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In February 1919 the Borough Finance Committee received letters from three Abingdon men, Mr John West, Dr Paulin Martin and Mr Thomas Townsend, offering their collections to the town as a nucleus of a museum. In February 1920 a Museum Committee was appointed. The collections were catalogued by Mr Bayzand and his assistant from the Geology Department at Oxford University. The extent of the collections was recorded as follows:

• Geology: 20 cases
• Minerals: 5 cases
• Recent shells: 5 cases
• Recent corals: 1 case
• Antiquities: 14 cases
• Zoological: 5 human skeletons found in excavating the basement of a local inn (no longer in the collection)
• Miscellaneous rocks and building stone

In 1927 the museum was established in the newly refurbished County Hall.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2021

Licence: CC BY-NC

Archaeology Collection

Archaeological finds from the Abingdon area are of national interest with outstanding prehistoric and Saxon material. The Bronze Age Barrows at Barrow Hills on the outskirts of Abingdon and Radley was extensively excavated in the 1920s by E.T. Leeds, and these finds are part of the Ashmolean Collections. Abingdon ware is a recognised form of early pottery. Later excavations in the Vineyard area of the Town Centre found evidence of continuous settlement from 700BC to the present day.

All existing archaeology collections relate specifically to the town of Abingdon within the historic Borough boundaries, and most were collected prior to the 1980 Service Level Agreement with The Oxfordshire Museums Service. The Archaeology collections cover a broad time span from the Palaeolithic to circa 1540 when Abingdon Abbey was demolished.

The County Museums Service is now the official repository for archaeological material and archives relating to the post 1974 county boundaries for Oxfordshire. Most of these collections are acquired by Oxfordshire following assessment and excavation in advance of development. Individual finds are either donated by landowners or acquired through the Treasure process.

History Collections

The first Social History items were donated to Abingdon Borough Council in 1919. When Abingdon Museum was proposed, some years later these collections were formally donated to the Museum. The Working Life and Personal / Domestic Life collections have been built up sporadically over almost 100 years.

Apart from the Founding Collections, donations from members of the public or local companies make up the majority of the present collection. Abingdon Museum’s Collections provide an important focal point for the town’s cultural history, which illustrate the lives of ordinary people in Abingdon over the last 450 years.

Specific collections of note

Working Life

The 20th century Working Life collections relating to the MG car factory, Pavlova leather works and Morland Brewery are particularly strong.

Personal Life

These collections include numerous toys and games, and a fully equipped Victorian doll’s house.

Textiles and Costume

A limited amount of textiles and mainly Victorian costume, including baby gowns, have been collected. The costumes of most note are:

• WWI leather flying helmet and boots
• Agricultural smocks
• Hidden items found in local buildings including 18th century baby’s cap and pocket and in a separate find of a pair of shoes
• 18th century shoes and pattens

Decorative Arts and Crafts

As part of the Founding Collections, there are a number of beadwork items including Native American Indian moccasins.

Fine Art

The collection includes paintings, prints and drawings that are either by Abingdon artists or are of scenes in Abingdon. The most notable paintings are:

• Indian scenes and local Abingdon views by Oswald Couldrey (1882 – 1958) who attended Abingdon School, served in the Indian Education Service and then retired to Abingdon
• Sketches and portraits by William Waite
• Oil paintings of two local landscapes by W.T. Blandford-Fletcher
• The collection also includes a number of naive works, notably portraits of a shepherd and his wife

Image Collection

The collections include a large number of images in the form of framed and loose photographic prints, mounted photos, prints, etchings, and drawings that have been arranged by subject matter.

Whilst copies of many of the photographs are also held in the Oxfordshire County History Centre, it is our aim to make these images easily accessible.

Natural Sciences

The Founding Collections given to the Borough of Abingdon included natural science, especially a significant collection of fossils collected locally, and a limited number of non-local modern natural history specimens, minerals and shells. Most of these collections have never been accessioned as Museum Collections, and remain in the care of Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council. However, a review of the fossil collections took place from 2014 onwards, with specialist assistance from university researchers. The resulting information was used to catalogue the fossils on the museum’s ehive database.

Many of the non-local natural history specimens do not fall within the current collecting policy and the shell samples which were stuck to cardboard display boards are now very damaged. It is proposed that these specimens will not be formally accessioned but will be reviewed, with assistance from appropriate specialists, in line with the current Acquisitions and Disposal Policy.

Handling Collections

The Museum also holds some items that are acquired and maintained solely for handling and other educational purposes. These objects are not specifically collected for their Abingdon provenance and are not subject to this policy. Their management follows best practise for the documentation and care of collections as is appropriate in respect of a collection of this nature.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2021

Licence: CC BY-NC

Transport Collection

The transport collection consists of a group of farm vehicles appropriate to the general operation of the site, and of late 19th./early 20th.C.date. The collection focuses on horse-drawn farm vehicles of late 19th./early 20th. century date.

Subjects

Agriculture; Transport; Horse-drawn transport; Western European

Photographic Collection

The photographic collection records agriculture and country crafts around the turn of the 19th. and 20th.C. The small photographic collection relates to agriculture and country crafts around the turn of the 19th. and 20th. century.

Subjects

Photographic equipment; Photography; Western European

Agriculture Collection

The impressive agriculture collection includes hand tools, implements, feed processing machinery, and vehicles and machinery relating to horse-drawn husbandry. Dairying and cheesemaking are well represented, and large-scale artefacts include two threshing boxes and a working forge. The material dates from the late 19th./early 20th.C. The agriculture collection includes hand tools, implements, feed processing machinery, vehicles and machinery relating to horse-drawn husbandry. There are two threshing-boxes and a working forge, and cheese-making and dairying are well represented.

Subjects

World culture; Food processing; Agriculture

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collection evolved from objects maintained by The Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces from their formation in June 1940. Many objects were utilised to inform the rest of the Army about the role and function of this new force.

Within 12 months of the end of the Second World War, on 29th October 1946, a meeting of the Committee of the Parachute Regiment Association chaired by Brigadier Hill DSO MC, established the Museum of the Airborne Forces. Brigadier CHV Pritchard DSO supervised the collection of exhibits and produced a display.

It was initially placed in a disused officer’s mess at Corruna Barracks Aldershot, where it remained until 1949 when the mess was again required for accommodation. War Office permission was obtained the following year to convert a barrack block in Maida Barracks into the new Airborne Forces Museum. This was not properly housed until 1952, although King George VI visited it on 19th July 1950 during the Presentation of the Colours ceremonies.

The Museum remained at Maida Barracks until the Depot and Regimental Headquarters of the Parachute Regiment moved to the Browning Barracks site in 1968. This custom designed home was regarded as permanent and sponsored by a number of civilian firms and other regiments associated with Airborne Forces.

The original briefing models for the airborne operations of the Second World War – Bruneval, Normandy, Arnhem and the Rhine Crossing – could be displayed for the first time. Dioramas were set up to show the capture of the Pegasus Bridge and fighting around the Arnhem Bridge. Vehicles and weapons and equipment of the airborne soldier from 1940 to the present were displayed, including British, American and German.

Aircraft displays of the nose sections of the Hotspur training and Horsa assault gliders were erected, with an original Dakota aircraft, eventually painted in the D-Day colours, set up outside the Museum entrance. It became an iconic and much photographed back-drop to Regimental group photographs and a well-known Aldershot landmark. Field Marshal the Viscount Montgomery of Alamein – then the Colonel Commandant of the Regiment – officially opened the Museum on 23rd March 1969.

The medal room, designed to exhibit the valour, honour and pageantry of the Regiment and Airborne Forces, housed one of the finest medal collections in the country. Captured Argentinean guns and equipment’s were brought back after the Falkland Islands conflict and displayed outside.

Exhibits were rotated and special displays built to commemorate events including the 40th, 50th and 60th anniversaries of the formation of Airborne Forces and key battle anniversaries.

When it was decided the Parachute Regiment, then part of 16 Air Assault Brigade was to move to Colchester, planning and preparation began to find a new home for the Museum. In December 2008 the Museum was re-located and re-opened as the Airborne Assault Museum at the Imperial War Museum site at Duxford in Cambridgeshire.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collection contains associated equipment, weapons, uniforms, memorabilia, photographs, books, documents, film and recordings, relating to the evolution, development, history and traditions of the British Airborne Forces and The Parachute Regiment since their formation in 1940. In addition, items relating to international airborne forces that have impacted British Airborne Forces are included in the collection. How the collection is utilised and stored can be broken into 4 main areas:

The AAM Collection housed in the Airspace Hangar at IWMD Main Site displays artefacts relating to the formation, development and subsequent operations of The Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces. At the centre of this collection is a unique selection of Airborne specific uniform and equipment, trophy items and a multimillion-pound selection of honours and awards, from the inception of Airborne Forces through to those awarded in the present in Afghanistan

The Archive, located on the IWMD North Site Contains archival material from the formation of The Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces in 1940 to the present day

The Reserve Collection, housed at Bassingbourn Barracks, contains objects in 4 bespoke humidity-controlled containers

ParaData, AAM’s online digital archive contains digitised records from the archive and entries for all those who have been killed in service and for veterans to add their own profiles and accounts. Access to ParaData is provided online through www.paradata.org.uk and also through touch screen kiosks in the AAM Collection at the Airspace Hangar at IWMD.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Centre presents a changing set of displays, covering a diverse range of subjects, such as:

• the Aldbourne Cup – a finely-decorated incense cup from the early Bronze Age found in a local barrow;
• the geology forming the pond and village, and the legend of the dabchick and its relevance to the village;
• the story of Charles McEvoy’s lost play “The Village Wedding” and its recent discovery;
• court cases between local tenants and The Crown in 1560 (Queen Elizabeth) and 1607 (King James I);
• stories of the inhabitants of Aldbourne at the time of the Enclosure Acts in the early 19th century;
• the development of local industries such as fustian-weaving and chair-making;
• the important bell founding industry which operated in Aldbourne from the 17th–19th centuries;
• the effects of fires in the village from the 18th century to the present day;
• the history of established religion, non-conformism and dissension in the village; and
• the residence in Aldbourne of Easy Company of the US Army 101st Airborne Division (later popularised in book and film as Band of Brothers) in the lead up to D-Day, and other military units during both World Wars.

Objects on display include prehistoric flints used as tools and recovered from local Bronze Age barrows; two replicas of the Aldbourne Cup, one in its current, aged and reconstructed state, and a second in its original state (the original is on display at the British Museum); copies of mediaeval and Tudor documents relating to the exercise of manorial rights by the Duchy of Lancaster and the judgments of manorial courts; a range of hand-bells and crotal bells made in Aldbourne by the Corr and Wells families (and others); a 19th-century fireman’s helmet; items of Victorian (and earlier) agricultural hand tools; items relating to the wartime residence of US military personnel in the village; and thousands of photographs of life in Aldbourne from the mid-Victorian period to the present day.

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

Source: Wikipedia

Date: 2025

Licence: CC-BY-SA

The museum was established in 1973 as an independent charitable trust (The Aldeburgh Museum Collection Trust) with its purpose as stated above. It has been a nationally registered museum (No. 813) since 1988. The museum was awarded Full Accreditation status in 2007.

The charity was changed to a CIO in 2016.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2023

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collections consist of some 6,500 items relating mainly to local history, including a large collection of photographs, paintings, books, and maps. It includes many items of natural history and archaeology. Artefacts range from local prehistoric finds (mammoth remains; Neolithic flints), while most of the collection covers the period since the early settlements of the area, starting with Roman and then Anglo-Saxon settlements around the Alde and Ore estuary. The greater part of the collection relates to the development of the town of Aldeburgh, and its commercial, corporate, and social history.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2023

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collections of the present Museum, which was established in 1970 has resulted from the amalgamation of several collections, including:

• The geology includes the plutonic rocks and sandstones and also imported limestone for the Victoria harbour and fort building.
• Archaeological displays show Mesolithic and Neolithic tools, an early copper- bronze axe and other Bronze Age and Iron Age tools, examples of Iron Age pottery and rotary querns, and there is a large collection of pots shards, flints and other stone finds from Bronze Age to recent.
• Displays and stored items include tools from past trades and occupations, domestic equipment and early tourist items from the twentieth century and some of the 18th century Governor’s porcelain.
• Garrison and Militia items from the late 18th century to WW1 include several sets of campaign and other medals.
• Displays and stored items from the period of Nazi occupation of Alderney and the return of Alderney Islanders post WW2.
• Coins from the Roman, eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries and commemorative coins.
• Artefacts from an Elizabethan period wreck.
• Drawings, paintings, prints, maps and plans showing the activities of garrisons, the harbour and fortifications.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2021

Licence: CC BY-NC

All collections are closely related to the island of Alderney, its geology, archaeology, pre-history, history (social and political) and Natural History and the sea and the seabed around it, and all periods.

The collections may include a small proportion of items that have little connection with the island other than having been collected by islanders. It is recognised, however, that these objects have important historical value in their own right and it is the Museum’s policy to retain them.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2021

Licence: CC BY-NC

Fine Art Collection

Local significance The collection includes domestic pictures.

Subjects

Domestic life; Fine arts

Military Collection

Collection includes photographs of the armed services. Local significance.

Subjects

Military history; Photographs; Military life; Armed forces

Music Collection

Collection includes a Broadwood piano and sheet music.

Subjects

Music manuscripts; Music; Musical instruments

Archives

Library of c. 5000 volumes on horology and related subjects in 19 languages. Which is widely acknowledged to be one of the most foremost such collections in the world. Includes other documentary details.

Subjects

Horology

Decorative and Applied Arts Collection

Local significance Furniture, including Meissen-type cabinet; ornaments.

Subjects

Furniture; Decorative arts; Ornaments

Personalia Collection

Local significance Material associated with histories of Anne Hutchinson, Thomas Paine and John Smith.

Subjects

Personal papers; Personal narratives; Personal history; People

Science and Industry Collection

Local significance Cobbler’s tools, lasts and part-made shoes; locally-made bricks; blacksmith’s anvil and bellows; wheelwright’s tools; cooper’s tools; local brewer’s flagons and bottles; sweet-cutters and jars from Hildred’s sweet factory. Replica of Alford windmill.

Subjects

Manufacturing industry; Trade (practice); Blacksmiths; Windmills; Bricks; Shoes; Science; Wheelwrights; Tools; Industry

Transport Collection

Local significance Information on local railway; photos and other material associated with Alford-Sutton Railway; plans of proposed canal. Photos of other transport types. Horse drawn hearse. Child’s bicycle.

Subjects

Canals; Bicycles; Railways; Transport; Photographs; Canal construction; Horse-drawn vehicles; Children (age group)

Archaeology Collection

Local significance Small collection of Roman and medieval pot sherds, kiln props and debris from Roman salt production.

Subjects

Roman period; Medieval period; Archaeology; Archaeological objects

Archives Collection

Local significance Maps and plans; information on local economy, reclamation and conservation, newspapers, certificates, sheet music, novels, encyclopaedias.

Subjects

Certificates; Newspapers; Music manuscripts; Plans; Economic systems; Encyclopaedias; Local history; Novels; Archives; Maps

Costume and Textiles

Clothing from 1850-1950; domestic textiles.

Subjects

Costume and Textile

Medicine Collection

Contents of local chemists shop Local significance.

Subjects

Chemistry; Chemists; Medical sciences; Drugs; Shops

Photography Collection

Local significance Photographs of buildings and town; agriculture; livestock; market; local groups and societies; armed services; local railways; canals and other transport. Photograph albums. Nainby photograph collection.

Subjects

Agriculture; Canals; Railways; Transport; Photographs; Societies; Buildings; Livestock

Social History Collection

Local significance Domestic cooking and laundry items; sewing machines; smoking, writing, shaving and other toiletry items; toys; educational material, items associated with local shops, services, societies etc.; local hunt material.

Subjects

Smoking; Education; Domestic life; Writing; Childhood; Societies; Sewing machines; Toys; Social history; Shops

Agriculture Collection

Tools, machinery and photographs relating to local agricultural practice. Tools and certificates associated with livestock. Dyke-cutting and pipelaying tools. Animal traps. Local significance.

Subjects

Agriculture; Certificates; Animals; Photographs; Tools; Livestock

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Archaeology Collection

There are local prehistoric finds, including some bronze age bronze implements.

Subjects

Archaeology

Costume and Textile Collection

The lace industry is described under the science and industry heading.

Subjects

Costume and Textile

Social History Collection

The museum holds the borough seal; artefacts relating to local dairy; children’s toys, dolls and a dolls house; local schools, especially Allhallows; a grandfather clock with only one hand; and the Awliscombe stocks. The museum has a penny farthing bicycle. There is World War memorabilia and three models of wartime aircraft including a Spitfire. Joseph Kennedy, elder brother of John F Kennedy, trained at a local military airfield and was killed over England in 1944 while on a mission to Germany. There is also the case of a German 220kg bomb dropped on the area during the War.

Subjects

Social History

Geology Collection

The fossil collection discovered in the rocks near Honiton, includes fossil sea urchins, ammonites, and the teeth of fish and sharks. There are also 100,000-year-old hippopotamus bones found beneath the line of the Honiton bypass in the 1960s.

Subjects

Geology

Science and Industry Collection

Honiton lace is well known nationally and internationally and this industry is a major feature of the museum. With origins stretching back more than four centuries, the lace industry flourished using out-workers and at one time in the late 17th century employed half the population. Honiton produced very fine lace and its popularity ensured the success of the industry, which also spread to surrounding towns and villages. Honiton lace has provided Queen Victoria’s wedding veil and the Christening robe for Elizabeth II’s children. There is an extensive collection of Honiton lace in the museum including examples dating from 163o onwards. There are also lace making tools. Pottery has been made in Honiton at least since the 17th century. The town also prepared whetstones using stone mined in the Blackdown Hills. Clockmaking is represented by the Murch family business, the museum has some of their tools and an example of a long-case clock. The Honiton Ironworks is represented by some of its products, such as a mangle and a farm feeding trough.

Subjects

Science and Industry

Photographic Collection

This is a small collection of photographs of local interest.

Subjects

Photography

Other

Agriculture; Archives; Fine Art; Medals; Medicine; Numismatics

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Archaeology Collection

The collection consists mainly of material excavated by the Vale of Evesham Historical society. It includes Neolithic material, quantities of material from Romano-British and Saxon to late Medieval times, and material excavated from Evesham Abbey by the Rudge family in the 1830s. The collection includes the “Great Chair” of Evesham Abbey, a unique and massive throne of carved oak dating from the 14th.C. The museum has grave goods from early 6th.C. Saxon burials at Beckford (Glos.), and Broadway (Worcs.), and from a late 6th./early7th.C. grave at Fairfield (near Evesham). The collection includes Neolithic material, quantities of material from Romano-British to late Medieval times, and material excavated from Evesham Abbey by the Rudge family in the 1830s. The collection includes the “Great Chair” of Evesham Abbey, a unique and massive throne of carved oak dating from the 14th C.

Subjects

Archaeology (cemeteries); Archaeology; Viking; Archaeology (settlement); Roman Empire; Western European

Geology Collection

A collection of fossils and minerals collected in the area.

Subjects

Fossils; Geology; Minerals

Music Collection

The collection reflects aspects of the history of the Evesham area.

Subjects

Music; Western European

Personalia Collection

The collection reflects aspects of the history of the Evesham area.

Subjects

Personalia; People; Western European

Photographic Collection

The photographs are mainly of local topographical interest.

Subjects

Photographic equipment; Photography; Western European

Archives Collection

The collections include a 14th.C. illuminated psalter, and a copy of the rare “Matthew” bible printed in 1537.

Subjects

Documents (historic); Archives; Western European

Arms and Armour Collection

The collection reflects aspects of the history of the Evesham area.

Subjects

Costume (leisurewear); Costume (uniform/regalia); Textiles; Arms and Armour; Costume and Textile; Western European

Science and Industry Collection

Local industries such as those of the blacksmith, cobbler and wheelwright are well covered. There is a particularly good set of wheelwright’s tools from a business on Merstow Green Other industries covered include those of the blacksmith and cobbler.

Subjects

Industry and Commerce; Science and Industry; Metal working; Western European

Social History Collection

The collection consists of domestic, craft, commercial and civic items, printed ephemera and pictures, covering the period from the 16th. to the 20th C.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC