Collection: King John’s Hunting Lodge

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  The Axbridge and District Museum Trust (hereafter known as ‘the Trust’) now (since 2023) owns the collections of what was once the Axbridge Archaeological and Local History Society (hereafter known as ‘AALHS’) in addition it manages the collections on behalf of two owning bodies, which are Axbridge Town Trust and items relevant to Axbridge that were held by Sedgemoor District Council (now, since 2023 part of Somerset County Council). These form the permanent collections of the Museum.

  Where the term ‘the Museum’ is hereafter used it will be used to refer both to the Trust, and/ or to the owning bodies, as the context requires. The Museum is housed in a late medieval merchant’s house, known as King John’s Hunting Lodge. It has been leased from the National Trust since 1976.

  The Museum manages, documents, preserves, exhibits and interprets archaeological and local history material associated with Axbridge and the surrounding area, for the benefit, research and education of the local community and the general public.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2025

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  At present the Museum holds around 2000 objects in the following collections:
  45% archaeological material
  40% social history
  9% archival
  6% geological
  About 62% of the total collection belonged to the AALHS

  Archaeology

  Comprises general material from excavations and finds from the Mendip Hills area. A significant part of the collection is material from the Roman sites at Star and Wint Hill, and human remains from Hay Wood Cave. The majority of the collection is derived from fieldwork by the AALHS. The date range and variety of the pottery has been described by a leading authority as

  “…one of the most important corpora of material from any town or village in Somerset…even unsurpassed by a much larger quantity found in the county town of Taunton…only outside the county does one find a comparable date range, or such exotic imports, from such towns as Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth and Southampton.”
  Richard Coleman-Smith

  Social History

  A collection of items related to the history of the town of Axbridge and villages included within the collecting area noted below in section 4. There is a particular emphasis on the documents and regalia of the ancient Borough of Axbridge, early schooling in the town, the Union Workhouse (serving over 40 local villages) and local tradesmen and shopkeepers. We have an interesting group of long case clocks, all made in the town, by a variety of clockmakers. Some rationalisation is taking place with a greater emphasis on various aspects of Axbridge as a market town over the one thousand years of its existence, the part the local community played in the two World Wars and the Mendip mining industry. Planned temporary exhibitions will use the collections and/or materials from other local sources, to look at social and cultural history, local archaeology and aspects of contemporary life relating to Axbridge and the villages in our collecting area.

  Geology

  Rocks, minerals and fossils from the Axbridge area, with some examples from further afield. A significant part of the collection comes from the Banwell Bone Caves and is part of the collection from the AALHS.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2025

  Licence: CC BY-NC