Collection: Steyning Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  Steyning Museum was established in 1983. It was set up as a community project to tell the story of Steyning’s past and, at that stage, the core of the collection came from the photographic and documentary collections of the Steyning Society and the civil parish, artefacts belonging to St. Andrew’s Church, objects previously held on behalf of the community by Nye & Donne (the main Steyning solicitors) and documents from the Steyning Building Society. Donations from local individuals followed.

  Then, with the building of the new Museum in 1990, there was a need for much more extensive displays and a number of loans were agreed to support these displays, the most significant of which came from the Bluebell Railway. As the Museum settled into its new home and acquired full Registration status, people became increasingly confident that it was a reliable institution to give to and the collection continued to grow. More recently a number of substantial archives have been given to the Museum; more than 400 scripts written by the variety artistes Elsie & Doris Waters (2010) plus songs, letters & ephemera to add to an existing collection of documents and costumes – all of this providing a valuable, and often referred to, source of research; 500 plus photographic images from 5 different sources (2009-2013); and other archives which have surfaced quite some years after they were first created – such as the documentation & ephemera from the campaign to keep the railway open.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2019

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  The main features of our collection, all of which relate to the history of the locality and are in accordance with our Statement of Purpose, are identified here on the basis of each of our principal storage categories.

  Agriculture: The past of the town is grounded in agriculture and it had a market for some 1000 years. We have approx. 370 items incl. 3 smocks, land girl’s trousers, horse boots, a considerable archive of account books from Steyning market from 1906 onwards, various implements, photographs etc.

  Archaeology: Archaeology shows that Steyning has discernible roots in the Saxon period. Material from excavations at Chanctonbury in 1977, from the Steyning Centre dig in 1992, from the Museum Extension dig (2005) and other smaller digs, two Palaeolithic hand axes, and many other casual finds.

  Archaeology – Human Remains: The 1000 year old skeleton of Steyning Man, together with another partial skeleton of the same date – both found in association with a plot of land known as Heathen Burials – are the principal examples of human remains in the collection. They have been retained because they throw light on Saxon Steyning’s approach to the burial of non-Christian or tainted individuals. More tests will be done when funding is available. Two other human remains fragments have recently come to light from an old Steyning Grammar School lumber room – a fragment of cranium from a School dig on a Bronze Age burial mound in 1951 (now dated to c.1200 AD) and a femur which is understood to come from the same source and which has yet to be dated.

  The Museum has no interest whatsoever in any human remains of less than 100 years (see section 10.1), indeed any of less than 500 years, and will not accept such remains. It has no intention of collecting any other human remains which do not throw a new light on the Steyning story.

  Arts: 80 paintings & drawings, 3 sketchbooks of local scenes (1844-1927). Plus the Great War poem comparing the trenches with a lane at Steyning, locally published books, photographs of local shows, a 1930’s show dress of a local performer etc. totalling items. We have a major collection of scripts, photographs, documents, correspondence, music & songs, records, costumes and private dresses belonging to Elsie & Doris Waters (Gert & Daisy) – items in this part of the Arts collection.

  Buildings: The material relates primarily to the fine tradition of timber framed and later buildings in the town with examples of local building materials & artefacts including sections of old wattle & daub, a collection of building plans, a considerable collection of estate agent’s particulars, a 1768 panorama of Church Street buildings and some early land transfer documents. 280 items in all.

  Childhood: Almost 200 items – including children’s clothes, toys, books, prams, nursery items.

  Church/Religion: an 18th century Vamping Horn from Ashurst church (a loan), old carved heads etc. from Steyning church, a stone reliquary, a section of a wooden rail from the Quaker meeting house where William Penn preached, many photographs, etc. – c. 450 items in all.

  Communication: some 450 objects, memorabilia, documents and photographs relating to Steyning station and, in particular, the fight to save the railway and its closure plus others relating to other means of transport.

  Domestic: Furnishings, including three long case clocks made by Steyning clockmakers, 140 items of clothing in addition to the Waters collection (see ‘Arts’ above); plus a good many (c.470) housework, cooking, needlework & other domestic items.

  Environment: Limited geological material and material connected with other aspects of the environment, but no biological/natural history items unconnected with the social history of the area. The only examples that do have this connection are a tanned badger’s skin (as an example of local tanning), a stuffed canary (as an example of the work of a notable local Victorian taxidermist). In total c.170 items.

  It is not our policy to collect biological material as such.

  Health: Various items (90 in all) including pill, suppository & cachet making equipment from a local chemist’s shop.

  Industry & Trades: The main trades were associated with brewing, tanning and leather, building, transport, milling and printing. Objects (including an unusual cobbler’s bench), tools, ephemera and photographs from all these trades are held – 270 items in all.

  Leisure: The two main sports represented in our collection are stoolball and race walking. We have a reasonable collection representing these unusual local sports. We also hold objects, memorabilia, documents and photographs relating to all other aspects of how local people filled their leisure time. A total of 800 plus items, quite a lot of them being photographs.

  Military & Wartime: A quite varied selection of material from both world wars, personal memorabilia relating to the imprisonment of a Steyning man during World War I, an early 19th century pistol kept for self defence and Civil War canon balls from Bramber Castle. 350 plus items.

  Public Service: Civic regalia including Steyning’s mace, constable’s staff and town crier’s bell, and Bramber’s beadle’s staff and early truncheon. We also hold the old town clock’s clock face and various civic documents (for the parish, the fire brigade, the magistrates’ court and payments to the poor). A total of 360 items over all.

  Schools: Steyning’s Grammar School has a history going back to 1614 but other schools have come and gone. We have a reasonably strong collection but know that a few important objects are still held on school premises. See section 4, subsection 9b. More than 350 items all told.

  Shops & Commerce: The shop collection includes various objects used in shops in the past but, pre-eminently a selection of receipted bills from the 18th century, many later shop receipts, photographs and ephemera. Our locally found or locally produced collection of coins etc. goes back to silver pennies produced by the Steyning mint between c.1050 and 1080. There is also a rare 2d. bank note (together with its printing plate) issued by a Steyning bank in 1798. Approx 590 items in all.

  Social Groupings: This is a more limited collection of archives, ephemera and photographs totalling 130 items.

  Photographs of local places: Over and above the photographs included under the headings above we hold over 1500 photographs which are categorised by location, many of which are reproduced in albums on our public reference shelves.

  Steyning People: Personal artefacts, photographs, documents and ephemera are held for a range of people who have left their mark within the Area – together with the recorded recollections of people now living in the area with long memories of life here in the past.

  Maps: There are two tithe maps (1835 & 1840) in the collection, one of which incorporates the full tithe apportionment document. There are also several maps relating to our collecting area from the 1874 Ordnance Survey 25”:1 mile series, a set of hunting maps and others which have been amended to give extra local information. To go with the maps are various aerial photographs.

  Objects are an important element in the collection but the Museum also has:

  1. A strong collection of photographs and postcards reflecting all the themes listed above.
  2. A worthwhile archive of written and printed matter, maps and a collection of ephemera.
  3. A growing sound archive.
  4. A “library” of books, pamphlets etc. relating to Steyning itself, the Downs and a wider area which sets Steyning in a Sussex context.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2019

  Licence: CC BY-NC