Explore collections

Decorative and Applied Art Collection

There are 100 pieces of English and 70 pieces of oriental ceramics; 200 pieces of metalwork; 50 pieces of glass; 250 pieces of furniture including 35 watches and clocks; 20 carpets and 60 furnishing textiles.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Social History Collection

This aspect of the collections comprises domestic items from the 19th and 20th century; thatcher’s and other trades tools; signs and ephemera from the closed branch line railway to Budleigh Salterton; toys from the 19th and 20th centuries; photographs and postcards of Budleigh Salterton and the lower Otter Valley; and a small local history library.

Subjects

Social History

Costume and Textile Collection

This collection spans the period from the mid 18th century to the 20th century. Some has a local provenance. This substantial collection consists of over 300 dresses and also includes underwear, baby clothes, Christening gowns, children’s clothes, embroidered waistcoats, parasols, fans, pelerines, collars, shawls, embroidered aprons, gloves and shoes. There is an important Spitalfields silk brocade dress. The textile collection largely comprises a large collection of lace, mainly from Honiton, including examples of mid 19th century date from the Pile family of Otterton. There are also lace bobbins, boxes and pillows; some samplers and embroideries.

Fine Art Collection

The museum has a small but interesting collection of early local topographical prints and watercolours.

Subjects

Fine Art

Archaeology Collection

There is material from the excavation of Bronze Age sites carried out in the 1930s and 1940s; surface finds from the area dating from the Palaeolithic to the Roman period; and a few artefacts from the Roman villa at Otterhead on loan from the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter.

Subjects

Archaeology

Geology Collection

There is a representative selection of local pebbles from the Bunter Pebble Beds; a small collection of local and West Country mineral specimens; examples of rare radioactive nodules found on Budleigh Salterton beach; and a few fossil specimens.

Subjects

Geology

Subjects

Costume and Textile

Other

Subjects

Archives; Decorative and Applied Art Collection; Ethnography; Maritime; Medals; Medicine; Music; Oral History; Photographic equipment; Transport

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Industry

Fakenham Gas Works is the last surviving complete coal gas works in England and Wales and is a typical small town works which served 500 customers in the town and employed eleven men. The complex includes a gas holder (1888), a retort house with much of the original equipment such as long handled shovels used by the stokers, ancillary buildings and features such as a tar pit and bath house and gas measuring equipment. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. There is a collection of Gas meters and Gas appliances, including lighting, heating, laundry and cooking.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Fine Art Collection

The collection comprises principally British paintings and drawings, including works on a maritime theme, from the mid 16th century to the late 19th century. Other material is mid Victorian to early 20th century. There are prints dating from the 15th century to the 20th century and photographs from the mid 19th century to the early 20th century. The collection includes a group of paintings by Alfred de Pass and a loan of a large number of paintings by Henry Scott Tuke.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

A collection of fans, fan leaves and associated material numbering over 2,300 objects. The collection comprises largely of donations from members of the public. Numerous bequests, gifts and objects acquired as a result of grant assistance from awarding bodies such as the HLF augment the collection. Ownership of TFM Collection remains with The Fan Museum Trust and, therefore, all objects are accessioned into the Museum’s accession register and form The Fan Museum’s permanent collection (refer to TFM Documentation Policy for further information regarding accessioning procedures).

Due to the nature of the acquisitioning processes outlined above, TFM Collection has developed somewhat more organically than that of the HA Collection and, in this respect, TFM Collection is considered to be particularly strong in certain areas whilst less representative in others. For example, whereas the genre of advertising is extremely well represented within TFM Collection, high-end 19th century fans, such as those manufactured by the leading fan-makers of the time (Alexandre, Duvelleroy, Kees, etc) are less well-represented.

TFM Collection contains a number of important works, including ‘A Landscape in Martinique’ (a design for a fan leaf painted by Paul Gauguin), a fan painted by Walter Sickert (believed to be the only one of its kind), and a rare 17th century ‘extended’ fan leaf – acquired with grant assistance from the National Art Collections Fund – which depicts the 20th birthday celebrations of King Louis XIV’s son, the ‘Grand Dauphin.’

Both the HA Collection and TFM Collection are augmented by a diverse range of supporting materials, including montures (sets of sticks and guards), fan boxes, fan making tools, raw materials (ivory tusks, turtle/oyster shells etc) a small amount of costume, and a library, periodical, exhibition catalogue and image archive. The Museum also contains a further small study and handling collection which is made up of objects not considered suitable for accessioning. Objects within the study collection are largely donations and the donors are made aware of how they will be used by the Museum. In supplementing the core collections of fans and fan leaves with additional supporting material, the subject of fans and fan-making is further contextualised and situated within wider socio-cultural and art/dress-historical frameworks, thus feeding back to the Museum’s mission statement of making the subject increasingly relevant and accessible to a wider audience.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2012

Licence: CC BY-NC

Agriculture

The collections of hand tools and machinery associated with fruit and vegetable growing are unusual and include a horse drawn celery roll from the Fens, and various small hand tools associated with celery growing. There is also a light wooden cart from a fruit grower and a variety of apple picking equipment. The museum holds two wooden ploughs, which are unusual in both having wooden mould boards. One of the ploughs, which unfortunately has had its beam cut through, was found in the church tower at Bassingbourn, has a single handle and an unusually large mould board. The machinery includes tractors, ploughs, barn machinery such as root choppers and chaff cutters, seed drills and rolls, sugar beet and potato lifting implements and harvesting machinery. It is mainly horse drawn and pre-1960, but will some tractor drawn implements. Much of the machinery is locally made; other well-known manufacturers, such as Ransomes, are represented. The museum has a collection of original and copy photographs of farming, rural activities and village life, mainly 20th century.

Local and Social History

The museum’s social history collection includes material relating to domestic life, village shops and post offices, local trades and crafts, schooling and childhood. The Fenman’s Hut display shows the equipment and clothing used by a fenman in wildfowling and fishing and reflects a very distinctive cultural tradition. The museum has a very small collection of rural costume, mainly items such as farm boots and sun bonnets. The museum has a useful collection of printed ephemera such as trade catalogues, advertisements and trade bills.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collections consist of museum objects and archives in all formats and media.  The Archive Collection includes records of the Royal Aircraft Establishment Farnborough and its sister establishments from the  origins of the Balloon School, The Balloon Factory through the Army Aircraft Factory, the Royal Aircraft Factory to the formation of RAE in 1918 through to its demise in 1992. The archives trace the RAE’s contribution to aviation science & technology, education, science, industry and its internal society within the UK and its world wide influences in design and aircraft evolution. In more detail:

Photographic archive

This is nominally divided initially into two main categories, still and moving images and the collection comprises:

1. Glass plate negatives from 1912
2. 35 mm negatives
3. Larger size ‘wet film’ negatives
4. 35mm colour and monochrome slides
5. Larger glass slides used for presentations & lectures.
6. Existing photographic prints of all sizes.

   In total there are estimated to be in excess of 150,000 items in categories a to f combining the photographic images of RAE Farnborough & Bedford

7. FAST hold the registers which contain the details of every photograph taken at Farnborough from 1912 and NGTE Pyestock & Bedford from their formation
8. Cine film – both 35mm and 16mm film is held, both of trials film and edited films highlighting the work at Farnborough – including early film from the 1920s and some original 1911/1912 Cody film. Some 4500 reels of film are held. Also the film collections from RAE Bedford (2500 reels) and AAEE Boscombe Down (6500 rells) are stored
9. Later video film of trials and edited highlights are held in all formats (U-Matic, Super VHS etc etc)  from all Establishments
10. The equipment needed to view all types of moving images is kept serviceable, including transfer to electronic form.
11. The FAST associate at ex-RAE Bedford has transferred all of its historic collection to the care o f theFarnborough archive.

Library and ‘paper’ records

On the closure of RAE in 1992 much of the considerable RAE Library collection, including its unique historical section, were transferred to FAST for safekeeping. Since that time many more records and RAE reports and Technical memoranda – as well as the wider international research that RAE had with the Commonwealth, NATO, USA and Europe – have been donated to the Museum.

The Library is split into three sections,

1. that dealing with the technical and social history of Farnborough : this includes the reports on 35mm film of the many departments at RAE from 1916/18 and has some 30,000 reports of the research carried out up to the 1950s and an additional collection of paper reports of the period from the 50s to the late 1990s ( a further 20,000 copies).

   Other paper copies cover research papers from the Aeronautical Research Council, NATO/AGARD, TTCP, RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine, Flying Personnel Research Committee and many others from the 1940s to the 90s. This section also includes the Social Notices from the Royal Aircraft Factory up to 1922 and later notes from the RAE. Also there is a full set of the RAE House magazine – The RAE News – which, over its 45 year life, contained reports on the many clubs and the appointments and retirements.

2. that dealing with international research & development and contained in the bound volumes of eleven major aviation countries from 1920s onward. This includes bound proceedings from the Learned Societies and from Flight and Aeroplane, whilst the earliest ‘Aeronautics’ volume dates back to 1897. Aviation history is essentially available from that date.
3. a more general (popular) collection that includes aircraft histories, scientist, engineers and test pilot biographies and a wide range of associated aviation history.

Engineering drawings

The collection holds RAE engineering drawings from 1910 and  includes many of the iconic scientific buildings built prior to, and during WW2 – the 24ft Wind-tunnel (1935)and High Speed/Transonic wind-tunnels (1938), the Seaplane Tank (1934) etc –  and a number of early aircraft drawings. A selection of the most important of the National Gas Turbine Establishment, Pyestock paper drawings are held covering the infrastructure, main test cells and power houses as well as the operating manuals of the primary engine test cells – which carry an inordinate amount of detail. A complete set of NGTE drawings are held in microfiche form (some 100,000 fiches)

Among the highlights of the collection are ;

Some 160,000 glass plate negatives and wet film negatives

A total of some 50,000 scientific and technical reports from 1916 through to 1994

Records of every photograph taken at RAE from 1912

The Object Collection

This comprises material relating to the history of the RAE and to people and activities associated with it. Much of the collection has been acquired by accumulation from the Establishment itself during the closure of the Farnborough site. Examples include laboratory equipment and scientific instruments and .such ex RAE and Factory equipments as aviation and laboratory instrumentation & measuring systems, Radio & Navigation, Aerodynamic wind tunnel models, guided weapons and missiles, Cockpit systems equipments (Head Up Displays, head down displays, experimental control systems etc), Royal Aircraft Factory artefacts (pre 1918), gas turbine research and production engines, composite and non-composite materials (including the very first carbon fibres), flying clothing and flying helmets (including a wide range of experimental helmets), aviation medicine research artefacts (RAE & Royal Air Force Institute of Aviation Medicine), space department prototypes etc.  In general, artefacts from all RAE Technical & Scientific Departments are held including both prototype and early productionised form. The total number of objects currently exceeds 4100.

Among the highlights of the object collection are ;

A collection of some 400 wind tunnel models and instrumentation (all unique)

A Whittle WU/700 jet engine and its experimental reheat system (one of only two reheat turbines believed to be in existence)

A number of RAE aircraft complete

A collection of RAE specialist flying clothing and helmets covering experimental design & construction and the Cold War development of life support systems

The image based summary of the Collection is contained in the FAST website under the Archive Section

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

Since 1982, when the Museum came into being, collections have evolved through donations and purchases of items of local, social and military history. Most of the collections in the Museum have been donated to the Society with a small percentage being on loan e.g. the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society has agreed to a further 5-year loan extending to 2019.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2016

Licence: CC BY-NC

Material relevant to:

• Aircraft and the development of aviation locally by the R.N.A.S., the M.A.E.E. and R.A.F. Felixstowe.

• The Royal Navy and Mercantile Marine in Felixstowe & Harwich.

• Models of aircraft, naval & merchant ships and military items.

• Paddle & pleasure steamers.

• Roman occupation of Felixstowe.

• Medieval Felixstowe.

• Local geology.

• St Audry`s Hospital – a local asylum & House of Correction.

• Local social history in all forms. Ephemera, photographs, models, maps & plans.

• Landguard Fort & military presence.

• Submarine Mining Establishment.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2016

Licence: CC BY-NC

Fermanagh County Museum was established by Fermanagh District Council in 1976 and opened to the public in 1977. The Museum was established primarily to preserve and interpret the history of the County. The initial collection developed around archaeological and historical artefacts gifted by local people. The collections grew steadily with assistance from the active Association of Friends of Fermanagh County Museum, a charitable trust set up to support the work of the Museum. The Museum has a successful track record of attracting external funding for major acquisitions through organisations such as The National Heritage Lottery Fund, the Art Fund, the Northern Ireland Museums Council and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

Following Local Government Reorganisation in 2015, Fermanagh County Museum became part of a wider Museum & Heritage Service for Fermanagh & Omagh District Council. Collections and management of collections reflect a district-wide approach. We are engaging with communities and establishing new partnerships to increase collections relating to the Omagh area in tandem with the continued development of material relating to Fermanagh.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

Fermanagh & Omagh District Council’s museum collections total around 13,000 artefacts, or groups of artefacts. Collections are of local, national and, in certain examples, of international significance. Collections are relevant to the Fermanagh & Omagh district area but also extend into the wider area of County Tyrone. Multi-disciplinary collections range from prehistory to the present. Core collections comprise of material in the fields of:

• History (Archaeology, Social History, Farming and Folklife, Costume and Textiles, Numismatics, Photography and Digital Media, Archives, and Contemporary Material)
• Arts (Paintings, Prints, Drawings, Sculpture, Ceramics, Metalwork, Glass and Furniture) 

In addition, the Museum & Heritage Service has responsibility for:

• Books and Publications
• Education Handling Material

Museum collections include a representative range of geological specimens from Fermanagh. The existing collection is held for educational purposes; the field is not actively collected or developed.

History

Prehistory: the Fermanagh & Omagh District Council area contains important prehistoric sites and monuments from crannogs (artificial island settlements); to stone circles and burial grounds. Archaeology includes excavated finds from prehistoric sites for example pottery and wooden vessels, flint implements, metalwork, weaponry, animal bone, saddle and rotary querns and bog butter. Collections encompass a number of significant Bronze Age artefacts from Altanagh, County Tyrone. The Museum currently houses and manages an archive of material on long-term loan relating to the Drumclay Crannóg excavation in Enniskillen. Undertaken in 2012, the excavation was one of the most important wetland excavations worldwide in terms of the breadth and significance of material uncovered.

Early Christian and Medieval: the strength of the medieval artefacts primarily relates to the heritage of the international medieval pilgrimage route through Lough Erne to St Patrick’s Purgatory, Lough Derg, Co Donegal, during the era of the ruling Gaelic Maguires. Artefacts relate to the programme of conservation, marketing and community engagement being undertaken as part of the developing Lough Erne Pilgrim Way. Artefacts include a significant collection of early Christian stone sculptures and fragments from religious sites across the islands and waterways of Lough Erne, including Aghalurcher, Inishkeen and Keenaghan ancient graveyards and monastic sites. The collection includes replicas of other stone figures from significant Early Christian sites in Fermanagh.

17^th to 19^th Centuries: paper archives encompass maps, postcards, documents, topographical prints and printed ephemera. These include 17^th century documents relating to the Williamite Wars. Artefacts range from trade tokens issued in Enniskillen in the 17^th century by Abraham Clements and James Warnock, a silver seal of the Corporation of Enniskillen (1612) and a silver Queen Anne Mace made for Enniskillen in 1707-08. Archaeological material includes excavated finds from Enniskillen Castle including pottery fragments, brick and glass. There is a set of standard weights and measures made for the Borough of Enniskillen in 1861 and associated documentation. Collections include a complete bound set of the Ordnance Survey first edition six-inch maps of Fermanagh. Artefacts reflect the importance of local industries such as leatherwork, brewing and distilling, the Florence Court Tilery, as well as the beginnings of the Railway. There are artefacts and archives relating to the local Workhouses, the impact of the Famine and migration.

20^th and 21^st Centuries: the Connection & Division 1910-1930 project proactively developed 20^th century collecting. Within the context of the western border region of Northern Ireland and a wider international framework, collections acquired encompass the period of the Decade of Commemorations from the move towards Home Rule, the First World War, the Easter Rising, the War of Independence/Anglo-Irish War and the formation of the border. Collections development has included the acquisition of material relating to the Civil Rights Movement locally and the more recent history of The Troubles.

Key local industries are represented including textiles and archives relating to the Taylor-Woods Lingerie and Hosiery Factory, Enniskillen. Material has been collected relating to transport including a Railway ephemera. Leisure activities are represented by a collection relating to the Showbands era. Material has been collected through the community-led temporary exhibition programme.

Contemporary collecting has focused on representing aspects of local life and key events. More recently, collections have been acquired relating to impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Photography and Digital Media: the historic photographic archives document the changing face of the local area including examples by Annie King, Shay Nethercott, David Blair and Walter Brady. The photographic database of over 19,000 digital assets relates to the history of local people and places, including images of objects as well as museum exhibition and events. Some images are copies and are for research and educational use only. There is a collection of around 200 tapes of oral history recordings of people’s memories and reminiscences, along with a small film and video collection.

Farming and Folk-life: the Museum owns significant collections and archives relating to rural life. A large collection (800 items) was donated by Pat Cassidy, who ran the Corner House Museum in Lisnaskea. This includes farm hand tools, veterinary equipment, straw artefacts, poitin-making equipment and cooking utensils. Another large collection (400 items), mainly of domestic equipment, was donated by the family of the late Dowager Duchess of Westminster, who in the 1960s had fitted out a 17^th century house near her home at Ely Lodge. This includes household utensils, country furniture and examples of Belleek ware. The collections also include horse-drawn farm machinery and other substantial farm equipment some of which is on display at Castle Archdale.

The folk-life collection was enhanced by the donation of the Johnny McKeagney archive of drawings, recordings, films and photographs. The archive, donated by his family is an important resource for the history of Irish rural life.

Arts

The Museum houses a strong art collection relating to the local culture and heritage of the area. It includes significant art collections and archival material relating to both William Scott (1913–1989) and T.P. Flanagan (1929-2011). Both artists were raised in Enniskillen and taught by the artist Kathleen Bridle (1897–1989) whose work is also well represented in the Museum collections.

The William Scott Collection: William Scott is recognised as a major artist of the post Second World War era whose work is of international significance. The Museum houses one of the most important public collections of work by William Scott. The collection includes works of art encompassing oils, prints, a drawing and a textile, spanning the late 1930s to the late 70s. Recently, the Scott family, through the William Scott Foundation, has donated a large collection of material including early works of art, a painting of the artist as a young boy by Kathleen Bridle, fine art books and catalogues, as well as William Scott’s easels, painting equipment and domestic objects used as inspiration for his finished art work.

T.P. Flanagan Collection: Recently, the Museum acquired twenty-two paintings, watercolours and drawings by T.P. Flanagan, enhancing the existing collection of works by the artist. The most significant public collection of TP Flanagan’s work now belongs to his native county, in recognition of the artist’s wishes. Recurring themes are represented in the collection, including works inspired by the landscapes of Fermanagh, Sligo and Donegal, as well as important paintings relating to The Troubles. The artist’s family donated an archive of sketch books, letters and photographs, providing Insights into T.P. Flanagan’s working methods.

Museum collections also include works of art by Jeremy Henderson (1952-2009), Anthony Scott, Philip Flanagan, Mavis Thomson and Marion Thomson. Several key pictures have been donated by the Earl of Belmore; paintings have been gifted by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Other works have been purchased with support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Art Fund and the Northern Ireland Museums Council with generous assistance from the Association of Friends of Fermanagh County Museum.

Decorative Arts and Crafts: the Museum houses one of the most significant public collections of Belleek Pottery. Examples include a rare experimental early Belleek terracotta vase as well as important First Period Parian figures. Other local crafts represented include Inishmacsaint and Clones Lace and Fivemiletown Art Deco copperware. Contemporary craft collections include ceramics by Ann McNulty and textile pieces by Patricia Kelly.

Associated Collections: The Museum’s reference library includes all the subject areas covered by the collections with many of the volumes received as donations. There is a complete set of the ‘Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries’ which commenced in 1848, a set of ‘The Ulster Journal of Archaeology’ begun in 1853, the first edition of Lewis’ ‘Topographical Dictionary of Ireland’, and editions of the ‘Annals of Ireland’ and the ‘Annals of Ulster’. There are rare privately published books about family histories and works by local writers, poets and historians. The library contains some specialised reference books on museum practice.

Separate collections of material are maintained for use with schools and other groups as handling material. These collections relate to educational programmes such as ‘Life in Early Times’, ‘Vikings’, ‘Meet the Middle Ages’, ‘The Plantation’, ‘Life in the Recent Past’ and ‘World War II’.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC