Collection: Clifton Suspension Bridge Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  The core of the collection was acquired when the Clifton Suspension Bridge Visitor Centre opened in Bridge House, Sion Place in 1998. It consisted of social history paper-based artefacts dating from when the bridge opened in 1864 to the 1950s, such as postcards and prints featuring Clifton Suspension Bridge (approximately 800 items), as well as photographs and Victorian souvenirs, such as chinaware (approximately 50 artefacts). A further collection of contemporary items from companies using the bridge in their logo was acquired at this point.

  Following the closure of the original Visitor Centre, the exhibition was rehoused in a temporary prefabricated building. In December 2014 a purpose-built museum located on the Leigh Woods side of the bridge was opened by HRH Princess Anne. The museum tells the story about the competition to design the bridge, its construction and completion and how it is maintained today. Original items from the Trust’s collections are used to tell this story and are part of the permanent display; they range from a piece of iron bar that was slung across the gorge by Brunel, to clay pipes found in the bridge’s vaults, to tickets and medallions commemorating the opening of the bridge in 1864, to an engineer’s notebook from the early twentieth century.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2021

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  The museum continues to be offered gifts and has also acquired items by purchase. Since 2018 it has an acquisition budget which is determined year on year as part of its wider budgeting process. The current collection consists of:

  • Objects relating to the Avon Gorge and the design and construction of the bridge (c.1780-1864) including prints, drawings, a watercolour painting and papers relating to Serrell’s scheme to finish the bridge.
  • Artefacts relating to the opening of the bridge (1864) including photographs, newspaper reports, poster, commemorative medallions, tickets to the opening celebrations.
  • Social history souvenirs (c. 1828-1930) that celebrate the bridge as a touristic landmark including chinaware, postcards, photographs and decorated souvenirs.
  • Found objects and tools including a clay pipe, broken or test sample parts of the bridge, and old maintenance equipment.
  • Commemorative and souvenir Items relating to Isambard Kingdom Brunel, c. 1959 – 2015 including commemorative stamps; bronze maquettes of Brunel by sculptor John Doubleday; plaster relief of bust of Brunel.
  • Interpretative and informative material about the bridge including commemorative booklets and guidebooks c. 1920s-2017, audio-visual material in video/DVD formats.

  In 2017 the CSBT received the Adrian Andrews Collection as a gift. As well as Andrews’ research archive (paper and digital), it consists of:

  • Stereoscopic viewer and 217 stereocards, dated c. 1850-1930, including 100 images of Clifton Suspension Bridge, Clifton and the Avon Gorge as well as images of other bridges from around the world.
  • Three medallions commemorating: London Bridge (1831); Iron Bridge (1792) and the Thames Tunnel (c. 1845).
  • Pre-1970 Clifton Suspension Bridge guidebooks.
  • Original prints of various bridges (c.1770s-1880s) and grangerised extracts from nineteenth-century publications featuring bridges such as the London Illustrated News.
  • Photographs including the opening of the bridge, various Victorian views and maintenance being carried out on the bridge in the 1950s.
  • Two Victorian pencil and water colour sketches; one showing the bridge under construction (dated c.1843-1862).

  Handling collection, models and educational resources:

  Some objects, such as duplicate unwritten postcards, have not been accessioned into the Trust’s main collection. These include models of the bridge and puzzles of bridge created for educational purposes to be used in the Visitor Centre. These items are listed with an ‘H’ prefix and recorded separately as part of the Trust’s educational handling collections. They are not considered to form part of the Trust’s collection.

  Items which are surrogates (such as digital copies, photocopies, publications) form part of the Trust’s educational resources. Surrogate digital items will not be accessioned into the main collections.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2021

  Licence: CC BY-NC