Collection: Uffington Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  Details of all our collections are recorded on Modes, a SPECTRUM compliant software package. The criteria for the acquisition of all our collections being that they relate to the local area or its residents. All our records are available for public inspection in the museum building.

  Archaeology

  The Museum has two collections of archaeological artefacts both mainly Iron Age and Roman pottery sherds. One was found by Oxford Archaeology during investigations in and around Uffington Castle in the early 1990s, with ownership subsequently transferred to the Oxfordshire Museum Service. The other is from the “village dig” in 2002 of an Iron Age site to the northwest of the village funded by a Local Heritage Initiative Grant. The finds were donated by the landowner, Eric Penser and have been accessioned into the museum’s collection.

  Local and Social history

  The basis of our collections lies in the books, photos, articles and tools collected by John Little. He was a local resident who founded our museum in 1983 which he called Tom Brown’s School Museum, after the boy in Thomas Hughes’ book. The name was changed to Uffington Museum in 2023 following feedback gained from visitor surveys undertaken during 2022. We inherited a number of articles, some written by John Little and piles of old newspapers. These were sorted and relevant material filed in Reference box files and accessioned and recorded as above.

  Books and maps have been added by gift, bequest and purchase. A notable addition was ‘Our Millennium’ book detailing every house in the village and the occupations of the residents. A few people did not wish to participate and in these cases just the houses were recorded.

  The museum has a collection of oral history tapes and videos recorded by older residents mainly in the late 1990s. We also have information on World War I and World War II and the residents who took part.

  The museum has kept one of the two copies of the churchyard survey undertaken as a combined operation with the congregation of St Mary’s church from 2002-2009.

  The most problematic of our collections is that of tools and other historical articles. Some we have had since the opening of the museum and a few have been collected later. We have no storage space and we have had to refuse various gifts in pursuit of our policy of collecting information on paper and photos. Periodic reviews will be completed to investigate disposal of items that have no provenance or where items have deteriorated. All disposals will be carried out in accordance with current SPECTRUM guidelines.

  Thomas Hughes

  On John Little’s death in 1986 his widow gave to the museum his 137 editions of Tom Brown’s School Days. To complement this collection, we have added other books about the author along with articles, documents and photographs as the opportunity has arisen.

  Sir John Betjeman

  We have a collection of articles, documents and photographs related to his life and times in Uffington 1934-1943. Many of these were given to the museum in 1998 by Candida Lycett-Green, his daughter who lived in the village. They are based on their family life rather than on official occasions.

  In 1998 Candida Lycett-Green approached the museum about keeping copies of letters written by John Betjeman. Sir John Betjeman had sold all his correspondence to a university in British Columbia during his lifetime. These originals had been copied by Candida during her research into the two biographies of her father. This was agreed as a loan and reviewed every three years with Candida’s husband Rupert Lycett-Green following Candida’s death in 2012. In 2024 the collection was returned to the family at their request.

  Uffington White Horse

  The museum owns copies of various articles, pamphlets, books and photographs which have been collected over the years. We own a copy of “Uffington White Horse and its Landscape” which is the definitive book on the investigations on the hill from 1989-1995. It was given to the museum by the authors in 2003 at the launch of the book which was held in the village. Subsequent books have been added to the museums library including the ‘Land of the White Horse’ published in 2019 and again donated by the author.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2024

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  Archaeology

  Local ‘finds’ including Roman and Iron Age artefacts.

  Local and Social History

  Domestic utensils, agricultural tools, craftsmen’s tools, photographs, village school photographs, documents relating to the area, information regarding World War I and II pertaining to the area, oral history tapes and video footage.

  Thomas Saunders Trust

  Documents relating to the Trust which was set up by Thomas Saunders, founder of The Old Schoolroom which now houses the museum.

  Works of Thomas Hughes

  Books, personal letters, documents, articles, photographs and 137 editions of ‘Tom Brown’s School Days’.

  Sir John Betjeman

  Books, personal letters, documents, articles, photographs and information regarding his life and his time in Uffington.

  Uffington White Horse

  Books, pamphlets, research and photographs.

  2019 Uffington and Baulking Neighbourhood Plan

  Full plan and policies produced by Uffington Parish Council and fully adopted by the local council in 2019.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2024

  Licence: CC BY-NC