Collection: Halesworth and District Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  Halesworth & District Museum was created in the late 1980s at the request of Halesworth Town Council to create such a collection for the benefit of the town and the surrounding district.  Since that time, the Museum has acquired over 6,000 items. The Museum became a charity through a deed of Trust in 1991 and then in 2019 became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2023

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  The Museum collections consist of artefacts and objects, paper ephemera and photographs, (including a small number of line drawings and paintings, covering the geology, archaeology, social and economic history of the town of Halesworth and the surrounding villages of its natural hinterland.

  1. Geological Collection:
     1. rocks and fossils illustrating the general geology of East Anglia; and
     2. rocks and fossils picked up within the geographical area as defined above, illustrating the local geology and historical topography.
  2. Archaeological Collection: The archaeological collection covers:
     1. The Prehistoric Period (700,000BC-43AD: The artefacts consist of flint assemblages and ceramic sherds from the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age; collection from Halesworth, Chediston, Cookley, Walpole and Wissett. Archaeological artefacts from the Bronze Age include a hoard of Middle Period Bronze Age palstaves/axeheads regarded as one of the finest in the country.  Items from the Iron Age period include  a significant horde of golden coins from this period found at Blythburgh in 2018.  Some of these items were purchased from the British Museum with the support of grants from public bodies and from private donations.
     2. Roman to Medieval Period (43AD – 1600AD:  The Museum has artefacts and ceramic sherds from the Roman, Middle Sazon, Saxo-Norman and Medieval periods; most are from Chediston (Roman and Halesworth.  The artefacts include items from a number of domestic and workshop-based industrial sites in Halesworth, (lead work, pin-making, pottery making, brewing etc, whilst the sherds illustrate the many different types of local, regional and European pottery in use in the town between 720AD and 1600AD. Items from the Roman period include a significant horde of silver coins from this period found at Cookley in 2017.
     3. Post Medieval (1600AD-1900AD:  The Museum has a collection of ceramic sherds and clay pipe bowls.  The sherds illustrate the many different types of earthenware, stoneware and porcelain domestic utensils in use in the town, and the clay pipes identify manufacturers of clay pipes working in the town between 1680 and 1860.

  Most of the medieval and post medieval artefacts were collected as a result of fieldwork and excavations carried out by the Museum Field Archaeology Unit extant during the 1980s and 1990s.

  3. Town and Country (domestic, farming, craft and industrial artefacts): This collection illustrates:
     1. Social history: All aspects of domestic and corporate life of the Halesworth area; most of the items are domestic bygones from the Victorian age and the 20th century.  A number of objects depict the ‘Home Front’ and life in the town during both world wars.
     2. The local economy: Farming and rural crafts in the villages and manufacturing, handicrafts, retail trades and transport in the market town of Halesworth.  Items from the villages include hand tools used during the farming year and a collection of tools from the old Wissett Forge.  The items from Halesworth come mostly from the important malting, brewing, shoe making and tailoring industries and trades.
  4. Paper Ephemera:
     1. A small collection of local maps mostly covering Halesworth and its immediate environs, the most important being an original copy of the Town Tithe Map (1840.  Other maps include those produced by the Ordnance Survey.
     2. A large collection of documents such as trade bills, invoices, business accounts, contracts, letters and depositions.  Of particular note are the Lincolne Letters, an archive of early 19th correspondence between a prominent Halesworth family.
     3. A collection of printed ephemera such as business leaflets and posters, transport timetables, local pamphlets, programmes, guide books, trade directories and almanacs.

  The majority of the ephemera items belong to the late 19th century and first half of the 20th century.

  5. Photographs: The Museum holds a large collection of photographs which have historical or geographical value as records of the past.  These include:
     1. Printed photographic postcards of Halesworth and surrounding villages produced since 1900.
     2. The Limmer Photographic Archive – copies of nearly 150 sepia photographs taken between 1882 and 1900.
     3. The Robbie Page Collection of approximately 20,000 negatives of photographs taken of individuals, groups, businesses and events during the second half of the 20th century. by Mr R Page of Halesworth.
     4. A large collection of black and white and colour photographs of Halesworth and the surrounding villages; these show many of the houses and industrial buildings of the town which have undergone renovation or change of use.
  6. Research Notes:  The Museum has collections of the research material and notes of several eminent local historians: Rachel Lawrence, Michael and Sheila Gooch, Ivan Sparkes, June Brereton and Mike Fordham.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2023

  Licence: CC BY-NC