Collection: Wiltshire Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  The Wiltshire Museum is run by the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society (WANHS), an independent charity founded in Devizes in 1853. The Society was founded by a group of Wiltshire gentlemen following the acquisition of the John Britton library of topographical and antiquarian books and manuscripts. The inaugural meeting resolved to form a society ‘to cultivate and collect information on archaeology and natural history in their various branches and to form a library and museum illustrating the history, natural, civic and ecclesiastic of the County of Wilts’.

  The Society held exhibitions in various buildings in the town, before moving to the former Grammar School in 1873 and building a new entrance hall before opening in 1874. It acquired adjoining Georgian town houses in 1903 and 1943, and opened a new art gallery extension in 1980.

  Over the last 167 years, the Society has built a membership of over 1,000 members and its collections are Designated by Government as being of national significance. The most important is the Stourhead Collection, namely the objects and archives of the excavations undertaken by William Cunnington over 200 years ago, mostly in the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2020

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  Archaeology Collection (before 1600 AD)

  The archaeology collection is the most important part of all the collections. It is extensive, numbering an estimated 45,000 items (bulk finds from archaeological assemblages counted as one item), and wide ranging in its scope, covering all periods of human history in Wiltshire. The great strength of the collection lies in its prehistoric material, in particular that of Neolithic to Iron Age date.

  The archaeology collection includes the finds from over 650 excavations in Wiltshire, the most significant of which are from the hundred or so early Bronze Age barrows excavated in the early 19th century by Sir Richard Colt Hoare and William Cunnington I. This collection is known as the Stourhead Collection.

  The early Bronze Age collection is of exceptional importance because of its size and range; the uniqueness of many of the objects; the fact that it includes many prestige items, including objects made of gold, amber, jet and shale; its association with the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site, and its relevance to the history of archaeology. A selection of the collection was most recently published in, Ritual in Early Bronze Age Grave Goods: An examination of ritual and dress equipment from Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age graves in England. J Hunter and A Woodward, 2015.

  The objects from archaeological excavations are complemented by casual finds, again of all periods, including items declared as ‘treasure’ under the Treasure Act (1996).

  Recent History Collection (post 1600 AD)

  The recent history collection numbers around 9,000 items and focuses on life in the district formerly known as Kennet, since 1600. Kennet was a non-metropolitan local government district in Wiltshire, which was abolished as part of structural changes to local government in 2009. For the purposes of this document the term ‘Kennet District’ continues to refer to this geographical area. As ‘districts’ have only existed as political areas since 1974, inevitably the museum holds items acquired in the more distant past from elsewhere in Wiltshire. It also holds some classes of object which relate to all of Wiltshire.

  The main subject areas are local trades and industries, domestic items, education, law and order, agriculture, personalia and sport. The collection includes a number of individual items of particular significance. The strength of the collection lies in the objects relating to the history of Devizes (which links to the Devizes collection in the archive and library) and Avebury parish.

  A more recent addition to the recent history collection is the Wiltshire Life Society Collection, transferred to the Collections Trust from the Lackham Museum of Agriculture and Rural Life Trust in 2010. The collection was previously on display in the Great Barn at Avebury until 2000. The collection includes 650 agricultural items and a library of 400 related books and 400 photographs. The collection was transferred with funding for its long-term care.

  Numismatics Collection

  The collection numbers around 28,000 coins, medallions, tokens, banknotes and related items. It consists chiefly of coins found in Wiltshire and coins etc which were either struck in Wiltshire or which refer to Wiltshire people, places or events. There is also a small general collection of Roman and English coins. The first group includes coin hoards deposited between the Iron Age and Civil War period, and assemblages of coins from the excavations of archaeological sites and stray finds of coins. The second group includes Saxon and Norman coins struck at Wiltshire mints; tokens of different types issued in Wiltshire from the 17th century; banknotes etc. issued by local banks and medallions relating to the county. There are a number of unique items. The strength of the collection lies in the comparatively large number of Iron Age coins, the scope of its collection of Wiltshire tokens, medallions and banknotes and, in provincial terms, the size of its Roman coin collection.

  Natural Sciences Collection

  The natural sciences collection was mainly donated by individual botanists and geologists, although Salisbury, Swindon and Trowbridge museums hold small collections of locally found fossils. The collection numbers around 25,000 specimens from the whole of Wiltshire. The Geology collection contains over 6,000 fossils with representative specimens from every rock type in the county. Of particular importance are the Greensand and Chalk fossils donated by William Cunnington III, most of whose collection was given to the Natural History Museum, London, in 1906.

  On the botanical side the museum houses a Society Flora started by T B Flower and T A Preston in 1870 which now contains around 3,000 specimens, collected up to 1966. The ‘Grose Herbarium’ consists of 9,000 sheets of fully documented pressed plant specimens collected by Donald Grose while he was writing The Flora of Wiltshire. Another important holding is the collection of lichens and bryophytes assembled by Francis Rose.

  Animal bones, plant remains etc. from archaeological excavations in Wiltshire are considered in the Archaeology and Recent History Collections above.

  Art Collection

  The art collection comprises original watercolours, drawings, oil paintings, prints and engravings, amounting to approximately 10,000 works in total. The collection consists primarily of works by Wiltshire artists, who were either born in or have other associations with Wiltshire; and works depicting Wiltshire subjects. There are a small number of paintings which are associated with significant people from Wiltshire. The art collection covers the work of most of the topographical artists who have worked in the west of England since 1750. It also has close links with the archaeological collection, with for example numerous views of Stonehenge and Avebury and other archaeological monuments and paintings by archaeologists and historians such as Sir Richard Colt Hoare, John Britton and Denis Grant King. A selection of the collection was published in Richard Hatchwell’s Art in Wiltshire (2005); the Public Catalogue Foundation’s volume of Oil Paintings in Public Ownership: Gloucestershire & Wiltshire (2011); The Watercolour World – showcasing online 1,400 watercolour pictures from the art collection (2019).

  The strength of the collection lies in its topographical collection which includes nearly 600 watercolours of Wiltshire churches and other buildings by John Buckler from almost every Wiltshire parish, as well as its collection of works relating to archaeology, including the watercolour drawings of archaeological objects made by Philip Crocker which served as the originals for engravings in Sir Richard Colt Hoare’s Ancient Wiltshire.

  Archive and Library Collections

  The archive and library collection is one of the largest and last surviving independent county repositories in the UK, numbering approximately 37,000 items (bulk accessioned where appropriate). The collection originates from the acquisition of the John Britton library of topographical and antiquarian books and manuscripts and the subsequent founding of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society in 1853. Appropriate archival documents were transferred to the Wiltshire Record Office after it was created, over 100 years later and are now held at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre.

  It is primarily a local studies collection of books, journals, newspapers and other printed items including photographs, postcards and maps relating to Wiltshire. There is also a document collection consisting of both printed material and original manuscripts.

  The collection has a separate archaeology section which includes a general collection of archaeology books, the principal archaeology journals, papers of Wiltshire antiquaries and the written records of more recent excavations in the county. The natural history section similarly includes general natural history books, specialist journals and the papers of early natural historians. These complement the museum collections. There is also a smaller general history collection. As well as reference books on art history and decorative art there are a number of individual unique items in the library.

  Particularly important areas of the collection include the papers and annotated books by early antiquaries and historians such as William Stukeley, Sir Richard Colt Hoare and William Cunnington 1, as well as the collection of printed ephemera and the extensive range of national and county journals.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2020

  Licence: CC BY-NC