Last year American historical fiction author Jill George contacted Tavistock Museum to advise us of her forthcoming visit to undertake research in Tavistock. Arabella Burton Buckley, the heroine of her new novel, “Illuminating Darwin – Arabella’s Light”, lived close to the town from 1893-1895 at Walreddon Manor.
The museum has added the ‘Tavistock Turtle’ made by the Tuscan Pottery to its collection of crested-ware porcelain china. It is a rare object as it is likely this little sea creature would not have been a popular seller in our inland town.
Each year Tavistock Museum tries to repair an object in its collection. This summer textile conservators at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) in Exeter are restoring the Brentor village banner.
Decorative chapel china belongs to a bygone age. Such china is rarely used today and has been replaced by cheaper plain crockery. In 2019, a large quantity of chapel china was donated to Tavistock Museum by The Tavistock Methodist Circuit.
This police truncheon is believed to have been used by Victorian policeman Mark Merritt, to defend himself during a number of violent assaults. The truncheon was donated to Tavistock Museum following many years in the Merritt family.
Recently donated to the museum by a Tavistock resident, this small button comes from a military tunic and is about the size of a 20p piece. It is a rare – possibly unique – survivor from the days when the Tavistock Volunteer Corps helped defend our shores from a French invasion force.
The Museum has received a generous donation of a rare late-Victorian pot lid, which dates from the 1880s. The lid was found in a garden in Egham, Surrey and is only the second pot lid from a Tavistock business known.
A contractor A D Williams was appointed by the Tavistock Town Council earlier this month and they have now started work on the dry rot repairs at the Tavistock Museum.
Tavistock Museum was delighted to hear that Tavistock Town Council had generously awarded a grant of £2470.00 for the purchase of equipment for a “mobile museum”.
This autumn roof drainage improvements have been carried out on the Guildhall Square side of the museum building. Two of the original downpipes have been replaced with new larger diameter pipework and two new gutter boxes have been installed at roof level.
Charity No: 1200011
Museum Accreditation No: 2127
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