Collection: Southwold Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Cornucopia)

  Local and Social History

  Collection of fossils discovered locally, including a mammoth’s tusk and a tooth from a mastodon. There is also a small collection of minerals. The collections include flint tools recovered from Easton Bavants and North Warren, Medieval pottery vessels and material recovered from Dunwich Beach. The Southwold Railway (1879-1929) was a unique narrow gauge single line light railway which ran for 8.75 miles between Southwold and Halesworth. The museum holds an interesting collection of memorabilia from the railway. The museum owns an extensive collection of books, maps, newspapers and documents relating to Southwold and East Anglia, as well as holding copies of the Southwold Parish Registers and an indexed list of monuments in St Edmund’s Church. Commemorative and war medals. Large collection of photographs and postcards of people, places and events in Southwold and the surrounding villages. ;British and Foreign coins, tokens and seals. During the wars with the Dutch during the 17th century, Sole Bay off Southwold was the fleet’s main anchorage. In 1672, a major naval engagement, the Battle of Sole Bay took place which resulted in the loss of nearly 4,000 men from both fleets. The displays give an account of the battle and include canon balls trawled up from the site. Fishing is represented in a collection of model boats, and with items of equipment. There are two ships figureheads. The social history collections include toys and games, personal accessories, domestic material, objects reflecting local trades, truncheons and Town regalia and memorabilia, commemorative ceramics and ephemera from World War I and II. Small collection of textiles and costume accessories. Collection of paintings, watercolours, drawings and prints both by local artists and by artists who visited or stayed in Southwold. The Southwold School of Industrial Art began in the early 1880’s, when evening classes were held for the benefit of fishermen. By 1894, it was successful enough to build its own premises in the town and the museum owns several wood carvings made by students at the school. The School exhibited in London and won a number of important customers. It closed in 1914.

  Source: Cornucopia

  Date: Not known, but before 2015

  Licence: CC BY-NC