Collection: Gillingham Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Cornucopia)

  Social History Collection

  The collection holds artefacts about many aspects of the social history of Gillingham, including domestic and working life; local schools; the railway, including a ceremonial silver spade and wheelbarrow; a 1790 manual fire engine and information about the fire brigade; the Dorset Yeomanry; and First and Second World War memorabilia.

  Subjects

  Social History

  Science and Industry Collection

  There are artefacts from local trades and industries including the bacon factory, the glue factory, the brickworks, the brewery, the local dairy industry and garages and shops. There is also information about the silk and grist mill.

  Subjects

  Science and Industry

  Geology Collection

  A collection of local fossils and rock specimens.

  Subjects

  Geology

  Archaeology Collection

  Artefacts found locally of Iron Age, Roman and Saxon date, including a Romano-British skeleton.

  Subjects

  Archaeology

  Photographic Collection

  Among the photographs are reproductions of the five oil paintings and four stetches made by the artist John Constable, while he was staying with a friend, Rev John Fisher, Vicar of Gillingham, in 1820 and 1823. There is an extensive collection of old photographs and a photographic record of the present town has been compiled in recent years.

  Subjects

  Photography

  Archives Collection

  The founding collection of the museum was the documents of the Freame family and their forebears, the Husseys of North Dorset, an archive built up in Gillingham in the 19th century. This is supplemented by documents of the Green, Bell and Read families. Other local history archive material has since been added to the collection. There is a reproduction of the 1624 map of the Royal Forest of Gillingham.

  Subjects

  Archives

  Other

  Agriculture; Medals; Oral History

  Source: Cornucopia

  Date: Not known, but before 2015

  Licence: CC BY-NC