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Sherborne Museum was developed from the town’s Historical Society which in the 1960s was particularly active and campaigning on various aspects of local heritage. Several members including Gerald Pitman, David Hunt, Reverend Gordon S. Robinson and Cyril Chester were concerned that the town needed a museum that right from the outset aimed to reflect the history, industry, geology and culture of Sherborne and its surrounding villages. Silk mill owner Frederick Marsden purchased and gifted the Abbey Gatehouse building for the purpose and from 1966-8 its first curator, Joane Edwards, worked constantly to accession items that local people offered.

Many of these items were gifted by prominent members of the Historical Society, for example, Annie Sidaway and Elizabeth O’Shea. Loans of archaeology were accepted from the Castle Estates and Abbey stonework and tiles from the Vicar of Sherborne and the PCC. The collections have grown organically since the Museum opened in 1968, initially under the impetus of Joane Edwards who expanded on the agricultural and social artefacts and negotiated the loan of the botanical drawings from Ruth Fyson in 1971.

Her successor Marjorie Rogers raised money to purchase the C17th town tokens in 1982. Since then the museum has continually developed its collections of art and images, textiles and items relating to social and industrial history.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2022

Licence: CC BY-NC

Geology: Collected mainly by private individuals across the mixed strata of the Sherborne scarps and valleys; principally limestone, sandstone, Yeovil sands, Forest Marble; over 155 examples of local fossils mainly from the Middle Jurassic, with some Late Jurassic and Cretaceous items. Includes several good examples of polished ammonites and Marston Marble.

Archaeology: Includes significant contributions from Joseph Fowler, Charles Bean and from Sherborne Boys’ School digs led by James Gibb and John Leach in the late 1960s. Items, mainly flints and pottery, associated with early settlement patterns from the Palaeolithic through the Romano-British to the medieval period, and from more recent excavations including Fosters Field, Nether Compton and Paddock Garden sites.

Items from Sherborne Abbey and its associated monastery as well as from the now demolished parish church of All Hallows. Human remains (bone and skull fragments) recovered from drainage ditch passing through monks’ former cemetery in 1968. Medieval wall painting c. 1480 discovered among several other panels in Tudor Rose Cottage, Long Street, featuring Richard Beauchamp, Bishop of Salisbury, with the attributes of John Schorn.

Items from the two Sherborne Castles including artefacts relating to the Civil War, the sieges of the Old Castle and traces of troop encampments in the local area.

The coin collection includes a major set of C17th trade tokens, produced in the town by local merchants, and other coinage (the Sherborne Halfpenny and the SS Johns Almshouse farthing for the poor).

Natural History: Small natural history collection featuring historic birds’ egg and shell collections. Three annotated collages created by Ruth Gervis, the children’s book illustrator who was a local art teacher and an early member of the Board. Collection of 194 botanical watercolours of local flora; the early work of Sherbornian Diana Ruth Fyson (nee Wilson 1886-1969) who became a significant contributor to the botany of the Southern Indian Hill Stations. There is an associated archive relating to her life and work, donated by her descendants.

Herbarium of 594 specimens collected by pupils from Sherborne Boys’ School in the early C20th.

Textiles: Including accessories, over 1011 items, mainly from 1850–1940. Includes groups from local donors: Lady Thornton (Georgian waistcoats), Florence Emily Miles (Georgian silks including brocades to designs by Anna Maria Garthwaite), Lady Jose Wilson (Victorian infant clothing and white work) and Elizabeth Carey (Edwardian children’s clothing). Many items are handmade locally by farming families or produced by local dressmakers and tailors. There is also a collection of labourers’ smocks and working women’s sun bonnets.

Several items relate to the Sherborne Pageant of 1905, and there is also a group of authentic and vintage costumes donated by the Sherborne Amateur Players.

There are items of school and Civil Defence uniforms. Of particular significance are the early C18th linen wall hanging and 4 silk banners from the Sherborne Old Friendly Society.

Archives: Deeds and wills from the C17th–C19th including indentures and property deeds relating to prominent townspeople; a collection of records from the Abbey Pharmacy of over 40 prescription books and pharmacopoeia, donations from the Sherborne Urban District Council following the reorganisation of local government in 1974; a second tranche was donated between 2005-10; maps from various donors; a large collection of architectural plans and drawings from the C19th and C20th; a large collection of printed material, postcards and ephemera; accounts and letterbooks from Westbury Silk Mill 1760-80 accessioned in 1968; the Foster’s Grammar School Archive accessioned in 1992; the Sherborne Historical Society Archive and a large reference library.

Photographic archives consist of two main collections donated by Gerald Pitman and David Hunt both of which include work by town photographers Adam Gosney and the Chaffins; 1500 glass plate negatives and positives; transparencies and lantern slides. Many other photographs from individual donations by local people.

Industrial and social history: Items associated with local agriculture, thatching, leatherwork and saddlery, willow working, carpentry, silversmithing, wheelwrighting, public houses and brewing, the silk mills, gloving, the gasworks, tanneries, dairies, railway, local businesses, organisations, schools and societies in the town and public health.

Domestic items including kitchenware, household, china, Bakelite, toys and games. Of particular interest is the Victorian dolls’ house modelled on Sherborne House and which has featured in books and television programmes.

Items relating to the two World Wars and the town’s involvement including a large collection of medals and military and nursing badges.

Intangible heritage: Items relating to unique local customs and festivals such as Pack Monday Fair, Teddy Roe’s Band, the Bonfire Boys and the Sherborne Carnival. There is also a small collection of apotropaic items found concealed in the fabric of buildings (dried cat, shoes, hat, almanac) now recorded on the Concealed/Revealed database.

An extensive oral history created by Christine Stones in the 1970s, and translated onto CD by past curator Eric Webber which captures unique memories of domestic service, schooldays, the First and Second World Wars, the Bombing of Sherborne, The Pageant, Pack Monday and other significant events and local places.

Art: Includes oils painted by local artists such as William Anstice Brown, and watercolours by Mabel Wickham and Ann Moorse.

A large collection of reproduction prints and engravings (mainly late C19th) of all aspects of the town’s architecture, internal and external, donated by Gerald Pitman.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2022

Licence: CC BY-NC

1988 Sheringham Museum was set up by Sheringham Town Council and a group of local enthusiasts in 1988.

1992 – This group was separated from the Town Council to become a charitable trust in 1992 and known from then on as the Sheringham Museum Trust. The SMT collected information on the Parish of Sheringham, Upper Sheringham and Beeston Regis, an entirely voluntary run endeavour with an honorary curator, Peter Brooks, the collection grew and grew.

2004 – Information from paper record sheets transferred onto CATALIST database.

2007 – Objects and documentation material was moved to a temporary off-site storage facility in Holt during the museums closure for capital redevelopment work supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. As part of this project a permanent Museum Manager was employed, replacing the position of honorary curator which was vacated by Peter Brooks in 2008 due to ill health.

2010 – The museum collections achieved full Accreditation status in 2010. 2011 – CATALIST replaced by MODES Compact.

2015-2018 Capital redevelopment, objects were temporarily moved offsite to the Sheringham Town Hall store and a facility at Weybourne.

Returning all collections back on site by 2019.

Post 2010 the museum has limited the acceptance of new items into the collection to those items of great significance to the town and immediate area. All offsite collections have been introduced back into the building including the Sheringham Town Council Painting collection donated in 2019.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2023

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collections are diverse in size and scale, the Core collections comprise of smaller social history 3D objects and artists original 2D work and are collected in accordance with Sheringham Museum’s agreed Foundations Statements: Vision, Values, Mission, Aims and Objectives.

Existing collections, including the subjects or themes and the periods of time and /or geographic areas to which the collections relate. The development of fishing and lifeboat vessels in Sheringham between the late 19th century and 20th century. The lifeboat, lifesaving, and fishing heritage of the North Norfolk area. The particular history of Sheringham and its people as a coastal town alongside other leisure and industrial activities in the immediate locality, including social and documentary records associated with these activities. The collections are diverse in size and scale. Most of the Core Collections comprise small social history artefacts and archival material augmented with large maritime objects, which are intended to be the centrepiece of the museum’s ground floor displays. The Top Deck holds the most recent retired lifeboat- the Atlantic 75 and is a flexible space for temporary exhibitions.

The museum has a number of themes. These include:

• These include the development of fishing and lifeboat vessels in Sheringham between the late 19th and 20th century.
• Lifeboats, lifesaving, and the fishing heritage of North Norfolk.
• The story of Sheringham and its people as a coastal town.
• Leisure, tourist and industrial activities in the immediate locality
• Social and documentary activities associated with the above.
• Collecting ganseys (fishermen’s sweaters) from Sheringham and East Anglia.

RECORD OF SHERINGHAM (19th to 21st century) Documents, photographs and ephemera relating to the central themes identified above and which specifically relate to streets, roads, properties, occasions, events, people, personalities, disasters, shipping, fishing industry, lifeboats, trades, industries, shops, holiday industry, boat building, seaside souvenirs, flint picking, local families, tourism and war years.

Collection themes

• These include the development of fishing and lifeboat vessels in Sheringham between the late 19th and 20th century.
• Lifeboats, lifesaving and the fishing heritage of North Norfolk.
• The story of Sheringham and its people as a coastal town.
• Leisure, tourist and industrial activities in the immediate locality
• Social and documentary activities associated with the above.

Core collections:

1. The Lifeboat and Fishing Boat Collection (20th century)

Sheringham is the only known place in the world to possess five of its original lifeboats with a continuous service span of 1894 through 1990’s. Sheringham Museum Trust owns four of these lifeboats which are held inside the museum; The J.C.Madge 1904 – 1936, The Foresters Centenary 1936 – 1961, The Manchester Unity Of Oddfellows – an Oakley class of lifeboat 1961 – 1990, and the first in-shore Atlantic 75 class lifeboat placed on permanent service in the UK, also called The Manchester Unity of Oddfellows 1994 – 2007. One lifeboat is not housed inside Sheringham Museum, although it is part of the Trust’s collection, (The Henry Ramey Upcher 1894 -1935) is housed at the Fisherman’s Heritage Centre, now renamed as the Fisherman’s Lifeboat Museum, a few yards along the promenade. The Trust also owns three traditional fishing boats built in Sheringham by local craftsmen. The collection holds 910 objects, ephemera, and images on the subject of Sheringham lifeboats, lifeboatmen and crew, including information on The Augusta 1838 – 1894; the first private lifeboat, the first R.N.L.I lifeboat; The Duncan 1867 – 1886, and The William Bennett 1886 – 1904. In the collection we hold 1100 items relating to lifeboats which include 576 on fishing and fishermen.

2. Gansey collection

The knitted fisherman woollen sweater, known as a Gansey, or Guernsey was traditionally hand-knitted. These garments were made for fishermen by their mothers, although commercially made ones became available from the early 20th century. A gansey was a close-fitting sweater worn by fishermen who required hard wearing clothing which would resist the sea-spray when worn. These usually have a raised stitch pattern, and the Sheringham knitters were known for their very fine work. The museum has 220 gansey related objects including 46 garments in the main accessioned collection and a further 45 in the handling replica section, there are 24 knitted samples, photographs, postcards, books, and a representative collection of knitting tools such as knitting needles and 44 handmade wooden knitting sheaths, three of which were used by Sheringham knitters. The museum is supported by a textile team which forms part of the East Anglia Gansey Group, they have reproduced many of the local patterns taken from photographs held in the museum collection. The complementary collection of knitwear researcher, Michael Harvey was donated in 2019 and comprises some 200+ items of knitwear, ephemera relating to knitting and tools, including 36 research folders, on the gansey and books authored by him. This has increased the gansey collection significantly.

3. Olive Edis (Born 3.9.1876, died 28.12.1955)

Olive Edis was a renowned portrait photographer who owned a studio in Sheringham, Surrey and London. She photographed royalty, celebrities as well as the local fishermen, these she produced as a popular series of postcards. She was the only one of 71 shortlisted photographers to visit the WW1 Battlefield sites to record the work of women’s services on behalf of the National War Museum, now the Imperial War Museum. We have 277 items relating to Olive Edis including original works of hers and copies of her photographs and printed postcards. Her original oil painted works, which she made over enlargements of her photographs, 56 are held in the collection. In addition, there are news clippings, correspondence and prints relating to Cyril Nunn, a photographer who she mentored.

4. Hewitt collection (1880-1900)

The Hewitt collection comprises 1272 items, 600 glass plate negatives and 300 slides, these chart the social life of a family who had a second home in Sheringham. It is a social record of family activities made by Cecil Hewitt, a disabled upper-middle class man in Sheringham about the town and its environs from the Edwardian times to the inter-war years. We also hold five family Scrapbooks dating from the WW1 which are filled with ephemera and clippings.

5. Boat building tools and artifacts (1896-1981)

Boat building was of huge importance to Sheringham, the town boasted five main boat builders: Sunman, Boxall, Lown, Johnson, and Emery. They supplied boats to the other nearby towns, including Cromer. The museum holds items relating to boat building including tools, and samples of sail cloth, as well as housing a permanent display of the interior of the Emery Family of boat builders working shed and a drawing by Thomas Armes of this. We also have three Sheringham built crab boats on permanent display.

6. The Ellis Pratt collection (1880-1990)

There are over 1000 items in his collection, including the contents of a shop with all its leather working tools, consumer items and other artefacts from a local saddler, leather worker and general retailer whose business existed in Sheringham for over a century. There is a permanent display devoted to most of the contents of this collection based on the shop, which was donated by Ellis Pratt’s daughter, Mrs. Wakefield.

7. John Craske (born 1881-1943)

John Craske, from a Sheringham family, produced naïve paintings and embroidered pictures. The museum holds 24 of his works in both media and includes the painting of ‘The Gannet’ boat on the lid of a bait box, thought to be his first work. Fourteen conservation mounted works are of significance as they were exhibited in New York by his benefactor, novelist Sylvia Townsend Warner and her life partner and poet, Valentine Ackland. These paintings were returned to the UK unsold and were donated to Sheringham Museum by author, Robert Malster. We also hold a significant collection of his detailed embroideries of all sizes, some of which are unframed.

8. Tom Armes (born 1894-1963)

A collection of 53 items including original drawings and paintings of the Sheringham area by the artist Tom Armes who lived in Sheringham including works donated from the Sheringham Town Council collection when they moved premises from the Town Hall to the Community Centre. The collection includes several of his works which were used as advertisements for Sheringham by the National Railways on their posters.

9. Mick Bensley (born 1944-2023)

A Sheringham born artist, Mick Bensley produced work which is associated with Sheringham and its lifeboat history. The museum has a collection of his work which includes scenes of dramatic rescues by the Sheringham lifeboats. We have 75 examples of his work, including 25 watercolour and oil paintings, plus pencil drawings, prints, books, and ceramics.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2023

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Shipwreck Centre and Maritime Museum’s collection is made up of objects linked to our maritime past with the focus on the Isle of Wight and the South Coast of England. Almost all the Shipwreck Centre collection is the property of Martin Woodward, a private collector on the Isle of Wight. Martin has been a working professional diver since 1968, both commercially and in shipwreck salvage, and has amassed this large collection over many years.

Martin was determined to keep the whole collection together so that the public could have access to it and learn from the artefacts. To achieve this, he founded and personally funded a private Maritime Museum and Shipwreck Centre in 1978, which has grown over the decades.

As none of Martin’s children are in a position to run the museum in the future, he is anxious to ensure that the museum carries on for future generations to enjoy, hence the merger with the Maritime Archaeology Trust in 2017.

In 2017 the Maritime Archaeology Trust took over management of the museum, as well as the responsibility for the curation and conservation, with the eventual aim to take over ownership of the whole collection if and when funds are available to purchase it from Martin Woodward.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2021

Licence: CC BY-NC

Shipwreck objects (ca 3000)

The largest part of the collection is made up of artefacts recovered from shipwrecks still on the seabed. The artefacts were, when recovered, declared to the Ministry of Defence and the Receiver of Wreck and have been conserved and assessed as stable.

Historical diving equipment (ca 1000)

The historical diving equipment collection includes items such as early diving bells, diving helmets, weights and suits ranging up to modern day diving equipment. Almost all of the antique diving equipment and helmets are original. Some of the larger displays such as diving bells and barrels are replicas whilst most other items are original. This collection is not yet included in the database and would benefit from further assessment of the resource.

Ship models (ca 50)

The ship model collection contains a wide range of ship types including Viking age models, East Indiamen, World War One ships and modern RNLI lifeboats. Not all of the collection has yet been added to the database and would benefit from external valuation and assessment. A project in co-operation with Isle of Wight Model Engineering Society was started in 2019 to clean, preserve and research the resource.

Art works (ca 50)

The artworks in the museum are of a wide range of quality and value. The collection is not recorded or in the database and would benefit from external valuation and assessment. The museum collection also includes various ships’ plans and schematics through the ages ranging from early times up to the present. These would benefit from more research.

Archaeological objects from submerged landscapes (ca 200)

The archaeological material derives mostly from the submerged Mesolithic site at Bouldnor Cliff off the Isle of Wight and is made up of worked food, flint and animal bones. The collection continues to grow as the site is eroding and is further excavated. Part of the collection is kept at the Southampton Office while the objects on display are at the museum.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2021

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Museum’s collection is founded on two donations in 1950, from a privately owned museum and a naturalists’ club formed in 1914, the collections consisted of items of both local and general significance.

Over the next seventy years the Museum received innumerable donations from residents and former residents of Sidmouth, the Sid Valley and beyond with only a few acquisitions.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2020

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Costume and Lace Collection includes costumes & military uniforms, locally made 18th 19th & 20th c lace, 19th & early 20th c jewellery & accessories, and 18th 19th & 20thc dolls.

The Social History Collection includes 18th 19th & 20thc porcelain, glass, toys, cameras, clocks & watches, coins, militaria, WW1 and WW2 memorabilia, general domestic artefacts, scientific instruments, tools and natural history items. The collection also includes banners and memorabilia from the Town Council, its predecessors & local societies.

The Archaeology Collection includes finds illustrating human activity in East Devon from the Bronze Age to the Medieval period including Romano-British items from Holcombe Villa. Also in the collection are ancient Egyptian artefacts and other historic items from overseas.

The Geology collection includes rocks, minerals and fossils, many from the Sidmouth area and the cliffs of the UNESCO Dorset and East Devon World Heritage Site (the ‘Jurassic Coast’).

The Art collection includes 18th 19th & 20thc paintings and prints mainly of Sidmouth and East Devon.

The extensive Library includes local newspapers and journals dating from the early 19th c, books from 18th 19th & 20thc some by local historians, published and unpublished works by notable personalities such as scientists, artists, writers, diarists and royalty who have lived and stayed in Sidmouth, records from local societies and a large collection of ephemera relating to the Sid Valley.

The Map collection includes local 18th 19th & 20thc maps of Sidmouth, Sidmouth Manor, the Sid Valley and the Railway.

The Photographic collection includes prints, negatives and slides, both original and copied from loans, illustrating the history of Sidmouth, the Sid Valley, WW1, WW2, residents, visitors and significant events.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2020

Licence: CC BY-NC

Social History Collection

Local history material includes domestic life items, typewriters, sewing machines, needlecraft, heating equipment, toys and games and church furnishings (including textiles, alter cloths and Sunday School banners).

Subjects

Social History

Science and Industry Collection

Machinery, particularly made and/or used in Macclesfield has been restored for display and includes 26 hand jacquard looms and associated parts, jacquard punched cards, a beaming machine, 2 piano card cutters, repeater machine, Smiths power loom, 2 handframe knitting machines, circular knitting machines, skein to bobbin winders, hand pirn winders, warping mill, braiding machines, block making tools, sewing machines, warping mill, tierers trolley and silk cart and a large collection of hand blocks.

Subjects

Science and Industry

Costume and Textile Collection

Costume ranges from late 18th century to mid 20th century and is contains a large proportion of women’s clothing including dresses (mainly Victorian), bodices/blouses, shawls, capes/jackets, aprons, underclothes and nightwear. There are also scarves, parasols, handkerchiefs, men’s waistcoats, cravat and other accessories and a small collection of children’s clothing (mainly Christening robes and nightwear). There are also 400 ties and 100 large samples of tie fabric woven by Cartwright and Sheldon 1912-1981 and other Macclesfield firms.

Subjects

Costume and Textile

Biology Collection

Collection of birds’ eggs, silk moths and cocoons.

Subjects

Biology

Oral History Collection

There are 450 oral history recordings, mainly with former workers in the silk industry.

Subjects

Oral History

Photographic Collection

A substantial collection of images of the silk industry and local areas.

Subjects

Photographic equipment

Fine Art Collection

A small collection of local scenes by local artists.

Subjects

Fine Art

Archives Collection

There are c.1000 volumes in the pattern archive including patterns from Cartwright and Sheldon (former mill operators) and Macclesfield Silk Manufacturing Society. The museum also holds a set of local newspapers (The Macclesfield Courier and Herald 1811-1970). Other archives include maps, printed ephemera, company records, research material, and files relating to the Mills and other local building surveys. There is also a reference library and a collection of books, pamphlets, journals and primary material relating to the Silk Industry and history of the town.

Subjects

Archives

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Sir Henry Jones Museum was established in 1934 at the former home of Sir Henry Jones, a shoe maker’s son from Llangernyw who rose from humble beginnings to become a prominent education reformer and the Dean of Moral Philosophy at Glasgow University. Since its inception, the museum’s collection has predominantly evolved to accept items linked to the life of Sir Henry Jones, together with items of the period relating to his life and the context of rural Welsh life in a 19th Century village.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2023

Licence: CC BY-NC

The museum has a collection of over 180 items which consists of furniture and domestic items, craft tools, books, photographs and costume. The items fall into three categories:

• objects originally belonging to Sir Henry Jones or his family and now owned by the Trust;
• objects in the ownership of the museum, acquired to fill in ‘gaps in the collection’ but which have no direct historical associations with Sir Henry Jones;
• items originally belonging to Sir Henry Jones or his family on loan to the museum from other sources.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2023

Licence: CC BY-NC