuscripts, archives, works of art and artefacts on a wide range of subjects.

Until 1852 no limitations or restrictions were placed on acquisitions. Any item could be purchased or accepted as a gift or loan if it were felt by the governing body (the Feoffees) that the item was of interest and value to the users of and visitors to the Hospital and Library.

In 1852, following the creation of the rate supported public libraries, the Feoffees restricted the subject and geographical coverage of the collections to the history and topography of England in order to avoid the duplication of resources. In 1955 this was further restricted to material relating to the history and topography of the North West of England, a policy which continues to this day.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2021

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collections consist of furniture, artefacts, printed books, manuscripts, archives, ephemera, newspapers, newspaper cuttings, photographs, prints, maps, drawings, and paintings, which have been accumulated by purchase, gift, or deposit since 1655. The collections rank among the most important bibliographical and research resources in the country and are a vital part of the national heritage. This has been recognised by the ACE Designation scheme and the whole of the collections, including buildings, fixtures, furnishings and fittings, are Designated as being of national and international importance.

Chetham’s Hospital and Library has collected furniture, paintings and museum items since its inception. The accessioned collection consists of over 400 objects. A number of items, including a large gate-leg table, side tables, and a set of twenty-four Cromwellian chairs, were specially commissioned by the first governors. Other items, such as reading room tables, and a set of carved oak stools, were purpose built for the foundation in the 1650s and 1660s. The collection of paintings includes the only contemporary portrait of the founder, Humphrey Chetham, and a number of oil portraits of librarians and other persons associated with the foundation. The collection is of considerable significance: it has preserved and made available an important group of sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth century objects which are not duplicated elsewhere.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2021

Licence: CC BY-NC

Denys Eyre Bower, an antiques dealer and collector, bought the Castle in 1955 to open his collection of art and antiquities to the public.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2021

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collections hold approximately 4,000 objects, under four main categories: Japanese, Ancient Egyptian, Buddhist, and Stuart/Jacobite. There are also hundreds of other objects that do not fall into these categories such as paintings, clocks, furniture, and documentation relating to local history.

The Japanese collection: includes lacquerware, swords, amour, ceramics, and prints from the 6th to the 20th century. The lacquer collection is considered one of the most important in the UK.

The Ancient Egyptian collection: spans the pre-dynastic period (prior to 3100 BC) until the Ptolemaic period (around 330 BC).

The Buddhist collection: the smallest of the four main collections (around 150 objects) including figures of the Buddha, prayer wheels, wall hangings, and portable shrines. About half of it is Tibetan, Sino-Tibetan, or Nepalese-Tibetan and the remainder is from a variety of countries, illustrating the spread of Buddhism. The objects are dated from the 15th to the 20th centuries.

The Stuart/Jacobite collection: portraits of the Royal Kings and Queens; coins and medals; prints; memorabilia; snuff and tobacco boxes; letters and other documents; and Jacobite pamphlets. The collection of documents and papers is one of the best in the country. It includes holograph letters, privy documents, and estate papers.

The Castle also holds invaluable information on the history of the local area, its inhabitants, and Denys Bower’s life.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2021

Licence: CC BY-NC

On 11^th June 1973, it was suggested that the Chiltern Society should consider starting an open air museum of historic buildings in order to preserve them for future generations. The aims of the Museum would be educational as well as recreational. It would, the Society hoped, foster public interest in the architectural heritage of the Chiltern Hills so that people would come to recognise the importance of the buildings and become aware of the need to protect others like them in the future. Buildings selected for inclusion in the Museum would be typical of the domestic, agricultural and industrial structures found in the area, dating back to the earliest known, and would be used to demonstrate methods and materials through the ages, as well as housing exhibits of agricultural implements, domestic equipment, furniture, and local crafts.

The Chiltern Open Air Museum was established in 1976, with collection of historic Chiltern vernacular buildings beginning soon afterwards. The birth of the Museum coincided with a boom in housing and town centre development, at a time when planning regulations were far looser than they are today with the consequence of destruction of many significant vernacular buildings. The acquisition of buildings for the collection has always been driven by the rescue and preservation of buildings under threat of demolition.

The collection area of the historic buildings covers the Chiltern Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Berkshire; extending northwards into Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire as well as eastwards into London. The collecting area of the objects takes into account the collecting policies of other local accredited museums: Weald and Downland Living Museum at Singleton, Avoncroft Museum at Bromsgrove, and the Museum of East Anglian Life at Stowmarket.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2021

Licence: CC BY-NC

Historic Buildings Collection

The Museum has thirty-seven historic buildings erected on site and a further fifteen in store. The collection on display currently range from a reconstructed iron age house to a post second world war Prefab and includes cottages from different periods, as well as a Victorian Mission Room and Victorian working farm and rural industrial buildings. The stored collection includes a medieval tithe barn, shop and houses, a bake oven, timber framed buildings, a saddlery and some pigsties.

The aim has been to represent as many different types of vernacular buildings from the region as possible.

The Object Collection

The Museum’s collection consists of some 5000 objects.

These fall into four main categories:

Agricultural collection — machinery, transport, tools, and implements.

Light industrial craft collection.

Social history — mainly domestic items used for dressing and interpreting the buildings.

Architectural components

The largest single collection is the Stuart King Collection of Chesham Woodware, representing approximately 1500 items.

The Archives

There is a fully indexed drawings collection of some 250 plans, sections and elevations relating to the history and provenance of the buildings in the collection, their transportation to the Museum, reconstruction and maintenance.

In addition, the Museum holds a photographic collection of 1000 items and a slide collection of 2000 items, relating to the development and history of the Museum from its foundation.

The Library

A retired Chartered Librarian established the Museum Library in 1993. It contains a variety of material (books, reports, theses and miscellaneous items relating to the collections and the region) and is classified using the Dewey Classification System for around 2000 books. The Library does not form part of the formal collection unless there are specific and significant books that have been identified and accessioned.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2021

Licence: CC BY-NC

Portraits

7 oil paintings and 6 prints showing portraits of local persons.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

In May 1943, the contents of Cluny Castle, the hereditary home of the Chiefs of Clan Macpherson, was sold by public auction in Glasgow. Fortunately, many of the relics were purchased for the Clan by subscription from clan members and these were to form the basis of the collection for the Clan Museum, which was purchased in 1951 and opened the following year. The collection has since been added to over the years, largely by the world-wide membership of the Clan Macpherson Association.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Collection consists of relics and other exhibits demonstrating the history, culture and way of life of the Clans of the Scottish Highlands, and in particular but without prejudice to the foregoing, of relics and other exhibits pertaining to the Clan Macpherson worldwide. The collection consists of pictures, maps, weapons, costume, books, photographs and all other matters relating to the Clan Macpherson worldwide since its origin in the 12th century.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

Local and Social history

Small collections of local archaeology, domestic and craft items from Clare; photographs of Clare and its surroundings; agricultural hand tools.; costume.; Paper ephemera relating to Clare and computerised genealogical records for Clare.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Sailing history

Collection of historic vessels, engines, equipment and memorabilia started in 1976 with the purchase of the river launch Flying Spray, then the racing yacht, the Dragon, Mistress in 1988. New premises in 1996 and a large workshed. Revolving vessels and attendance at rallies.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC