Westray Heritage Centre

Westray Heritage Centre is a four-star museum, archive and information centre in the island’s main village of Pierowall.

As well as staging exhibitions focusing on Westray’s history and storing an archive of artefacts, documents and photographs, we have resources for those researching family history, the story of farming, fishing and other trades in the island and an insight into the ongoing archaeological investigations here.

The centre is also the home of the 5,000-year-old “Westray Wife” (also known as Orkney Venus) figurine (pictured right), found at the Links of Noltland in 2009, and the fabulous carvings on the Westray Stone, discovered in Pierowall in 1981.

The Scottish Crannog Centre

Discover what life was like 2,500 years ago at the Scottish Crannog Centre, a unique reconstruction of an ancient loch dwelling in the heart of beautiful Perthshire.  Fun, exciting, inspirational and informative, this award winning centre has something for everyone, from the youngest explorer to the serious knowledge seeker!

The distinctive roundhouse sitting over stunning Loch Tay is one of the most recognisable sights in Perthshire, and draws on remarkable discoveries made by divers from the Scottish Trust for Underwater Archaeology during their underwater excavations of Oakbank Crannog at nearby Fearnan.

The Brickworks Museum, Bursledon

At the heart of the museum, and the heart of the collection, is the original brick making machinery, steam engine and related smaller equipment, such as barrows, shovels and wagons, once used at Bursledon Brickworks. The steam engine and machinery was restored about 20 years ago and is operated on special events.

Since the inception of the museum in the early 1990s the collection has grown to include:
 

• Examples of brick and tile making technology that represent developments in the industry over the last 200 years. We have, for example, a selection of brick presses, cutting tables and tile moulds.
• A significant collection of products of clay based industry – bricks, tiles, chimney pots, land drains and other examples – from the local region and nationally.
• A large number of wooden brick moulds. These illustrate the range of special shapes employed to create brick architecture over the last 100 years.
• Artefacts that relate to the small-scale country handmade brick industry, for example tools and equipment from the Pycroft’s works in Hayling Island.
• An archive of material with historical significance to the Bursledon Brickworks site or the brick making industry more generally. It contains photographs, documents such as letters and receipts, maps and plans and audio/video tapes.
• A library of published material, both historic and contemporary, that includes journals, trade catalogues, articles, books, manuals and audio-visual material. These cover a variety of topics relating to bricks, building methods and materials, engineering and the local area.

Initially items were collected predominantly from Hampshire and adjoining counties, but that gradually evolved to include national examples in-line with Collecting Policies from the early 1990s. Most of the objects date from the late 19th and 20th centuries but the collection includes earlier examples such as a Roman tile.

Many of our objects can be seen on a visit to the museum and the displays, particularly upstairs, will continue to be developed this year. However, a lot of the collection is in store as there is not enough space to have it all on display. We are working hard to catalogue our collections and make information about them accessible. If you are interested to find out more please contact our Collections Manager at the museum.

Aldershot Military Museum

Hampshire Cultural Trust was established in 2014 to promote Hampshire as a great cultural county and to operate arts and museums facilities previously operated by Hampshire County Council and Winchester City Council. We manage and support 26 arts and museums attractions across Hampshire (23 directly and three in partnership), and deliver county-wide outreach programmes that bring great culture to local communities.

We work with young people and target audiences from diverse backgrounds in all areas including literature, rural arts touring, the visual arts and local history. In addition, we look after 2.5 million objects relating to Hampshire’s internationally significant cultural heritage.

HAMPSHIRE CULTURAL TRUST EXISTS TO PROVIDE A PLATFORM FOR WORLD CLASS ARTS, CULTURE AND HERITAGE

• Working in partnership regionally, across the UK and internationally
• Managing and supporting 26 arts venues and museums
• Showcasing Hampshire’s rich heritage
• Acting as an economic catalyst for regeneration and skills development
• Contributing towards creating the kind of offer that will attract more visitors of all ages and backgrounds to the region.

University of Aberdeen – Anatomy Museum

The origins of the Anatomy Museum at the University of Aberdeen are unclear but there is documentation which describes the opening of the refurbished Anatomy Museum at Marischal College in 1881 as part of a general refurbishment of the Anatomy department at that time under the guidance of the first Regius Chair of Anatomy, Professor John Struthers. Struthers was ahead of his time in terms of the needs of medical education and following his retirement from Aberdeen he went on to become the first Chair of the Medical Education Committee of the General Medical Council. Struthers was succeeded by Professor Robert W Reid who occupied the Regius Chair of Anatomy from 1889 – 1925. Professor Reid was a skilled dissector and made a sizeable contribution to the cadaveric objects within the Anatomy Museum.

The collections are wide ranging and the earliest specimens can be traced back to the 1870s. Collecting of objects for the museum has been driven by the research and teaching activities of staff over the years and the museum has some notable strengths:

• • Skeletal material
  • Fluid-preserved specimens of human tissues
  • Modern plastic anatomical models
  • Historical anatomical models of wax, papier-mache and plaster
  • Works on paper, including 19th century watercolours and anatomical

drawings by Alberto Morocco

In addition, the museum has a small collection of associated material, like anti-grave robbing devices used in the north-east of Scotland in the 19th century.

Arbroath Museum

Arbroath Signal Tower Museum

Signal Tower Museum is located near Arbroath’s picturesque and busy harbour, in a complex of buildings which were originally used as the shore station and family accommodation for the Bell Rock Lighthouse, which stands 11 miles offshore from Arbroath, enjoy views from the museum webcam. Built in 1813, Signal Tower served the lighthouse until it was decommissioned in 1955 and later became a museum in 1974.

Hear about the story of the magnificent Bell Rock Lighthouse, which shows how the coastal town’s connection with the sea has influenced Arbroath’s social, industrial and ecclesiastical history. From multi-media displays and historic objects including stories of Arbroath’s fishing and maritime industries which are interwoven with stories of the ‘Mucklebackit woman’ who sold the Arbroath Smokies and tall pirate tales of Ralph the Rover.

Both the lighthouse and the Signal Tower were built for the Northern Lighthouse Board, by Robert Stevenson, founder of the famous Stevenson dynasty of lighthouse builders.

Meffan Museum and Art Gallery

Situated in the centre of the market town of Forfar come and explore the Forfar Story where smells and sounds guide you through the narrow and cobbled recreation of The Vennel. Peer inside several small shops including; Peter Reid’s sweet shop, a knockmaker’s workshop and a baker’s shop, which of course offers the obligatory ‘Forfar Bridie’, a meat and pastry delicacy. You can also learn about Forfar’s witches and examine a collection of enigmatic sculptured stones, in the Pictish Stones display.

Offering a diverse programme of art exhibitions, the museum’s art gallery showcases the work of local, national and internationally-renowned artists. Details of the current exhibition can be found at www.facebook.com/ANGUSaliveMuseums.

Southampton City Art Gallery

The gallery, based in Southampton’s burgeoning Cultural Quarter, opened in 1939. The gallery attracts art-lovers, curious amateurs as well as those who simply enjoy the atmosphere of a gallery. Southampton City Art Gallery offers the opportunity to enjoy high quality exhibitions ranging from painting, sculpture and drawing, to photography and film, as well as permanent collection and displays that change regularly to ensure new experiences with each visit.

Free to enter and conveniently located right next to SeaCity Museum, the venue caters for families. You can enjoy gallery trails through the exhibitions, monthly art clubs and a fantastic range of activities for all ages.

Tudor House And Garden

History of Tudor House

Tudor House and Garden has a fascinating history and provides us with rich insight into the lives of people in Southampton over the last 800 years. This is perhaps best demonstrated by its respective owners, the lives of whom are all well documented, but described in brief on this page.

John Wytegod
Owner of Tudor House from 1348-1369

John Wytegod was a wealthy merchant and Mayor. He owned the part of the property known as King John’s Palace as well as other properties nearby. Blue Anchor Lane, which runs alongside Tudor House, was originally called Wytegod’s Lane.

In 1338 Southampton had been attacked by French and Genoese raiders who wreaked death and destruction in the town. 20 years later, it was struck by the Black Death, causing further widespread death and misery. When calm returned, merchants began to arrive from foreign lands bringing wine to sell and buying goods to take back, especially wool. The river ran very close to King John’s Palace and ships and boats could moor here for loading and unloading.

King John’s Palace originally featured fine, large windows looking out over the river. However, when the town wall was built in 1360 to protect Southampton after the raids, these were bricked up for security and some converted to arrow slits.

Walter and Jane William
Owners of Tudor House in the late 15th Century

Walter William, a merchant also known as Watkyn William, inherited Tudor House from his father. Like many other Southampton traders he sent wool and cloth by ship to many countries and imported salt, wine, leather, oil, fish and many other luxury goods including woad – used for dyeing clothes.

Becoming Sheriff, and in 1483 Mayor of Southampton, William was involved in a plot against King Richard III, to the extent where some said that he may have been responsible for killing the two young princes in the Tower of London. He was labeled a traitor and to avoid persecution and punishment fled to Beaulieu Abbey where he sought sanctuary. He died shortly afterwards.

The Battle of Bosworth Field in I485 saw Richard defeated by Henry Tudor and killed in battle. The new King – Henry VII – pardoned William’s fellow traitors from Southampton and rewarded them with important positions in the town. William’s wife Jane became the wealthy owner of Tudor House, later marrying Sir John Dawtrey. It was through this union that the house came into the Dawtrey family.

Sir John Dawtrey
Owner of Tudor House from 1491 – 1518

Coming from a wealthy family in Petworth, Sussex, Sir John Dawtrey moved to Southampton to become the Overseer of the Port of Southampton and Collector of the King’s Customs (any cart entering or leaving the town through the Bargate paid a toll according to the goods being carried). Dawtrey was also a major landowner and merchant, an MP and Sheriff. He was also responsible for maintaining the town’s great defensive wall and ditch in good repair.

Dawtrey married Jane William, who already owned three houses on the corner of St. Michael’s Square. Deciding that he needed a house more appropriate for a man of his status, he had them joined together into one much larger, more fashionable house, very much like the one you can see today. Jane subsequently died and Dawtrey married Isabel Shirley in 1509, giving birth to their son Francis the following year.

Dawtrey received large sums of money from Henry VIII to provide food for the navy, at sea in defence of attack by France. Money was also provided for the building and fitting out and provisioning of ships – including The Peter Pomegranate and The Mary Rose. Dawtrey died in 1518.

Lady Isabel Lyster

In 1528 Dawtrey’s widow Isabel married Sir Richard Lyster, one of the richest men in Southampton. Lady Isabel traded in millstones for the many windmills and watermills in England. Both importing and exporting, she rented land at West Quay for storage.

Lord and Lady Lyster – as they became – were very wealthy and often entertained regally at Tudor House. Lady Lyster organised the household, having eight servants, who fetched water, cleaned the house, made beds, and washed the clothes. Large houses often also had a bake house, a dairy, and a kitchen often in a separate building to avoid the risk of fire.

Young women who worked in service were expected to live within the household, working very long hours. They were provided with food and clothing and when they left to get married they were often given some money to help set up their own home.

Most families in Tudor Southampton used their gardens for growing vegetables and possibly for keeping bees, pigs and chickens. Richer families like the Lysters would have had a decorative garden, also growing herbs for use in cooking and cleaning. Lady Lyster may have prepared medicines and made perfumes and cosmetics from the flowers and herbs she grew.

Sir Richard Lyster
Owner of Tudor House in the 16th Century

Sir Richard Lyster was born in Wakefield, in Yorkshire 1480. He trained as a lawyer in London and after 16 years became Lord Chief Justice of England, acquiring considerable wealth, and land across the country. In fact for many years, Blue Anchor Lane, the lane leading past Tudor House, was known as ‘My Lord Chief Justice Lane’, later shortened to ‘Lord’s Lane’.

Following the death of Lady Isabel, Lyster married Elizabeth Stoke. They had a son, Michael and daughter, Elizabeth. Lyster divided his time between London and Southampton, where he retired in 1552.

Lyster took part in many important events during the reign of Henry VIII including the trials of Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More and the procession of Anne Boleyn through London prior to her 1533 Coronation, in which he actually rode.

Lyster died in 1554 and Lady Elizabeth erected a monument to him in St Michael’s Church, opposite Tudor House.

Weald and Downland Open Air Museum

The Weald and Downland Open Air Museum was launched in 1967 by a small group of enthusiasts led by the Museum’s founder, the late Dr. J.R. Armstrong MBE. It first opened to the public on 5 September 1970.

The principal aim of the founding group was to establish a centre that could rescue representative examples of vernacular buildings from the South East of England, and thereby to generate an increased public awareness and interest in the built environment. Read our founder’s article, Ancient Monument Society – Series 20 1973 – The Open Air Museum Idea and Reality – J R Armstrong, reproduced with the kind permission of the Ancient Monuments Society.

The Museum’s foundation coincided with a growing national interest in historic buildings and this general public interest has resulted in strong support for the Museum from its inception.

The Museum promotes the retention of buildings on their original sites unless there is no alternative, and we encourage an informed and sympathetic approach to their preservation and continuing use. Only a small number of representative buildings can be brought to the Museum for inclusion in the collection.

The Museum offers advice to people involved in the conservation of buildings. Where we cannot give advice ourselves, we will attempt to provide suitable contacts with other experts.

As well as illustrating the history of original building styles and types, the Museum has good collections representing country crafts and industries, building trades and agriculture. Objects from these collections can be seen displayed in buildings on the site, and in the open access store in the basement of the Downland Gridshell.