Bloxham Village Museum

The Museum was established in 1980 and celebrates the history of the village.

Bloxham Village Museum houses a collection which reflects past life in this ancient and beautiful village.

The museum collects today for tomorrow, items with a Bloxham significance particularly related to the period when Bloxham was a self-supporting community. There is a new exhibition every year so our visitors are able to access as much of the collection as possible. Our exhibitions are designed to appeal to all ages and we always have a free quiz for children to enjoy. Check the ‘What’s On’ page to see further details of the current exhibition.

The museum is open at weekends and bank holiday Mondays from Easter Sunday until the last Saturday in October. It also hopes to continue regular weekday openings during the summer school holidays. We will open for group visits by appointment at any time during the open months. The ‘Plan Your visit’ page gives full details of opening dates and special openings.

Bloxham Village Museum was established in 1980 by Mrs Yvonne Huntriss MBE and celebrates the rich history of the village of Bloxham. The museum is a registered charity and is run entirely by volunteers. Bloxham is a beautiful village about 3 miles south of Banbury and very close to the delightful Cotswolds.  The museum is situated in the ground floor of the old Courthouse adjacent to the Parish Church of St Mary’s.  This magnificent church is well worth a visit; its 198 ft spire can be seen from miles around. For a day out in beautiful Bloxham, your visit to the museum could be combined with the Bloxham circular walk or one of the walks in the book “Exploring Old Bloxham” available at the museum. There are several pubs in the village offering refreshments throughout the day.

Bloxham has long been associated with agriculture and evidence has been found of small Romano-British agricultural communities within the parish. The name appears to have derived from the name Blocc. During the Saxon invasions, the family of Blocc established a settlement on both sides of the brook. This was then known as Blocc’s ham (home), eventually becoming Bloxham, one of the early Saxon villages in the area. After the Norman Conquest, the King held Bloxham which became a royal manor. The first stone church was then built and its present size and grandeur is considered to owe much to the links with the noblemen at court. The village grew and evolved but remained a self-contained community until the early 20^th century. The railway came to Bloxham in 1887. The station was on a branch line from Banbury to Cheltenham but operated for only 75 years. The last passenger train left the village in 1951 and the last goods train passed through eleven years later in 1962. The station was demolished in 1964.

The Courthouse, in which the museum is situated, is an ancient building owned by the Bloxham Feoffees. It has an interesting history of its own and is on the site of an even older building which a decree of 1602 described as “The Town House to keep the court in and for other necessary uses”. The Manorial Courts were held here two or four times a year. The Courts Baron which dealt mainly with transfers of manorial property continued to be held here until 1925. The building was rebuilt in 1689 and has been further restored during its history but the 14th-century window and doorway were saved and can be seen in their new locations on the east and north side.

The Bloxham Feoffees are the Trustees of the ancient charities of Bloxham and thought to have existed since Saxon times. They effectively operated as a town council until 1895 when Parish and District Councils were established and took on many of their duties. The Feoffees remain active in the village with their income derived mainly from their ownership of land and the Courthouse. The Feoffees are also a registered charity and periodically notices appear in the Bloxham Broadsheet inviting appropriate applications for grants from local individuals and organisations. “The Bloxham Feoffees” a booklet describing the history and work of the Feoffees in greater detail is on sale in the museum.

Bristol Museum and Art Gallery

Lydiard House

Lydiard Park is a beautiful historic estate on the western edge of Swindon, with the Palladian House, Church and Walled Garden, set in 260 acres of parkland. The children’s play area, Cafe & Tea Rooms, events and education programmes make Lydiard Park a great destination for a family day out.

Leominster Museum

EXPLORE HISTORY ON YOUR DOORSTEP!

Leominster and its surrounding villages has a fascinating history.

Leominster Museum tells the story of Leominster and its people from pre Roman times to the present day. The collection comprises artefacts, pictures, photographs, postcards and documents, including an important collection of paintings and drawings by famous Leominster Victorian artist John Scarlett Davis.  The museum archive is available for research purposes, and the museum has education as the core of its activities.

The museum has full disabled access to the ground floor, except that the toilet facilities are not currently wheelchair-accessible. Information on exhibits in the west gallery is available on the ground floor; from 2017 the south gallery is closed to the public, so as to create more storage and curatorial working space.

Wells and Mendip Museum

The Museum was formed in 1893 and has the objective of  “maintaining a museum for the benefit of the public of the city of Wells and the Mendip area, and advancing the education of the public in the conservation, protection and improvement of the historical & natural environment of the Wells and Mendip area”. The principle of “Search and Learn” was behind the establishment of the Wells Natural History and Archaeological Society and the Museum, in order to encourage Wellensians to explore their local environment. That principle remains at the core of the Musems activities today.

We are an independent museum, reliant on donations and admission charges and the efforts of our volunteers. We are also a registered charity no. 200738.

Topsham Museum

Topsham Museum was established in 1967 by Dorothy Holman. It started in the sail loft attached to the original merchant’s house. The displays initially showed aspects of her family’s shipbuilding background and the collection grew as people donated items of local interest.

On her death in 1983, Dorothy Holman left her property to Exeter City Council to be used as a Museum for Topsham. The Museum reopened in 1986, run by the Topsham Museum Society, a group of local volunteers. Expansion and development have been funded by a Heritage Grant, grants from Exeter City Council, from the Museum Society and by other donations. Entry to the Museum is free and running costs are met by the proceeds of our excellent tea room and gift shop, donations from visitors and from fund raising events run by our numerous dedicated volunteers.

Museum in The Park: Stroud District Museum Service

The Museum in the Park is set in the beautiful grounds of Stratford Park in Stroud, Gloucestershire. Situated in a Grade II listed 17^th Century wool merchant’s house; our collection tells the fascinating story of the Stroud District’s rich and diverse history.

With over 4,000 objects on display, including dinosaur bones, historical paintings and even one of the world’s first lawnmowers, there is something to spark the interest of all of our visitors!

In addition to the main displays in the mansion house, we have our modern extension which houses a small gift shop and café area, alongside a modern, purpose-built art gallery showing a varied programme of exhibitions.  Behind this is Stroud’s ‘secret garden’ – a contemporary Walled Garden that will amaze and may well cause you to say ‘wow’!

Here at the Museum we are very proud to have something to offer visitors of all ages and we enthusiastically welcome families and groups. The displays were designed, as far as possible, with everyone in mind. Many of the rooms contain interactives and toys, and some even sport peep holes into the cabinets at a child friendly height!

Perhaps you’d like to try your hand at a workshop, pause for thought in the galleries, attend a talk or enjoy a quiz for the whole family. With our diverse collection and exciting events programme we truly do offer something for everyone. Visit us and discover something new!

The Museum Service is provided by means of a partnership between Stroud District Council and the Stroud District (Cowle) Museum Trust (a registered charity).  The Council provide the management and funding for the service and the Trust are the legal guardians of the collections.

Admission to the Museum is free.  We may charge for other activities, see our What’s On for more information.  We rely heavily on income from the shop, cafe and room hire to enable us to deliver our public events programme. We have a donation box on site should you wish to contribute to this programme, all donations small or large make a difference.

Bristolʼs Blaise Castle House Museum

Friends of Blaise

Welcome to the Friends of Blaise website, our website is currently under construction, which means currently some pages/content is unavalible, but please bare with us and they will be added shortly.

Message from Chairman

For those who don’t already know, we are a volunteer community group who work with Bristol City Council to conserve, improve and promote this wonderful Estate.

As we progress through 2018, we face falling Council Park budgets, making the job of maintaining the fabric of Blaise even harder than it was last year.

This will clearly be our biggest challenge and to meet it we will need to put more emphasis into mobilising volunteer support, deciding on our top priorities and implementing these with the funding we have at our disposal.

We must also ensure that our voices are heard by the Council as they implement their austerity budget plans.

But we cannot do this without the help of the local community and in particular, the Friends of Blaise and your suggestions and support are now needed more than ever.

However the current situation that the Council now finds itself is leading to a closer more cooperative relationship with them for our volunteer work and funding contributions, and this has got to be a good thing for us in the longer term.

Padstow Museum

Founded in 1971 by an enthusiastic group of local residents headed by retired boat builder Bill Lindsey, the museum is aregistered non profit making charity and is maintained and staffed by local volunteers, our donation box is our only incomeand is used to cover our overheads.

Our unique collection of  artefacts presents an insight into the Social History of the Port of Padstow over the past two centuries.

This small but interesting museum is situated just 20 metres from the harbour side in Padstow on the North Cornish Coast.

  Padstow is an important fishing port and harbour of refuge on the North Coast of Cornwall, a haven for many visiting yachtsmen .

From here that many Cornishmen and their families embarked for a new life in the North America after the collapse of the Cornish Tin mining industry.

  Padstow probably best known for its celebration of the coming of Summer with its Obby – Oss festivities on the 1st May each year, this being well documented in the Museum archives.

The introductory music to the site is just a glimpse of Padstow’s very special Mayday Celebrations

Ilfracombe Museum

This historic building houses unimaginable finds – from a shrunken head to a collection of pickled bats to a recreated Victorian Kitchen.. First opened in August 1932 Ilfracombe Museum has eight rooms for you to explore, with almost 28,000 items in the collection including natural history, Victoriana, taxidermy, local history and much, much more

Discover how we came about and learn about future plans.

There is something to fascinate everyone so Why not come & explore