Collection: Isle of Wight Council

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  Newport Roman Villa

  During the nineteenth century a number of bodies amassed small collections of antiquities on the Island. The most notable of these belonged to the Isle of Wight Philosophical Society who formed a museum in Newport in 1819. Carisbrooke Castle Museum, established in 1889 by Princess Henry of Battenberg, also contained antiquities, and the demise of the Newport Museum in 1911 saw the transferral of its archaeological collection to Carisbrooke Castle, followed in 1915 by material from the Ryde Museum, and in 1955 by the Ventnor Museum of antiquities.

  The Carisbrooke Castle Museum collection remained relatively dormant during the 1950’s and 1960’s, until 1973 when the newly appointed Assistant Curator began an active collection policy. By 1975 concern was being expressed by the Trustees about the lack of space for the rapidly expanding archaeology collection. In 1979 the Vectis Report recommended that archaeology become a function of the County Museum Service and by 1981 the Trustees and the County Council had successfully negotiated for the transfer of the collections and the Assistant Curator’s post to the Council.

  Today the archaeology collections comprise two major groups of material: collections on deposit by various organisations, and collections largely acquired after 1981 from excavations and by other means (donations, purchases etc). Major loans include archaeological material from the Carisbrooke Castle Museum Trust (mainly pre-Norman finds).

  Cowes Maritime Museum

  In 1975 the newly formed Isle of Wight County Council resolved to establish a Museum Service. A maritime history collection began to be assembled, exploiting acquisitions made following the closure of Cowes shipbuilding firm J. Samuel White, plus maritime items assembled from the amalgamation of the District Councils. These acquisitions led to the establishment of the Cowes Maritime Museum within Cowes Public Library.

  Dinosaur Isle

  The Geological Collection has evolved from collections made by mid-19th century naturalists, which came together under the Society of the Natural History & Antiquities of the Isle of Wight, founded c1813, and were displayed from 1819 in a small museum set up in the Isle of Wight Institution in Newport. The geological collections of this museum were transferred to the museum of the Newport Literary & Scientific Institute in 1852, and in 1876 to the museum of the Newport Literary Society. In 1913 the geological specimens were finally transferred into public ownership, and located as the Museum of Isle of Wight Geology in rooms above Sandown Free Library. Although the collection became the property of the Sandown and Shanklin Urban District Council, it was curated by the Isle of Wight Natural History Society up to 1942. From the late 1940’s until 1974 the local Council employed a succession of honorary custodians, and the collection was augmented by the transference of material from redundant museums at Ventnor and Ryde.

  Under local government re-organisation in 1974 the collection and museum became the responsibility of the newly formed Isle of Wight County Council, and in 1995, the responsibility of the new Isle of Wight Council unitary authority. The Museum of Isle of Wight Geology relocated in 2001 to the newly built Dinosaur Isle museum, vacating the premises above Sandown Library. Dinosaur Isle now displays and interprets the finest parts of the collection, and the stored component of the collection is kept at Cothey Bottom, Ryde.

  The Museum of Island History (Working Towards Accreditation)

  The Museum Service began to collect items relating to the Island’s history soon after its formation in 1974. Early acquisitions included material acquired from the shipbuilders J. Samuel White (which led to the formation of Cowes Maritime Museum), and in 1977 local industrial items from the defunct Albany Steam Museum (leading to a short-lived Heritage Centre display at Cothey Bottom).

  The formation of a Unitary Local Authority (the Isle of Wight Council) in 1995, led to the assimilation of the property of former Borough Councils, through whom a miscellany of civic, local history and fine art collections were inherited, including fine collections of ceramics, silverware, and paintings.

  The rapidly growing local history, art and archaeology collection led in 1996 to the formation of the Museum of Island History, in Newport Guildhall, which displays material telling stories from the Island’s history.

  The Museum of Island History occupies a modest space on the ground floor of a Grade II* listed building. A temporary exhibition gallery and front of house area allow rotating displays, however display space for larger items is limited. The museum works extensively with partners to facilitate loans of objects to suitable publicly accessible sites and is working with other partner museums to enable larger items to be displayed within their sites.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2017, 2024

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  Newport Roman Villa

  The collections all relate to the Isle of Wight and its surrounding waters, and range from the Lower Palaeolithic to the nineteenth century. Nationally important assemblages exist of Lower Palaeolithic and Mesolithic flint tools, Bronze Age pottery and metalwork, Iron Age coinage, Roman remains, and Anglo Saxon coins and metalwork. Amongst the post-medieval collections are substantial remains from the wreck of the Santa Lucia (1567) and HMS Pomone (1811).

  Cowes Maritime Museum

  The maritime collections were expanded considerably from the 1970s, with photographs, documents, ephemera, books, and pictures, and a miscellany of objects ranging from navigational instruments to a small number of boats. While local shipbuilding remains a strong theme, the design and building of small pleasure yachts and craft is also important, in particular the work of designers such as Uffa Fox.

  The maritime history collection will generally cover material of post-medieval date (16th century) to the present, made on or associated with the Isle of Wight. Medieval and earlier items recovered from within an archaeological context will normally be housed within the archaeology collection.

  Dinosaur Isle

  The collection currently comprises over 40,000 geological specimens. It reflects the breadth of the Island’s geological history, ranging from Early Cretaceous to Early Oligocene and Pleistocene. Particular strengths include Wealden (Early Cretaceous) dinosaurs, Cretaceous ammonites, Paleogene molluscs, vertebrates, plants and insects.

  The collection contains over 220 type, figured and cited specimens, notably the holotype specimens of three dinosaurs, Neovenator, Eotyrannus and Yaverlandia. Housed in the collection are thesis collections of two PhD’s and two MPhil’s along with material studied for other higher and first degrees.

  The collection also contains representative rock and mineral specimens from the Island, and historical archival material relating to collections and collectors.

  The museum will primarily collect geological materials of Mesozoic, Paleogene and Neogene age from the topographical county of the Isle of Wight, its inter-tidal zone and the inundated channel of the ancient River Solent.

  To support interpretation, the museum will occasionally collect geological and biological specimens from other areas and periods, which place the Island’s geological heritage into a wider regional, international and evolutionary context. This will in particular apply to providing a broader interpretational context to the dinosaurs and associated fauna and flora of the Cretaceous.

  The Museum of Island History (Working Towards Accreditation)

  Existing local history and fine art collections mainly comprise the following:

  • Local civic regalia, silverware, and ephemera.

  • Local/social history objects made or used on the island, including trade tokens and items of local souvenir ware.

  • Local tradesmen’s tools and shopkeepers’ equipment (notably George’s shoe shop, Newport and Wray’s grocers, Newport).

  • Large industrial archaeology and transport objects, including static steam engines, brick making machinery, printing presses, farm machinery, a carriage, Thrust II parts.

  • Historic photographs, glass plates, postcards and ephemera.

  • Paintings, prints and watercolours, including the late 18th century Rowlandson Collection of sketches, and fine mid-19th century watercolours of local views.

  • A large collection of Chinese Export and European ceramics from the period 1750-1850, bequeathed by the Brigstocke family of Ryde.

  The Heritage Service also holds an Isle of Wight Archaeology collection, artefacts from which are displayed across its sites, and which includes a collection of artefacts acquired through the Treasure process.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2017, 2024

  Licence: CC BY-NC