Collection: Bridport Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  Bridport Museum opened 28 May 1932. Mr AP Codd who was born in Beaminster, purchased ‘The Old Castle’ an early 16th century building on South Street in Bridport. He donated the building to Bridport Town Council on condition that it would be transformed into a museum and art gallery to house paintings he had made during his life. Since then, all sorts of different items have been collected.

  Bridport Museum’s first professional curator joined the Museum in 1989 and created the first formal collecting policy. Bridport Museum Trust was incorporated on 7 January 2002, taking ownership of the collections which had previously been owned by West Dorset District Council.

  In 2012, The Sanctuary Rope and Net collection was acquired, enhancing other collections and records held by Bridport Museum and enabling us to better tell the story of this most important industry.

  The Trust now cares for a diverse collection of an estimated 50,000 objects. A large number of these objects record the history of the people and places of Bridport and surrounding areas.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2023

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  Historically, the collections have been assembled by type and theme, which is reflected in the descriptions below. ‘The Right Stuff’ collections review project carried out from 2019-2023, helped ensure the collections are fit for purpose and held for the value they have in helping tell local stories.

  Rope and Net

  The place of Bridport in this industry’s history is of national importance. Unique to us, is a collection charting the history of rope and net making in the town; an abundant resource comprised of letters, deeds, photographs and artefacts dating back to the 18th century and beyond. It demonstrates how the trade is deeply embedded into the physical and social landscape of the area. Bridport’s distinctive topography is shaped by this history, with wide streets and long narrow gardens that were ideal for twisting rope. Importantly, this is not just a heritage story, but one still being written today. Bridport’s rope and net industry is a ‘living history’, still operating at the forefront of design, production and innovation. Companies in and around the town make cargo nets for aeroplanes, tennis nets for Wimbledon and perhaps most famously, the nets for the 1966 World Cup Final were made here.

  Future plans
  The collection will be retained and developed. ‘The collection that attracted the most discussion at 40% was Rope and Net. This was all to do with visitor feedback on the museum experience and that rope and net displays and activities were a visit highlight.’ We will investigate Designation status for these superb collections.

  Jurassic Coast Fossils from the World Heritage Site (WHS)

  As a member of the Jurassic Coast Museums Partnership, we play a crucial role in supporting the WHS Strategic Management Plan. Geologists have already surveyed and identified the strengths of this collection, which includes local ammonites, brittle stars, crinoids, a tiny ichthyosaur head and recently identified dinosaur vertebrae. Our star attraction is a partial plesiosaur skeleton.

  A key factor in local tourism, Bridport is one of the Jurassic Coast ‘gateway’ towns. The Jurassic Coast is England’s only natural World Heritage Site and attracts interest from all over the globe. It is the only place where 185 million years of Earth history are exposed chronologically.

  This collection numbers several hundred specimens, the majority of which were collected locally between Lyme Regis and Burton Bradstock. The Hansford Collection forms a significant part of this collection. The collection was examined by Dr Michael Taylor and Paul Ensom in October 1995 and Bryan Meloy documented the collection between 1997 and 1999 as part of the Dorset Museums Geology Project. In 2007 this collection was inventoried, conservation checked and labelled by Natural History Museum geologist Paul Ensom as part of a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) funded Jurassic coast project. The collection has been enhanced in recent years by significant acquisitions purchased through HLF’s Collecting Cultures funding programme.

  Work was undertaken during 2013 (funded by ACE’s Strategic Development Fund) across the Jurassic Coast Museum’s Partnership to promote the geological collections. This included a review of the collection by Richard Edmonds, Earth Sciences Manager for the Jurassic Coast Team. The top 100 specimens were selected for photography and inclusion in a new online Jurassic Coast fossil database (https://jurassiccoast.org/what-is-the-jurassic-coast/all-about-fossils/fossil-finder/fossil-finder-database/) This work also helped identify items for rationalisation and disposal, making this now a priority area.

  Future plans
  As these collections are a core part of our story, this collection will be actively developed with advice and guidance through local and regional expert consultation.

  Archaeology

  Bridport Museum holds an important collection of Roman archaeology. Notable artefacts include a magnificent, decorated dagger scabbard plate, early body armour components and a carved stone intaglio, (possibly one of the earliest engraved gemstones to have reached Britain following the Roman invasion). The most notable material is from two local sites: Waddon Hill and Watton Hill.
  Future plans

  The collection should only be added to in exceptional circumstances, where excavation site finds or collected material have a local association and can help tell stories about our ancestors’ lives and places where they lived. To assist decision making about such collections, we will consult with Dorset Museum, the primary repository for archaeology in Dorset.

  Fine Art

  The collection includes oil paintings and works of art on paper. In addition to the Codd Collection (of our founder) a number of local artists are represented, including Fra Newbery, Henry Walton, F.E.Tighe, A Hodder, George Biles and Eric Bray. Their works cover approximately one third of the collection, which numbers over 1,000 artworks in total.

  We participated in the Public Catalogue Foundation (2008-9) project in which all our oil paintings have been listed nationally, professionally photographed and are now included on the Art UK website (https://artuk.org/).

  Future plans
  Feedback from The Right Stuff (TRS) project identified a clear preference for works by local artists and works that reflect local people and places. ‘The most conclusive data is that for the fine art……. people overwhelmingly think the priority should be local scenes or paintings with relevance to Bridport, its surrounding villages, and people.’  The current collection will be retained and reviewed, with active collecting limited to significant works relevant to local places, people, and makers.

  Costume and Textiles

  This is a large collection, comprising over 1,000 items, including accessories. Items range from an 18th century hand-painted silk gown from Paris to a 1970s wedding dress purchased and worn locally. The majority of the collection is womenswear from the 19th and 20th centuries, although it does include some male clothing, household linens and embroideries. Accessories and jewellery form an important part of the collection.

  Future plans
  Costume and textiles will no longer be actively collected for their own sake, unless opportunities arise which enable us to tell stories of relevant interest about the lives of local people. The current collection will be retained and reviewed.

  Dolls

  The Trust owns a collection of 19th and 20th century dolls from the UK and worldwide. The dolls include almost every type of doll from one-piece to full-jointed, and from wooden to vinyl. The majority of the collection came from one man, Revd Dr Donald Omand of Chideock, known as the Circus Padre.

  Future plans
  Dolls will no longer be actively collected, with the very exceptional circumstance of a potential donation being of value in telling a story of local people. ‘Justification for full retention of the Doll collection was not supported. Evidence for keeping the dolls possibly leads to a small number being retained and displayed.’ The current collection will be retained and reviewed.

  Numismatics (coins, medals and tokens)

  This collection includes military medals, commemorative medals, medals and coins. The collection is of a disparate nature with only some objects having relevant local production or ownership.

  Future plans
  Coins, medals and tokens will no longer be actively collected for their own sake, unless opportunities arise which enable us to tell stories of relevant interest about the lives of local people. The current collection will be retained and reviewed.

  Natural History (objects from the natural world and taxidermy)

  This comprises a number of collections of local herbaria, birds’ eggs, Lepidoptera (insects), birds and mammals, as well as one collection of foreign shells. The Hutton Collection was donated by the widow of a local vicar, who had collected 250 cases of specimens, both native and foreign, and is fully supported by archive material. The collection was examined by Kelvin Boot in March 1992 as part of the Biology UK Survey. Those specimens not in cases were fumigated, plinthed and covered by Paul Rose in 1993.

  Future plans
  This collection should only be added to in exceptional circumstances (primarily due to storage constraints and lack of available expertise in conserving natural history collections.) The TRS project identified that more in-depth consultation with communities and experts was required to provide ultimate conclusions about these collections. ‘Evidence for if taxidermy helps tell the story of our local area, based on TRS exhibition voting, is less conclusive and would need additional exploration.’ Currently all collecting in this area is suspended and the current collection will be retained and reviewed.

  Photographs

  This collection numbers an estimated 30,000 images (prints, plates, negatives and slides) and is predominately of local views, people and activities. Within the collection there are a number of private collections: Ouseley, Egalton, Pavey, Payne, Gibbs, Colfox and Poole.

  Since 2012 this collection is gradually being uploaded to Flickr, to make it available for searching online. It has also allowed the collection to be ‘tagged’ or indexed, making it much easier to search. (https://www.flickr.com/photos/61486724@N00/)

  Future plans
  Local photographic collections are extremely relevant to the history of the places and people we serve and the local memories we preserve. Objects defined by local relevance will be developed and collected in the future. Objects having no association with the local area will be offered for re-homing to appropriate places where they can be better used and valued.

  Documents and Ephemera

  The collection includes documents relating to local families, commercial firms and local organisations, 19th century newspapers, broadsheets, programmes, paper souvenirs and other ephemera. It also includes a large number of Ordnance Survey maps (1820s to 1960s). In 1995 Frances Reynolds bequeathed a collection of material relating to the Reynolds family between 1860 and 1960. The Dorset History Centre has offered to store the majority of the document collection for the Trust

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2023

  Licence: CC BY-NC