Collection: Leominster Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  The Museum was first proposed in the press in 1932 and the public were urged not to dispose of items which might ultimately be suitable for a museum. In 1968 Leominster Historical Society was formed, and a group from that society and persons attending evening classes from the University of Birmingham resolved to establish a museum for the preservation of local material and recording of local history. The charity more recently known as Leominster Museum Trust was formed by a Trust Deed dated 10th August 1970. Premises were acquired, and the main part of the present Museum opened in April 1972 with a miscellaneous collection of local material displayed in such showcases as were available. Since then, with few exceptions the Museum has not set out to acquire material but material brought to the Museum has been selectively accepted and falls into categories which, so far as possible, have been displayed as collections.

  In March 2016 the collections, with all other assets of Leominster Museum Trust, were transferred to a new incorporated charity, Leominster Museum CIO, which had been specially formed in 2015 for the purpose of taking over the assets of Leominster Museum Trust. This seemingly cumbersome procedure represented the only available means of converting the original charitable trust into the newly available corporate form of charity (charitable incorporated organisation). The change of charity did not however entail any change of management: the charity trustees of Leominster Museum CIO and those of Leominster Museum Trust were the same people at the time of the transfer.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2022

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  The Museum holds around 6000 items relating to Leominster and district. (The 1970 Trust Deed defined the district as comprising the area formerly comprising the Borough of Leominster and the Rural District of Leominster and Wigmore; the Constitution of Leominster Museum CIO, as quoted at 1.1.1 above, was deliberately less prescriptive in what should/could be taken as “Leominster and its surrounding area”. All of the Museum’s collection has some relation to Leominster items, trades, events or people.

  The Museum collections include a collection of books, pamphlets, photographs and documents from local sources relating to local people and events; collections of social history artefacts (domestic, industrial, crafts, costume, postage marks and stamps); archaeological artefacts including the Aymestrey Bronze age Beaker Burial; the John Scarlett Davis collection; John Murray Ince painting of Dukes Head; a collection of agricultural tools and stable equipment; and a full cider press and dairy items.

  A particular strength of the Museum is the representation of local industries, including agriculture (agricultural tools, dairy items), cider-making (including an entire cider press), the wool trade, and railways. Another strength is in the various individual items throughout collections which are peculiarly interesting through the stories connected to them, or their relevance to the town, such as the Chelsea bun from World War One, the “Lemster” way stone (spelling as the name is pronounced), the prototype tarmac horse-shoe, etc. These items are a strength because they capture the imagination of visitors, engaging them with the Museum and the past it represents in a more concrete way. They are interesting in themselves as well as in their representative role, and are the items most often commented on or remembered.

  Of national significance: the Scarlett Davis collection, which comprises a number of watercolours, paintings and an original sketchbook, as well as additional ephemera relating to the artist, is of particular significance both in terms of its content and its close connection to Leominster and district through a prominent local artist. The museum also holds a watercolour by John Murray Ince, a contemporary of Davies.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2022

  Licence: CC BY-NC