Directory of Museum Collections in Somerset
16th Edition 2006 Last updated March 2006. All entries are subject to change. The Somerset County Museum holds no responsibility for details that are incorrect.
List of Museums
Contents
Section 1 County and District Museum Services
Section 2 Museum Collections Open to the Public and Proposed Museums
Section 3 Museums Open All Year Round
Section 4 Subject Index to Collections
Section 5 Regional Museum Services
Section 6 Useful Addresses
Section 7 Museums in Somerset
Map A map of all museums in the County with links to information
PREFACE
This Directory has been compiled by Somerset County Museums Service from information supplied by the various museums in the county. Every endeavour has been made to ensure that the information is as complete, up-to-date and accurate as possible for the 2006 season; but it will be appreciated that certain details, in particular opening hours and admission charges, are liable to alteration at any time. Visitors planning a long journey to visit a particular museum are especially advised to check opening hours with the museum concerned by telephone in order to avoid possible disappointment. Museums are always pleased to make their reference collections available for consultation by appointment.
Somerset County Museums Service will be pleased to receive at the address below details of any additions or amendments to this Directory for inclusion in future editions. Please contact Frances Pym.
Please note the Directory is limited to listing museums within the administrative county of Somerset. For details of museums in the local authority areas of North Somerset (Nick Goff, telephone (01934) 621028) and Bath and North East Somerset (Stephen Bird, telephone (01225) 477750), formerly in the county of Avon, please contact their museum officers.
FOREWORD
The mention of the word 'Museum' conjures up many different images in peoples minds. A centre for education about our past, a place to leave the results of a lifetime of collecting, a vast building filled with dusty dinosaurs, even a place to go on a wet day when on holiday. It is perhaps all these things; and more. The Museums Association definition is 'an institution which collects, documents, preserves, exhibits and interprets material evidence for the public benefit'. It has been suggested that the part that most people see is really of secondary importance to that of preserving material for future generations, should it be art, social history or even rare breeds of animals.
The Museums in Somerset are many and diverse in type which not only reflect the rich historic background to the county, its varied agricultural and industrial past but also its importance to events in more recent times: From Lake Villages to Concorde.
In Somerset, we are very well blessed to have such an excellent County Museum service which is served by enthusiastic staff, who not only manage the County Museum, Taunton, and the Rural Life Museum at Glastonbury, but also offer an extension service to the many other museums in the county. This is of particular relevance at a time when many of these institutions are applying to the Museums and Galleries Commission for registration under its voluntary scheme.
The final words to the foreword in a previous edition are still very relevant: "We issue this Directory, then in the hope that it will help all those responsible for museums to know where to look for assistance if necessary, and where their assistance may be welcomed by others; and to offer both residents and visitors a guide to the wealth of knowledge and enjoyment to be found in the widespread and visible record of the life of Somerset past, present and -with perseverance - to come".
Justin Robinson
Portfolio Holder for Adult & Community Services
Somerset County Council
SECTION 1 ... COUNTY AND DISTRICT MUSEUM SERVICES
C. Somerset County Museums Service (MGCR)
Taunton Castle, Castle Green, Taunton TA1 4AA
Managing Body: Somerset County Council
Telephone: Taunton (01823) 320200
Fax: (01823) 320229, E-mail: county-museums@somerset.gov.uk
web site: www.somerset.gov.uk/museums
Head of Heritage Service - Tom Mayberry,MA,DAA.
Secretary: Carole Price
Head of Museums and Keeper -Archaeology (County Museum): Stephen C. Minnitt BA, FSA.
Keeper - Social History (Somerset Rural Life Museum): David Walker BSc, MA, AMA,
Keeper - Extension Services (Somerset Rural Life Museum): Mary Gryspeerdt MA, AMA
Keeper - Natural Sciences (County Museum): Dennis W. Parsons BSc
Keeper - Textiles & Decorative Arts, Site Manager (Somerset Rural Life Museum): Estelle Gilbert MA, AMA,
Keeper - Design: Lawrence Bostock BA
Assistant Keeper - Design (Graphics) John French
Assistant Keeper - Design (Construction) Mike Hansford
Senior Finds Liason Officer - for Somerset and Dorset (County Museum) Ciorstaidh Hayward Trevarthen,BA Hons.,PGCE
Finds Liason Officer - for Somerset and Dorset (County Museum) Naomi Payne,BA, MA Phd
Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8.30am -5.00pm
The County Museums Service collects, preserves and documents the material evidence of man and his environment with particular reference to the county of Somerset for the purposes of study, education and enjoyment.
Services provided: display and reference/reserve collections; research facilities for students by appointment; inquiries/identifications; advice on conservation; regular programme of temporary exhibitions; education services -loan collection (see next entry), guided museum tours and lectures for school parties by prior arrangement; and "pastoral" services to smaller museums in Somerset.
Responsibility for the collections is assigned as follows (the brackets refer to the appropriate section in the Collections Management Policy, 2000):-
Keeper - Archaeology
Archaeology (6.6) - excavated material, etc
Ceramics (6.12)
Silver (6.13)
Pewter (6.14)
Firearms and
Weapons (6.16)
Timepieces (6.17)
Fine Arts (6.18)
Military History (6.19)
Coins and Medals (6.20)
Keeper - Natural Sciences
Geology (6.4) - rocks, fossils, minerals
Natural History (6.5) - skins, eggs, mounted specimens, shells, insects, plants
Keeper - Rural Life
Social History (6.8)
Industrial History (6.9)
Candlesticks (6.15)
Photographs (6.21)
Printed Ephemera (6.22)
Oral Archives (6.23)
Costumes and Textiles (6.10)
Toys and Dolls (6.11)
Assistant County Museums Officer - Education and Extension Services
Ethnography (6.7)
Education Loan
Collections (6.24)
See also appropriate entries under BRIDGWATER, GLASTONBURY and TAUNTON in Section 3 of this Directory for individual museums administered by the County Museums Service; and under AXBRIDGE, BRIDGWATER, CHARD, WATCHET, WELLS and YEOVIL for museums to which the County Service contributes.
D. Somerset County Museum Education & Art Service
Taunton Castle, Castle Green, Taunton TA1 4AA
Telephone: (01823) 320223
Fax: (01823) 320229
E-mail: county-museums@somerset.gov.uk
web site: www.somerset.gov.uk/museums
Collection Owners: Somerset Archaeological & Natural History
Society and Somerset County Council
Collections: Loan material available to Local Education
Authority schools in Somerset: natural history,
geology, archaeology, anthropology, social
history and art (Catalogue available).
Other details as for Somerset County Museums Service - see previous entry
E. Sedgemoor District Council
Bridgwater House, King Square, Bridgwater, Somerset, TA6 3AR
Museums Officer: Jessica Vale, BA, MA, AMA
Telephone: Bridgwater (01278) 435399, Fax: (01278) 444076
F. South Somerset District Council
Area South, Maltravers House, Petters Way, Yeovil, Somerset BA20 1AS
David Hill, Museums and Heritage Officer, Museum of South Somerset, Hendford, Yeovil, BA20 1UN. Telephone: (01935) 462855.
Return to Contents
SECTION 2 ... MUSEUMS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AND PROPOSED MUSEUMS
For a printable html page of the entire list click here PRINTABLE DIRECTORY
To view Map of Museums in Somerset please click here (If item not found on map try alphabetically below).
Return to Contents
SECTION 3 .... MUSEUMS OPEN ALL YEAR ROUND
* = closed on Sundays
BRIDGWATER Admiral Blake Museum
DOWLISH WAKE Perry's Cider Mills
DUNSTER Dunster Doll Museum (closed Sats.)
FARLEIGH HUNGERFORD Farleigh Castle Museum
FROME *Frome and East Mendip Museum (also closed Mons.Tues.)
GLASTONBURY Somerset Rural Life Museum
Glastonbury Abbey Gatehouse Museum
Glastonbury Lake Village Museum
SPARKFORD Sparkford Motor Museum
STOKE ST. GREGORY *Willows and Wetlands Visitor Centre
TAUNTON *Somerset County Museum and
*Somerset Military Museum
*Somerset Cricket Museum
WELLS Wells Museum
WESTHAY Peat Moors Visitor Centre
WOOKEY Wookey Hole Caves Museum
YEOVIL *The Museum of South Somerset
YEOVILTON Fleet Air Arm Museum
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SECTION 4 .... SUBJECT INDEX TO COLLECTIONS
Collections are indexed according to subject and location of museum; where a place has more than one museum, the appropriate museum is specified by name.
Agriculture - see under Rural Life
Aeronautics
Chard - Chard & District Museum
Yeovilton
Archaeology - prehistoric to mediaeval
see also Industrial Archaeology
Axbridge
Bridgwater
Castle Cary
Cheddar
Farleigh Hungerford
Frome
Glastonbury - Abbey Gatehouse Museum
- Lake Village Museum
Ilchester
Shepton Mallet
Taunton - Somerset County Museum
Washford - Cleeve Abbey
Watchet
Wells
Westhay
Wincanton
Wookey
Yeovil - Museum of South Somerset
Childhood
Allerford
Chard - Chard & District Museum
Dunster Doll Museum
Glastonbury - Somerset Rural Life Museum
Taunton - Somerset County Museum
Wookey
Costume & Textiles
Chard - Chard & District Museum
Dunster (dolls)
Frome
Glastonbury - Somerset Rural Life Museum
Street (shoes)
Taunton - Somerset County Museum - Somerset Military Museum (uniforms)
Wells (samplers)
Yeovil - Museum of South Somerset
Yeovilton (uniforms)
Fine Art
Bridgwater
Cranmore
Montacute
Taunton - Somerset County Museum
Wells
Geology
Axbridge
Bridgwater
Castle Cary
Cheddar
Frome
Shepton Mallet
Taunton - Somerset County Museum
Watchet
Wells
Wincanton
Wookey
Industrial Archaeology - see also Aeronautics, Maritime, Mills, Railways and Rural Life
Bradford-on-Tone (cider making)
Bridgwater (brick and tile manufacture)
Chard - Chard and District Museum- Hill's Plumbing Museum
Dowlish Wake (cider making)
Frome
Sparkford (motoring)
Street (shoe manufacture)
Taunton - Somerset County Museum
Watchet
Westonzoyland (land drainage & steam power)
Wookey (paper making)
Yeovil - Museum of South Somerset
Literary
Castle Cary (Parson Woodforde)
Nether Stowey - Coleridge Cottage
Maritime
Bridgwater
Watchet
Yeovilton (Royal Naval aviation)
Military
Castle Cary
Taunton - Somerset Military Museum
Yeovilton (Royal Naval aviation)
Mills
Ashton
Dunster - Dunster Castle Water Mill
Williton
Natural History
Cranmore (wildlife paintings)
Porlock
Stoke St. Gregory
Taunton - Somerset County Museum
Wells
Westhay
Railways
Bishop's Lydeard
Blue Anchor
Cranmore
Taunton - Somerset County Museum
Washford
Watchet
Westonzoyland
Rural Life
Allerford
Bradford-on-Tone
Chard - Chard & District Museum
Dowlish Wake
Dunster - Dunster Castle Water Mill
Glastonbury - Somerset Rural Life Museum
Stoke St. Gregory
Westhay
Williton
Sport
Taunton - Somerset Cricket Museum
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SECTION 5 ... REGIONAL MUSEUM SERVICES
A. South West Museums, Libraries & Archives Council
Creech Castle, Taunton TA1 2DX
Telephone (01823) 259696 (Fax 01823 270933)
Website
The Council is a regional development agency. It is funded by Re:source, and works in close partnership with local authorities and other regional organisations.
Chief Executive: Bob Sharpe
Lead Development Officer (Museums): Rhiannon Johns
Accreditaion Officer: Pippa Griffith
B. South Western Federation of Museums and Art Galleries
The Federation is an independent and autonomous body which provides opportunities for museum and gallery staff in the region to discuss matters of mutual interest. The Somerset representative is Vicky Dawson
President: Victoria Pirie
Secretary: VACANT
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SECTION 6 .... USEFUL ADDRESSES
The Museums Association,
24 Calvin Street,
London,
E1 6NW
020-7426 6970
Resource: Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries
16 Queen Anne's Gate
London
SW1H 9AA
020-7273-1444
The National Trust
Wessex Regional Office
Stourton
Warminster
Wilts
BA12 6QD
Bourton, Dorset (0747) 840224
The National Trust
Eastleigh Court
Bishopstrow
Warminster
Wiltshire
BA12 9HW
01985-843600
Regional Federations are independent and autonomous bodies which provide opportunities for museum and gallery staff in the region to discuss matters of mutual interest. The Somerset representative is Vicky Dawson.
SECTION 7 .... MUSEUMS IN SOMERSET
All the museums shown in section 4 are members of the forum which meets as and when its members require to discuss common issues. Any new museum organisation wishing to be kept informed of meetings, please contact Tom Mayberry, Head of Head of Heritage Services +44 (0)1823 320200
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