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.

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.

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.

A large banner previously displayed in the United Reform Church at Tavistock has found a new home at Tavistock Museum. The cloth banner shows a painting of the imposing Congregational Church, a gothic structure with a tall spire, built in 1873 which once was a feature of Duke Street.

Of all the exhibits in Tavistock Museum the one which attracts the most interest is the School Punishment Book from Stowford Church of England School, a small village school, near Lifton. The book was completed for the period February 1935 until November 1946 and records the names and misdeeds of 105 pupils between the ages of 6 and 14. As so many visitors have asked for a copy of the book the museum decided to publish it and now has copies available for sale from the museum shop and on the Devon Museums website.

The town museum will re-open on Saturday 26th March 2016 with two new exhibitions. There will also be a display of military vehicles outside the museum on the opening day. This year’s new exhibitions are:

‘Commemorating 75 Years Since the Opening of Harrowbeer RAF Station, Yelverton’
and

‘Weddings in the Past’

In 2013 the museum extended into the adjoining cottage and acquired a ground level access leading from the Guildhall Square. Since that time the museum has received 7,000 plus visitors annually.

Our visitor surveys confirm that the majority of visitors come into the museum as the result of seeing our signs when passing; therefore improving our external signage became a priority in our business plan.

2015 sees two brand new exhibitions opening at Tavistock Museum. They are: “The Challenging Roads To Peace Since World War 1” and “The Traders of Tavistock”.