Promoting awareness of the archaeology and history of north Devon
Promoting awareness of the archaeology and history of north Devon
South Molton Museum Reborn - Lalla Merlin (Newsletter No 11 2006)
A £48,000 injection of lottery money was just the rejuvenating shot in the arm that South Molton Museum needed to make it the dynamic, vibrant, community-interactive place it is rapidly becoming.
The new Children’s Area, with its bright carpet, display of toys and schoolroom artefacts and ceiling painted with blue sky and clouds, is the site of regular, hugely popular story-telling sessions, craft workshops and costumed roleplaying events. The opening exhibition, ‘The Green Man and the Roots of Perception’ provided opportunities for workshops, drama and storytelling events, while a session on Easter traditions kept us all in mythological mode as we explored the story of Eostre and the Hare in the Moon.
The museum’s modest archaeology collection has been redisplayed to great advantage on black cloth, which is a perfect foil for clay pipes, spindle whorls, pot fragments and flint tools alike. There is a small archaeology collection in the Children’s Area, complete with fragments of an erotic clay pipe, a bisque doll’s head and a lead piglet.
We will soon have on display a silver medieval huntsman’s whistle, found locally, which has just been authenticated by the British Museum.
A programme of outreach events is under way. Handling collections are taken to local schools, and also to retirement homes as a basis for reminiscence work. The whole community is invited to take an active part in our exhibitions: children from the local junior school displayed incredibly imaginative artwork for the Green Man Exhibition, and an exhibition by the Local History and Archive Group on South Molton’s Peace Celebrations to mark the end of the Crimean War is being put up as I write. Literature on the hugely successful Green Man exhibition is available on application to the museum: lalla@southmoltonmuseum.co.uk.
Throughout the museum, from the new red carpet at the entrance to the “Please do touch” signs on the replica stocks in the children’s area, it is evident the winds of change have been blowing favourably. Displays have been re-interpreted to be fresh and eye-catching; many of them, such as the railway display and the cider press presentation, are computer presentations. At the other extreme there is an extract in Anglo-Saxon from the poem ‘The Dream of the Rood’ on our Saxon font.
Museum Opening Times:
Monday 10.30 – 4.00
Tuesday 10.30 - 4.00
Wednesday closed
Thursday 10.30 – 4.00
Friday closed
Saturday 10.30 – 4.00
Tel: 01769572951