Explore collections

The collections at Thirlestane Castle relate to its use as the family home of the Maitland family and the workings of a country estate. The majority of the room contents is late Georgian/early Victorian, and some contents have been introduced from elsewhere to re-create the rooms, such as the four poster bed in the Grand Bedroom, on loan from Burghley House, Lincolnshire, and the Dining Room table, on loan from the National Trust for Scotland.

The collections are listed in an inventory containing basic descriptions, which was drafted at the time of the handover to the Trust.

For the National Audit, collection information was submitted by staff at the time, and this identified the collection types as follows:

• Archives 25,000 items (including the muniments collection as ‘star object’)
• Domestic 1,100 items
• Fine Arts 100 items (including the picture collection as star object’)
• Industry and Commerce 3,400 items

Total 29,600 items

The 17th century plaster ceilings received special mention as representative features of the collection.

As part of the National Audit Thirlestane Castle Trust submitted information on the significance of the collections according to five categories, from International to Local. The collections fell across all categories of significance, as follows:

• International 5%
• UK 15%
• National 24%
• Regional 31%
• Local 25%

(figures rounded off to whole numbers)

Ownership of the collections is confirmed for the majority of items through the inventory mentioned above. Some material on display is on loan from the family or third parties.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2017

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collections within the care of the Trust comprise six principal elements as follows (referred to as the Collections) and the Subsidiary Collection:-

The Collections

• Pictures: A collection of around 100 il paintings, including a collection of Maitland family portraits from the 17th century onwards, has been the subject of research and a detailed inventory with photographic survey by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Large format colour negatives of the most significant pictures are lodged with the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

The Maitland family includes the Earls and Duke of Lauderdale. Portraits exist of the Earls up to and including the 15th Earl of Lauderdale except for the 9th, 11th and 12th Earls. The Castle and the title passed down different lines of the family on the death of the 15th Earl in 1953 so subsequent Earls of Lauderdale were not directly associated with Thirlestane Castle.

• Muniments: An extensive collection of family and estate papers has been examined, recorded, and catalogued by the National Register of Archives, Edinburgh.The collection is housed at the Castle under the continuing management of the National Register of Archives, through whom serious students may obtain supervised access to material for research.

• Furniture, porcelain, books, works of art, armour and memorabilia: Most of the original Castle contents were removed in the 1670s to Ham House, Richmond, the family home of the Countess of Dysart (second wife of the Duke of Lauderdale). The present contents include a number of items of great interest in the context of an historic home but in the main are not individually of primary significance. They have been researched by Sotheby’s and full details are recorded. Further advice on the books was obtained in 1988 from the National Library of Scotland who are thus aware of the collection.

• Toys: A collection of historic toys is on loan to the trust from the Fawdry family, founders of the Pollock Toy Museum. The collection forms the basis of a permanent exhibition in the old family nurseries and Miss Kitty Fawdry acts as consultant to the Trust in its management.

• Border Country Life Exhibitions: The Castle houses a collection of Border Country Life artefacts including agricultural equipment, animal husbandry objects and household items. Much of the material is on display but space limitations necessitate storing part of the collection.

• Photography: The Castle houses a collection of collection of photographs, films, camera and photographic equipment and other photographic and film items which belonged to Frederick Colin Maitland The 14th Earl of Lauderdale, who was known as “the Pioneer Photographer”. Many of these items are presently located at Thirlestane Castle, including the Keep.

For the avoidance of doubt, the disposal provisions herein contained shall not apply to items which are merely on loan to the Trust.

The Subsidiary Collection

The Subsidiary Collection comprises:

• any item which may be gifted to the Trust on the basis that the donor intends the Trustees to sell the item concerned in order to finance a particular project of the Trust or otherwise to assist the finances of the Trust; and

• any items which are not comprised in the five principal elements of the Collections.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2017

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collection includes objects, photographs and archive material relating to Thornbury and the surrounding parishes of the Lower Severn Vale within the Unitary Authority of South Gloucestershire.

The main strength of the collection is the local source of most items. These were brought together by local history groups and societies when the museum was formed. They relate to all aspects of local town and village life and reflect social, civic and domestic history as well as crafts, trades, commerce, farming and fishing. The main period represented is from the 18th to mid 20th century although a few older finds have also been collected.

The museum was created in 1986 to display the Mary Bruton Collection, a large number of family items bequeathed by Miss Bruton to the Thornbury Local History and Archaeology Society and the Oldbury Parochial Church Council. Thornbury and District Heritage Trust was formed to administer the museum and the Mary Bruton Collection. These and other locally collected items were subsequently formally donated to the museum and form the core of the collection.

The chance find in 2004 of the Thornbury Roman Coin Hoard renewed interest in local archaeology and a number of the coins are displayed by arrangement with Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. This display now forms a key exhibition at the museum and has attracted further donations and loans of local Roman material.

The museum photographic collection contains approximately 4000 images including original photographs, negatives, transparencies and photographic copies. Digital images and digital copies of original material have been added to this valuable and growing research resource.

Documents are held as both collection items and research material. Some items requiring more specialist storage than we can provide, such as a copy of the Thornbury Tithe Map, are deposited at Gloucester Archive, while ownership remains with the Trust. In the past archive material has been deposited at both Bristol and Gloucestershire Archives.

The museum has a small handling collection of geological specimens, relating to the local strata and other aspects of geology, for use in the museum and for outreach.

It is estimated that a total of 17200 items in all categories are owned by the museum and a further 300 are on loan for display purposes.

The majority of the items in the collection have been donated. The number of loan items includes a group of 220 coins from the Thornbury Roman Coin Hoard. A small number of items has been purchased through fundraising.

A quantity of agricultural equipment and tools, mainly belonging to local historical groups, has been reviewed and suitable items are being added to the collection.

The age of items in the collection covers the entire time span relating to the collecting area, including geological time, up to the present day.

No sections of the collection are considered as closed and additions may be sought.

Items for which the museum has title are the property of the Thornbury and District Heritage Trust, the governing body of Thornbury and District Museum.

Items accessed are recorded in the Accessions Registers and items belonging to the museum are identified with code TBYDM and documented according to SPECTRUM standards. Non-accessioned items are held as handling material. All items are cared for under guidelines and standards published by the ACE Accreditation Standard.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2019

Licence: CC BY-NC

Thorney Heritage Museum (then known as Thorney Heritage Centre) was opened in 1987 by the Thorney Society. It is housed in a Victorian house, part of the Tankyard buildings, in what was the industrial centre of the nineteenth century Thorney estate. Family materials, especially photographs, were donated by many people from the mid-1980s. The Cave family have made a particular contribution. Special models were made for the Museum in the 1980s and early 1990s, and contemporary collecting of materials was also instituted then.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2018

Licence: CC BY-NC

The existing collection largely consists of original photographs and reproductions of photographs, along with other documentary and archive material, such as maps and local commercial ephemera. There are a range of items associated with Thorney’s agricultural history, such as tools, and some items recovered from the local area such as coins and tokens. The collection is currently being expanded through donations from local people, and through the development of documentation of the contemporary village (particularly the FocUS 2000 collection of photographs). Around 75% of the accessioned items are photographs or copies of photographs. There are also a selection of books, a few archaeological items and a small amount of textile material. Administrative records from the twentieth century have been donated, as has material relating to the First and Second World Wars.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2018

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Museum was founded in 1987 by local people with the encouragement of Three Rivers District Council, who provided after a few years the building which we still occupy. It was always intended to be firmly a Museum of local history, and to embrace the whole of Three Rivers District: then and now we avoid being labelled as ‘Rickmansworth Museum’, although that is where we are located.

Our collection was for many years almost wholly composed of objects related to local people, businesses and events, although a few objects have appeared which do not, in fact, relate clearly to the local story. Space is very limited, and we have had to decline a number of donations on the basis that they were simply too large, or did not have close enough links to the area. Some early acquisitions were made on the basis that they have a local connection, and sometimes that has proved to be tenuous or driven by the fact that the donor was local while the item is not. But generally, we have maintained the position that our collection is of local items, often found or owned by local people and donated to the Museum.

Our collection also includes an increasing amount of archival material in the form of diaries, business records, maps and digital audio and video recordings, described in the Collections Overview.

We have built up over the years a considerable collection of photographic images, and in 2014 we started the process of digitising much of the photographic collection. In 2020 we began to expand a very small collection of audio recordings by consciously seeking and recording oral history interviews. In 2022 we acquired a digital display capable of presenting images, audio and video, and this has encouraged us to increase the pace of digitisation of our collection. This continues.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2025

Licence: CC BY-NC

Our collection of approximately 10,000 objects is in two forms:

1) Our analogue, physical collection contains:

• Artefacts from local people, buildings and businesses
• Historical and pre-historic finds and models
• Roman and later archaeological finds
• Photographs
• Paintings and drawings of local scenes and identifiable people, or by local artists of recognised significance.
• A set of archival holdings, notably diaries and associated records and local maps (see below).
• An uncatalogued set of archaeological specimens, largely from the collections of Albert Freeman and Roger Jacobi.

2) Our digital collection contains:

• A set of digitised images taken from our physical collection, including digitised images of local maps.
• A set of born-digital images taken by members, who have donated them to us with
• A set of oral history interviews and edited extracts, with permissions from the interviewee taken in accordance with the principles used by the Oral History Society.
• A set of video recordings, some born-digital, others digitised from the original films.

 

The Museum holds a small amount of archival material, but recognises the value of such material in presenting our local history and is happy to accept such donations. At present these holdings include:

• The diaries and accounts of John White and William Hounsfield.
• The business records of Amy Coster, ladies’ outfitter 1919 – 1959.
• The diary of Elizabeth Giles of Stockers Farm, 1917.
• A range of lesser holdings of local businesses of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
• A large number of digital video recordings, historical and recent, able to be played on our display screen.
• Letters from and about local WW1 veterans, including those lost.
• A number of maps of the surrounding area, including for example plans of the un­ completed railway from Rickmansworth to Uxbridge. Many of these have been digitised for display on the digital kiosk.

We recognise that these archival holdings place a particular onus on our conservation capabilities, and take these into account when considering such acquisitions.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2025

Licence: CC BY-NC

Tiverton Museum was founded at a public meeting in Tiverton Town Hall on 23rd November 1959 where concern was expressed at the disappearance of evidence representing local agriculture and industry, culture, community and domestic life. At a public meeting called by Vic Broomfield and Bill Authers, a committee was appointed: Chairman W.P. Authers; Vice Chairman V.J. Broomfield; President Derick H Amory. Eden R. H. Dicken became the Honorary Curator. The Museum opened on 24 June 1960 at 9 Angel Terrace. As the collection grew, the museum moved to Chilcott School in St Peter Street in 1962. In 1965 the museum gained Charity Status (No. 239531). As it was once again outgrowing its premises, the museum found that St. George’s Church would sell their church halls – the old National School which had been built in 1841. The cost of £6,000 was defrayed by Lord Amory and the purchase was complete on 17th June 1968. In 1976 the Waggon Gallery was constructed. Many of the carts were donated by the Alford Brothers (whose family had farmed at Netherexe Barton for 3 generations). In 1979 Lord Amory decided that the 1400 class loco that he had purchased in 1965 (and placed in Blundell’s Road) needed to go under cover. The engine was moved on the 5th February and the new gallery was erected around the engine which had now been given to the museum. In 1982 an original Heathcoat weaving machine was offered to the museum. The machine, made in 1853, is one of the few surviving of Heathcoat’s original design, which revolutionised the manufacture of lace and altered the pattern of industry in Tiverton. The waggon collection was conserved in 1998, and in 2000 the museum reopened after a major refurbishment project in the main museum building. The transport gallery was redisplayed in 2006 allowing level access throughout the gallery, and public access into the cab of the ‘Tivvy Bumper’ steam engine.

Over many years the great support of the local public has resulted in the assemblage of a vast, eclectic collection. The museum is still offered items on a very regular basis, and depends upon donation to the collection as there is no purchasing budget. The Museum and these collections are administered and controlled by the Trustees of the Tiverton Museum of Mid Devon Life Charitable Incorporated Organisation’ (hereinafter called the CIO) with a full-time Director responsible to them for day-to-day management.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2022

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collections fall into sixteen separate identifiable areas:

i)  Community life:

• church: carving
• chapel: communion set, banner, etc
• education: inkwell carrier, certificates, plaques
• health: doctor’s and dentist’s items
• personalities: items related to Gooding, Capern, Wood, Hill, Harford, Best, Pollett, Cosway, Rippon, Down, Glass, Carew, Boyce, Caraboo (Wilcox), Farewell, Cameron, Sage, Blundell, Greenway, Blackmore, Gamlens of Hayne, Blagdon, etc

ii)  Domestic life

• kitchen: cooking utensils and equipment; ranges; pots and pans, cloam and Dutch ovens, scales, teapots, bottles, taps, trivets, knife sharpeners, stoves, kettles, cutlery, jugs, mugs, cups, gas refrigerator and cookery, etc
• laundry: hand-operated washing machines, dollies, copper, wash-board, mangles, tongues, wooden sinks, flat irons, water wheel, goffering irons
• living: lamps, inkstands/bottles, pottery, clay-pipes, china, footwarmers, glass, door-knockers, locks/keys, desk-top accessories, window-frames, musical instruments, record players, money boxes, fire-backs, fire tongs, paraffin and electric heaters, candle snuffers, samplers, clocks, calendars, framed pictures, pocket watches, boot jacks, radios, sewing machines, knitting machines, needle-craft/dressmaking, lace making etc
• bedroom: bedspreads, quilts
• cleaning: vacuum cleaners, brushes
• childhood: toys, puzzles, dolls, dolls houses, games, pictorial composition cards, costume

iii)  Costume:

• the collection of female costume ranges from the early-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries. Its main strength lies generally between the 1860s and 1920s. There are: dresses, skirts, blouses, bodice jackets, shawls, coats, capes, aprons, underwear, night dresses, hats, veils, collars, stoles, scarves, gloves, shoes, sandals, ladies accessories, e.g. hair crimpers, purses, hat pins, vanity box, powder compacts, etc.
• there is a small collection of male accessories: collars, scarves, nightshirt, shoes, clogs, umbrellas, etc.
• occupational dress: including agricultural, fire brigade, police, etc.

iv)  Agriculture:

• cultivators, drags, hoes, ploughs, mills, waggons, carts, seed drills, corn hutch, horse wheel, wheelbarrows, hand tools, harrow reaper, tractor, horse harness, bits and snaffles, pulpers and cutters, dairy equipment, cider-making equipment, countrymen’s smocks, horseshoes, brewing equipment, overshot and undershot waterwheel, etc.

v)  Industry:

• Heathcoat lace making machines, fabrics, lace, lace making tools, apprentice piece, etc.

vi)  Trades and Crafts:

• items related to inn keeping, tailoring, shoemaking, dealing in agricultural implements
• retailing: gunsmithing, tinsmithing, hardware dealing, news vending, locksmithing, photography, carpentry, saddle making, blacksmith and wheelwright shops, wool scales, tobacconist, Post Office, grocer

vii)  Transport:

• roads: governess trap, horse harness, saddles, bicycles, tollgate, road menders tools, items related to freight haulage, public and private transport, bus timetables
• railway: locomotive and items relating predominately to the G.W.R. and also to the L.S.W.R., Southern, and B.R.; permanent way ancillaries, hand tools, furniture, signalling equipment
• waterways: implements, documents, etc., related to use of canal for leisure as well as for working

viii)  Militaria:

• weapons, medals, uniforms and accessories, model soldier and aircraft collections, HMS Hermes model, A.R.P., Home Guard, R.O.C. items, incendiary devices, P.O.W. items

ix)  Early History:

• Civil War round shot and model, charity boards, stocks, staple marks, Cromwell Charter, ‘Armada’ chest, etc.

x)  Local: borough insignia, stamps, seals, town clerk’s robe

• Government: weights and measures, police truncheons, badges, helmets, whistles, fire brigade badges, helmet, lamp lighting, cell doors, etc.

xi)  Natural History:

• fossils, rock types and minerals (very small collection) – (geology)

xii)  Archaeology:

• prehistoric flints and tools, model of Roman fort, querns, pottery (very small collection)

xiii)  Photographs:

• photographs & negatives of local personalities & scenes

xiv)  Archives:

• deeds, documents, ephemera, postcards & printed matter

xv)  Fine Art:

• prints, drawings and paintings

xvi)  Numismatics:

• coins and trade tokens

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2022

Licence: CC BY-NC

Social History Collection

There are Victorian toys and games and a fine three-storey dolls house made by a local carpenter in the 1860s. There is also a Praxinoscope, an early means of showing moving pictures with a moving drum with slits. Domestic items are well represented in the collection, including: a warming pan of 1670; some bellows; a chestnut toaster; and the fittings and equipment of a 1930s kitchen. There is a model of Topsham, c.1900.

Subjects

Social History

Decorative and Applied Art Collection

The museum contains an interesting collection of furniture, some on loan from the National Trust and the Victorian and Albert Museum. There is a four poster bed; an 18th century rocking cradle; a Victorian high chair; a mid 18th century rocking horse; a 19th century French painted writing desk; and 18th century Italian mirror; a 19th century sofa; a Victorian tapestry pole firescreen; a clock of 1730; and another clock interesting because it shows the time of high tide at Topsham Bar.

Subjects

Decorative and Applied Arts

Fine Art Collection

There are paintings of the Holman family, including Lady in a Red Dress, which is Dorothy Holman’s mother, nee Sophia Andrews; and another of Dorothy Holman’s grandmother and brother.

Subjects

Fine Art

Maritime Collection

There are artefacts relating to ship building, fishing and maritime trade; also ship models, shipwright’s tools, maps, photographs, maritime paintings, documents and other material.

Subjects

Maritime

Science and Industry Collection

The local trades and crafts of cask making and coopering are represented by tools, as are other local trades. Ship building, one of the key industries, is illustrated by a set of shipwright’s tools.

Subjects

Science and Industry

Biology Collection

There is material relating to the natural history of the River Exe.

Subjects

Biology

Transport Collection

There is a penny farthing bicycle which was ridden by the sons of Richard Holman in the 1890s. It was built by Thomas Pitcher of Bristol.

Subjects

Transport

Personalia Collection

There is memorabilia of the actress Vivien Leigh, whose first husband was the brother of Dorothy Holman who bequeathed the house for use as a museum.

Subjects

Personalia

Costume and Textile Collection

The costume collection includes a blue braided coat of the 1750s, said to have been worn by Thomas Putt, who developed an apple known as Tom Putt, which is still grown. There are also examples of lace.

Subjects

Costume and Textile

Photographic Collection

There is a large collection of photographs recording the local topography, people, events and maritime history of Topsham and the Exe Estuary.

Subjects

Photographic equipment

Archives Collection

There is the family tree of the seafaring Hodder family who lived in Holman House at one stage.

Subjects

Archives

Other

Subjects

Agriculture; Archaeology; Arms and Armour; Geology; Medals; Medicine; Numismatics; Oral History

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

The museum was founded by the Torfaen Museum Trust in 1978, a registered charity with the purpose and intention to “preserve, interpret, disseminate and celebrate local culture and bring the culture of other communities to the communities of Torfaen and beyond.” It is based in Pontypool and aims to showcase the history of Torfaen, from Pontypool town’s early foundation in the iron and tin industries to the mining communities of Blaenavon and the development of Cwmbran New Town in the 1950s.

 

Collections overview

The museum’s collections represent all periods of Torfaen’s history, ranging from prehistory to the current century. There are large domestic, social and industrial history collections.

Unique collections consist of the nationally recognised Pontypool Japanware collection and the Pooler (Pontypool Rugby Football Club) collection.

There is also an art collection which focuses on Torfaen people, places and events.

The Dobell-Moseley Library and Archive holds the museum’s archival resources including photographs, documents, posters, letters, diaries, maps, plans and local newspapers. The photographic collections include negatives from the local newspaper, The Pontypool Free Press, covering the period 1970s-2000 and a large collection of glass negatives dating from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2022

Licence: CC BY-NC

From the foundation of Torquay Museum by the Torquay Natural History Society in 1844 until the 1920’s, the Museum maintained a policy of acquiring material illustrating the geology, natural history, archaeology, and social history of Devon and in particular specialised in material excavated from local caves which received international attention. From the 1920’s the Museum increasingly acquired material from outside Devon and outside Britain, especially in the fields of natural history, ethnography and archaeology. This period has seen spectacular growth in the more local collections of Devon Folk Life and Pictorial Records (mainly local photographs, prints etc.).

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2019

Licence: CC BY-NC

Designated Collection

The Designated Quaternary Collection and Archive is comprised of over 30,000 specimens and an associated archive (notably the John MacEnery and William Pengelly manuscripts of the 19th century). Torquay Museum and Torquay Natural History Society have been intimately associated with collecting, documenting and preserving prehistoric remains from the caves of South Devon ever since 1845, something which is actively continued to this day.

Devon archaeology

As well as the designated material the museum also holds a broader collection of archaeology from Devon. This includes material from a number of open sites excavated in the 20th century, notably Milber Down, Dainton, and Stoke Gabriel and many miscellaneous small finds from the Dartmoor and South Devon area. In recent years the museum has also acquired finds from a newly discovered Roman site at Ipplepen.

British archaeology

The collections of non-Devon British archaeology comprise mainly prehistoric stone artefacts and a miscellany of small finds.

Foreign archaeology

There are modest sized collections of Egyptian, Roman, Cypriot and Etruscan archaeology and other miscellaneous objects from the Mediterranean area.

Ethnography

The Museum has an ethnographic collection of about 2,800 objects, half of which were amassed by one man, Dr Charles Paget-Blake. The collections are particularly rich in Chinese and Oceanic material. The ‘Explorers’ gallery draws heavily upon many of these artefacts.

Social history

The Museum has extensive collections which tend to fall into two divisions – the Devon Folk Collections and a miscellany of everyday social history objects ranging from the Victorian to World War II period. The Devon Folk Collection is extremely rich in domestic objects from Devon farmhouses, mainly of 17th – 19th century date. It is regarded as being of both regional and national importance. The remaining social history collection comprises of a miscellany of costume, costume accessories, numismatics, domestic objects, etc., broadly illustrative of everyday life from the Victorian period to WW II. These items have no special association with Torbay.

Local history

The Museum has large collections of photographs, prints, watercolours, drawings and ephemera relating to Torbay and the neighbourhood, which form the best source available for local history study of the area. There is also a particularly good photographic archive of Dartmoor dating to the beginning of the 20th century. The collections also contain many examples of pottery from the local Torquay potteries and other local products such as objects made from local ‘marble’. Apart from these ‘applied art’ objects the collections are rather poor in 3-D local history objects.

Ceramics

Apart from the extensive collection of material from the Torquay potteries mentioned above, the Museum has a modest collection of English, continental and oriental ceramics of some note. The collection includes a particularly fine number of Staffordshire dogs associated with the Devon Folk Collection.

Geology

The geology holdings comprise very large collections of Devon palaeontology (mainly Devonian fossils and Pleistocene mammal fossils(?)), modest collections of mainly Devon rocks and a modest worldwide collection of minerals. The palaeontology collections are of international, regional and national importance. The remainder of the geology collections are of regional importance.

Zoology

There are large British and foreign collections of entomology (mainly Lepidoptera) and conchology and smaller collections of vertebrates (especially birds) and marine invertebrates. There also exists a modest sized collection of zoological microscopial slides.

Botany

The Museum has a large herbarium, rich in British and foreign material, with some particularly important local collections (e.g. marine algae).

Archives

The Museum has collections of letters, manuscripts, albums and personalia associated with prominent figures associated with the history of the Museum and Society (e.g. William Pengelly).

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2019

Licence: CC BY-NC

Social History Collection

There is a domestic collection including Victorian and Edwardian toys and games, and a dolls house. Civic memorabilia is represented by mayoral chains from Torquay and Paignton, and time charts showing the names of mayors, other civic leaders and significant local events.

Subjects

Social History

Fine Art Collection

This impressive collection of oils and watercolours range in date from the mid 18th century to the mid 20th century. The finest pieces are Holman Hunt’s ‘The Children’s Holiday’; an imposing series of Burne-Jones drawings; and watercolours by William Henry Hunt and Thomas Miles Richardson. Other works include some 19th and 20th century copies of Turner paintings. There are also two collections of miniatures; and a modest collection of prints and drawings. Some of the works are by local artists, but most are associated with Torbay by virtue of being donated or bequeathed by local people.

Subjects

Fine Art

Decorative and Applied Art Collection

Collections of 18th and 19th century English glass, silver and pewter, including communion plate from local churches are good, though modest in size. The Brian Reade collection of Torquay and Watcombe terracottas has been supplemented by donations from the Torquay Pottery Collectors Society, which keeps its archive at the Abbey. There is a nationally-important collection of sculpture by Frederick Thrupp (1812-95). Among the sculptures by other artists is an attractive bust of Othello by Calvi. There is a collection of furniture dating from the 17th to the 20th centuries, some on loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum. The most notable pieces are some 17th century oak pieces and an inlaid and mirrored early 18th century Dutch bureau. Frederick Thrupp (1812-95) was an eminent Victorian sculptor best known for his commissions for the House of Lords, the Mansion House and that to produce the statue of Wordsworth for Westminster Abbey. He spent the last years of his life in Torquay and in 1911, his widow presented to the town his remaining works of art and the contents of his studio. There is a large collection of paster relief mouldings, marble statues, bronzes, bronze relief panels and screens from throughout the sculptor’s life.

Subjects

Metalwork; Sculpture; Decorative and Applied Arts

Archaeology Collection

A large collection of moulded and sculptured stone from the medieval Abbey is stored in the undercrofts. It includes parts of several full sized effigies of knights and abbots.

Subjects

Archaeology

Personalia Collection

There are portraits and some personal effects of the crime-writer Agatha Christie, on loan from the author’s daughter. Included in the collection are photographs of Christie and her family, her typewriter and many of her books.

Subjects

Personalia

Archives Collection

Amongst the archive material, there is a small collection of manuscripts relating to Agatha Christie on loan to the museum from the author’s daughter.

Subjects

Archives

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Devonshire Collection of Period Costume is an entirely voluntary, non-profit making organisation and a registered charity administered by a board of trustees. It was founded in 1967 by Annette Morel, Paula Morel and Peter Clapham with the following objects:

The object of the Charity is to advance the education of the public by collecting preserving restoring and exhibiting collections of period costumes and accessories connected therewith and to establish and maintain a public museum or place for the storing and exhibition of such costumes and accessories.

In furtherance of the said objects and subject as hereinafter provided the Trustees will hold the said leasehold property Upon Trust to use and maintain the same for the use of the Collection of Period Costume for the purpose of providing education for persons wishing to learn about costumes of earlier periods.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2014

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collection houses dress and textiles across a broad spectrum both in terms of type of object and date of object. Broadly the material consists of female, male and children’s dress and textiles and associated material from the 17th century to the 21st century.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2014

Licence: CC BY-NC