Explore collections

Archaeology Collection

Collection of local archaeology, including Saxon material from Sporle, and some Roman material.

Subjects

Archaeology

Social History Collection

The collections cover local trades and businesses, crafts and industries, education and childhood and domestic life. The Symonds Collection of 70 character figures from literature were locally made.

Subjects

Social History

Photographic Collection

Photographs of Swaffham and the surrounding villages.

Subjects

Photography

Archives Collection

Subjects

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Maritime Collection

The collection includes models of ships and information about the maritime history of Swanage.

Subjects

Maritime

Photographic Collection

There are many photographs of old Swanage on display.

Subjects

Photography

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Ancient Egyptian Collection

The museum holds 200 ancient Egyptian objects. Classes of objects represented in the collection include: amulets; coffins; faience figures; flints; furniture; glass vessels; jewellery; metal figures; animal remains (mummies); human remains (mummies); ostraca; pottery; scarabs/sealings; shabtis; stone figures; toilet articles; tomb models; tools/weapons; wall paintings; wooden figures. Objects are known to have come from the following locations in Egypt (with the name of the excavator/sponsor and year of excavation given where possible): Akhmim; Aswan; Asyut; Beni Hasan (Garstang – Liverpool University, 1902-1904); Esna (Garstang and Jones – Liverpool University, 1905-1906); Fustat; Hierakonpolis (Garstang and Jones – Liverpool University, 1905-1906); Saqqarah; Bubastis; Thebes; Valley of the Kings (KV 55, Davies and Ayrton, 1907). The collection includes drawings by Henry Wallis of the tomb of Sarenput at Aswan and a facsimile of wall-paintings from a tomb (three panels from 1880’s); also casts and old photographs taken in the Valley of the Kings, c. 1900(?), stamped ‘H. Burton Florence’.

Subjects

Antiquities; Ancient civilizations; Antiquity; Archaeological sites; Archaeological objects; Egyptology; Archaeological excavations

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Early collection in North Uist & how CEUT was started

1986 marked the centenary of the 1886 Crofters Act which came about following the Napier Commission Report. Paible School, situated on the west of the island, organised an event to commemorate the Centenary. Photographs and artefacts related to Crofting were donated to the exhibition at Paible School and the whole enterprise achieved a Saltire Award.

The interest, expressed by the local community in this event, led to the recruitment of local people motivated to set up a Comann Eachdraidh. This was organised by Donald MacAulay, a teacher at Paible School. In 1987 Comann Eachdraidh Uibhist a Tuath was formed and the first constitution approved and signed. A committee structure was approved and various committees have met each month since.

Photograph Collection

Paible School donated the photographs collected to Comann Eachdraidh. Therefore Initially Comann Eachdraidh concentrated on collecting photographs as storage space was an issue.

When Highlands and Islands Development Board set up a Village Hall Project Comann Eachdraidh Uibhist a Tuath received funding to hire Lochmaddy School during July and August from 1988. A photographic exhibition was mounted in the school refreshments provided and a rota of Comann Eachdraidh volunteers organised. The aim was to attract more photographic donations and to encourage people to become members of Comann Eachdraidh. This was very successful over a 3 year period.

The photographic collection continues to expand. Each exhibition prompts people to donate photographs. We organise regular photographic exhibitions choosing a variety of themes. A group of volunteers has undertaken responsibility for the maintenance and management of the archive and Comann Eachdraidh Uibhist a Tuath is in the process of digitising the archive. The Archive is our main source of income with individual orders and media interest.

Comann Eachdraidh successfully applied for funding from Museums Galleries Scotland to update the catalogue of photographs, to digitise the collection and to purchase new albums. A group of volunteers under the direction of a funded officer undertook this project. The funding was for a limited period but the work is ongoing with new photographs being added. Links have been established with individual island communities to assist with identification of people in the photographs.

Artefacts Collection

However the crofting artefacts from Paible School were then also donated to Comann Eachdraidh when the temporary hut they were stored in became unsuitable, and other local people also expressed a desire to donate objects. This issue led to an informal agreement with Museum nan Eilean on Benbecula to share the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar store at Torlum. Collecting continued over the next few years expanding from crofting to other areas of island life.

In the early 1990s Comann Eachdraidh Uibhist a Tuath launched a bid jointly with the Uist Arts Association to set up a Heritage/ Arts Centre based in a disused historical building in Lochmaddy. This bacame Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum and Arts Centre.

Various exhibitions over the next few years resulted in further donations, most relating to island life and occupations. We received some very large significant donations including a traditional Grimsay boat. Funding was achieved to renovate her.

The Carn Chearsabhagh 3 year project received Lottery funding from 2004 and was nominated for the prestigious Gulbenkian Prize in 2006. The project also funded a Heritage Officer, for that period. This project brought in more contemporary artefacts from the 1960s to the 1980s as it increased CEUT and the museums profile locally and more community members became involved.

The issue of available space in the Torlum store restricted the size of artefacts we could accept but smaller items have been entered. We successfully applied for funding from Museums Galleries Scotland to employ a Collections Manager, Mark Haxby, for 1 day a week for 1 year in 2018. A group of volunteers assisted Mark to update the system and enter the information on to the Adlib system. This is now complete which addresses the issue of documentation raised in our last application.

The Collection continues to be held in Torlum but, as per the Forward Plan, there are plans to prioritise the Collections store in Carinish School as the first capital works.

Accordingly an Emergency Plan for the transition period is now being prepared with a group being drawn from across the organisation being put in place.

The location of the Torlum store on a separate island and the issue of space has resulted in our purchase of an school building no longer in use, Carinish School. The long term aim is to relocate our collection to Carinish School. The existing situation is that we now must phase the renovation of the school to create an area designed to house our collection of artefacts, paper archive and photographs.

Oral Recordings

Throughout the existence of Comann Eachdraidh oral recordings have been undertaken focussing on reminiscences, stories, poetry and song. Gaelic speaking students were employed over the summer vacations to record and transcribe recordings. Many were studying Gaelic, History or Celtic Studies at University. This important aspect of our history has continued to the present day when many recordings have been made for the WW1 exhibition.

Guthan nan Eilean houses the majority of these recordings. St. Andrews University has compiled an archiving system for Comann Eachdraidh Uibhist a Tuath with funding from MGS.

Disposals

We have not undertaken disposal of any accessioned artefacts.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2023

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collections currently held by CEUT comprise material gathered and collected by ComannEachdraidh Uibhist a Tuath (CEUT) from when it was established in 1987 until the present day.

The artefacts collection owned by Comann Eachdraidh Uibhist a Tuath comprises some 800 artefacts illustrating the social, domestic, economic, cultural and religious life of North Uist. Its strengths lie mainly in the field of domestic, social life, agriculture, fishing and the sea. The material belongs in date mainly to the 19th and 20th centuries. Significantly CEUT owns the Grimsay-built boat, Morning Star.

Other important artefacts include a traditional cart, smithy objects (such as large bellows), Post Office sorting tables, the dock and punishment table from Lochmaddy Sheriff Court, a dresser and the recently acquired piano belonging to Erskine Beveridge.

In addition Comann Eachdraidh Uibhist a Tuath holds a wide-ranging photographic collection of some 6000 prints and transparencies, mainly copies of the originals, as well as paper archives many relating to families from North Uist, crofting and fishing, local festivals and special events. A recent addition to the collection is the Runrig Archive of images and printed memorabilia charting the Runrig band’s history from their formation in 1973 to 2007.

An important collection of oral interviews from the 1980s is also held. CDs and DVDs, such as Uistory and Uist Bards, have been produced for sale, as have key publications and, over the past four years, an annual oral history pamphlet. More recently the current World War One HLF funded exhibition has collected a sizeable oral archive, intended for publication in 2016.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2023

Licence: CC BY-NC

The existing collections, acquired since 1966, relate to the following subject areas, listed in approximate descending order of the size of the collection. Significant elements of each collection are listed.

• Social history, including domestic life, health, welfare, education and recreation.
• Burgh and civic history, including trade and industry, architecture, ceremonial items and societies.
• Photographs.
• Archives, including estate and farm papers, maps, correspondence, minute and account books, charters and genealogical material.
• Military history, including uniforms.
• Agriculture.
• Textiles, including costume.
• Clan Ross, including personal memorabilia.
• Decorative art, including an important collection of Tain silver.
• Church history.
• Archaeology, including the Ardjachie stone.
• Natural history.
• Geology.
• Fine art, including three watercolours from the Scottish Arts Council bequest.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2017

Licence: CC BY-NC

Tamworth Castle was purchased by Tamworth Corporation in 1897 without contents. The collections have been acquired since 1897 through gift, bequest and purchases.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2023

Licence: CC BY-NC

There are ten core areas of the collections:

1. Furniture 60: The Museum holds a furniture collection from the Tudor, Jacobean, Georgian and Victorian periods. This area of the collection supports the presentation of the rooms within the castle.
2. The Gibbs & Canning object / architectural collection 150 and archive 55 lots of documents and 385 photos. The Museum holds the company business archives and terracotta samples from nationally and internationally renowned company Gibbs & Canning dating from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century, as well as a large number of the company’s photos of their workshop samples.
3. The George Skey collection object 163, document archive 30 and 17 photos The Museum holds a collection of locally produced ceramics and company archives from George Skey, later Doulton’s, dating from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century.
4. Coins 1200 and Medals 140 The Museum holds a collection of coins and medals including Saxon Tamworth mint coins and Roman coins.
5. The Allsopp collection objects 232 known (potentially a lot more that were re-accessioned, and the provenance lost) and archive 574 including books.
6. The museum holds an eclectic collection of a private local collector with objects dating from the 18th to the 20th century. Combined this collection forms the main core of the social history, art, weapons and armour, curiosities, and book collections, as well as an archive.
7. Archaeology 295 lots / boxes. The museum holds a collection of archaeological objects from within the vicinity of Tamworth including Tamworth Castle grounds and motte, the rivers Anker and Tame, town planning initiatives resulting in excavations in the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s, and field walking. Published excavation reports are held within the archive, particularly for the Saxon mill.
8. Natural History collection 22 boxes. The museum holds a small fossil and mineral collection from a local collector dating to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as a small 19th century mineral collection and 19th century botanical collection of Staffordshire / Warwickshire mosses and wildflowers both donated by Lady Emily Peel.
9. Industry 10 – 12 The museum holds a collection of local Tamworth business trade samples, and trade records in the archive dating to the 19th and early 20th centuries
10. Art collection 291 framed and around 650 unframed. The Museum holds a collection of works of art from the 18th to the mid-20th centuries. The collection includes oil paintings, watercolours, portraiture including historic owners of Tamworth Castle and notable people including Sir Robert Peel. Further works include landscapes of Tamworth by local artists as well as paintings of Tamworth Castle, and 7 sculptures of local interest.
11. Handling Collection 150: The museum holds a handling collection for the purpose of education and access. The handling collection has mostly been returned to the collections and is now largely replicas that are used for school workshops and are not part of the collections audit.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2023

Licence: CC BY-NC

Arms and Armour

The museum houses dioramas of RAF Station Tangmere in the 1930s, Special Operations Executive, Royal Flying Corps of World War I, Falklands War (Hercules tanker refuelling Harrier aircraft), World War II dispersal hut fully manned, Mohne Dam raid by 617 Squadron, and model of a captured Italian airfield. There is also a working World War II bombsight, Hawker Harrier Jump Jet model, Reflector gunsight, models to show mounting and rotation of The Bouncing Bomb, working model of Voyager which circled the world non-stop, working model to show photo-reconnaissance operation, airborne and ground radios of various types – including German. There are airborne still and cine cameras, RAF Regiment memorabilia, weapons (cannon, machine guns, rifles, commando and ceremonial knives), surgical instruments, items relating to The Observer Corps, The Caterpillar and Goldfish Clubs, Searchlight, parachutes, log-books and medals covering the period from WW I to WW II, (including those of a German WW I Ace who joined the Allies in WW II), models of British, German, American, Japanese and other aircraft ranging over the same period, items relating to the WAAF, a teleprinter and telephone exchange. Aircraft within the Collection comprise the Gloucester Meteor and Hawker Hunter each of which gained the World Airspeed Record for Great Britain, and a Supermarine Swift (these three aircraft are on extended loan from The Royal Air Force Museum). On permanent loan is a Westland Whirlwind HAS7 helicopter, a replica of K5054 – the prototype Supermarine Spitfire – and a Lockheed T33 trainer. There are also full-size replicas of a Hawker Hurricane MkI and a Supermarine Spitfire Mk5. The rotary, radial and turbo-prop aero-engines held include R.R. Avon, Derwent, Dart, Double Mambe, Armstrong Siddley Sapphire and De Haviland Goblin, all are working and, with the exception of the Double Mambe, are sectioned to allow their various working features to be seen.

Costume/Textiles

The collection includes items of flying clothing, helmets, uniforms of the three Armed Services including those of the Commonwealth and Dominions and the U.S.A. and other Allies in World Wars I and II and also German uniforms of WWII.

Fine Art

There are a number of paintings and framed prints.

Archives

A library contains over two thousand books, magazines, handbooks and instruction manuals and articles.

Photographic

16mm film and video tapes, still photographs and diapositives relating to all aspects of aviation. Photographs dating from World War I to the present.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC