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Participate in our web application evaluation sessions!

Can you help us to evaluate the Mapping Museums web application?

Mapping Museums is a large-scale research project that is based at Birkbeck, University of London. It aims at documenting at analysing the development of the museum sector between 1960 and 2020. So far, the team has collected a rich range of data on approximately 4000 UK museums, and we have developed a web application that enables users to browse, search, and visualise that information.

The evaluation session is an important means for us to gain feedback about the usefulness of the web application. With your input we can further improve the system before it is made publicly available.

We’d like a wide variety of people to participate in the evaluation trial especially those that are involved in the museum and archive sectors, in academia, or in digital media

The trial session will be based on three activities:

  • A hands-on introduction to the web application.
  • Using the application to undertake a small number of information searches. This will allow us to gauge how easy the system is to use.
  • Group discussion about your experience of using the system and the ways that it could be improved and extended.

The session will take no more than two hours.

There is more information about the project available at http://mappingmuseums.wpengine.com/about/.

Locations and dates:

2 – 4.30pm | October 3rd 2018 | Room 407, Birkbeck Main Building, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX (the entrance is on Torrington Square)

We would be very grateful for your assistance. If you would like to participate, please email the project director at f.candlin@bbk.ac.uk briefly explaining why you would like to attend. We can cover travel expenses up to £20.

Researchers involved in the trial session

Researchers and contact details:

  1. Professor Fiona Candlin (candlin@bbk.ac.uk)
  2. Professor Alex Poulovassilis (ap@dcs.bbk.ac.uk)
  3. Nick Larsson (nick@dcs.bbk.ac.uk)

How the data will be handled in the study

Information obtained from you through the session will be used to inform the research work of the project and subsequent research publications. All personal data collected from this study including your name and contact details will be kept confidential. No reference will be made in oral or written form that could link any participant to information they have provided to us as part of this the study.

Your participation in this study is voluntary, and you may withdraw from the study at any time.

Categories
Museum Snapshots

The Camera Museum

The Camera Museum

The Camera Museum began life as a cafe before being established in 2012 by Patrick and Adrian Tang, displaying Patrick’s growing collection of cameras. The display includes a timeline of cameras from the 1800s to the present. The sign makes reference to the nearby British Museum.

Photo by Jamie Larkin.

Categories
Museum Snapshots

Bournemouth Transport Museum

Yellow bus from Bournemouth Transport Museum
Leyland bus from Bournemouth Transport Museum marked as a Mobile Museum. Photo by Michael Wadman at Netley rally, 1988.

The Bournemouth Transport Museum was a collection of public transport vehicles on display to the public each summer, probably from the late 1970s. It was later known as the Bournemouth Heritage Collection. Some of the vehicles were returned to commercial service in the early 1990s. The collection changed hands and locations a number of times and was eventually sold at auction in 2011. The bus pictured above now appears to be in the West of England Transport Collection, along with many other Bournemouth vehicles. Interestingly it is labelled as a mobile museum, although we don’t know if it contained any exhibits. As always, if you can offer any information about this, please get in touch.

Image via Michael Wadman on Flickr, where you can also read a short but detailed history of the collection.

Categories
Museum Snapshots

Gloucester Folk Museum

Gloucester Folk Museum sign on an old bicycle

The Folk Museum, now known as the Gloucester Life Museum, is housed in Tudor timber-framed buildings. One of them is traditionally associated with the last night of John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester and Worcester, who was burned for heresy by Queen Mary in 1555.

The museum tells the social history of Gloucestershire and includes a reconstructed Victorian classroom.

Image via roomsbooked.

Categories
Museum Snapshots

Big Four Railway Museum

Post mark for the Big Four Railway museum

Some museums are well documented, while others can be rather elusive. A case in point is the Big Four Railway Museum in Bournemouth, about which we know very little. According to one source it housed a collection of railway locomotive name plates belonging to the enthusiast Frank Burridge and was open in the 1980s. As this postmark suggests, it may also have hosted temporary exhibitions.

Burridge wrote a book about locomotive name plates. As the book’s cover indicates, the Big Four were the four main railway companies in the United Kingdom between 1923 and 1947: Great Western Railway, London, Midland and Scottish Railway, London and North Eastern Railway, and Southern Railway.

A postcard apparently showing the museum’s interior is reproduced below.

Interior of the big four museum with name plates

Images via ebay and Alwyn Ladell on Flickr.

 

Categories
Research Process

Unknown Opening Dates – Museums

This is a picture of an 1830 Drawing Room, at the Geffrye Museum in London, which explores the home from 1600 Britain to the present day.
Drawing room, 1830, at the Geffrye Museum in London | Credit: KotomiCreations

Can you help us with opening and/or closing dates for the museums listed below?

The Mapping Museums research team have compiled data on around 4,000 UK museums, but we’re missing crucial information about the opening and closing dates of a few venues. We know that these venues existed, but sometimes have little more than a postcard or an old publicity flyer.

If you can help us, do please get in touch with the project director, Professor Fiona Candlin on f.candlin@bbk.ac.uk.

Name of museum Address line 1 Town or City Postcode Year opened Year closed
ABERGYNOLWYN VILLAGE MUSEUM 14 Water Street Abergynolwyn LL36 9YB 2007
AGRICULTURAL & RURAL MUSEUM Twycross Zoo CV9 3PX 1982
ASTON MAGNA BYGONES MUSEUM Aston Magna GL56 9QQ 1985
BENSON VETERAN CYCLE MUSEUM 61 Brook Street Wallingford OX10 6LH
BLACKED-OUT BRITAIN WAR MUSEUM 1 St. Mary’s Street Huntingdon PE29 3PE
BORRERAIG PARK MUSEUM Borreraig Dunvegan IV55 8ZX
BWLCH FARM MUSEUM Bynes Llanelli SA14 9ST
CARRON ROW FARM MUSEUM Titchfield PO15 1DZ
CHAPEL BECK GALLERY Guisborough TS14 6LS
COUNTRYSIDE COLLECTION Ferndown BH21 2EB 2006
DOLLAND AND AITCHISON MUSEUM 1323 Coventry Road Birmingham B25 8AW
DRUSILLAS MUSEUM Berwick Polegate BN26 5QS 1980-1984
DUKES WOOD OIL MUSEUM Kelham Hall Newark NG23 5QX Open
DYKE NOOK FARM MUSEUM Dyke Nook Appleby CA16 6NS
HAYWAIN FARM MUSEUM Field Farm Doncaster DN9 1Z
JOHN KING WORKSHOP MUSEUM Victoria Road Pinxton NG16 6LR
LAUNDRY & MANGLE MUSEUM Coggleshall CO6 1NT 2001
MULLAGHBAWN FOLK MUSEUM Tullymacrieve Newry BT35 0AA
NATIONAL GYPSY MUSEUM Trerife Farm Park Trerife Unknown 1994
OLD FORGE MUSEUM Sloe Lane Alfriston PN26 5UT 1994
UPPERLANDS HERITAGE MUSEUM The Green Maghera BT46 5RZ
WARSETTER FARM MUSEUM Isle of Sanday KW17 2BL
WEST GREEN HOUSE AGRICULTURAL MUSEUM Hartley Wintney RG27 8JB 1983
Categories
Research Process

Unknown Opening Dates – Historic Houses

A picture of Croft Castle - Croft Castle sits deep in the heart of Herefordshire countryside surrounded by 1500 acres of historic woodland, farm and parkland.
Croft Castle - Image credit: David Merrett https://www.flickr.com/photos/davehamster/5255132390/

The historic houses listed below are all open to the public; however, we don’t know when they opened to the public.

Can you help us? If so, do please get in touch with the project director, Professor Fiona Candlin on f.candlin@bbk.ac.uk.

Name of museum Town or City Postcode Year open? Status
ACTON COURT Bristol BS37 9TL open
ARBURY HALL Nuneaton CV10 7PT open
ARDINGTON HOUSE Wantage OX12 8PY open
ARDRESS HOUSE Portadown BT62 1SQ open
ASHRIDGE HOUSE Berkhamstead HP4 1NS open
AVINGTON PARK Winchester SO21 1DB open
BADMINTON Badminton GL9 1DD open
BALLINDALLOCH CASTLE Banffshire AB37 9AX open
BEELEIGH ABBEY Maldon CM9 6LL 1969
BELMONT HOUSE AND GARDENS Faversham ME13 0HH open
BODRHYDDAN HALL Rhuddlan LL18 5SB open
BRADWELL LODGE Bradwell-on-Sea CM0 7PL 1971
BRODIE CASTLE Forres IV36 2TE open
CADHAY Ottery St Mary EX11 1QT open
CASTERNE HALL Nr. Ashbourne DE6 2BA open
CASTLE LEOD Strathpepper IV14 9AA open
CHAMBERCOMBE MANOR Ilfracombe EX34 9RJ open
CHARNEY MANOR Wantage OX12 0EJ 1968
CHILLINGTON HALL Wolverhampton WV8 1RE open
COREHOUSE Lanark ML11 9TQ open
CORNWALL HOUSE Monmouth NP25 3EN open
CRESSELLY Kilgetty SA68 0SP open
DALMENY HOUSE South Queensferry EH30 9TQ open
DOLMYNACH HOUSE Rhayader LD6 5AG open
DUART CASTLE Isle of Mull PA64 6AP open
DUNNINALD CASTLE & GARDENS Montrose DD10 9TD open
DUNSLAND Nr. Holsworthy EX22 7YE 1967
DUNVEGAN CASTLE & CASTLE Isle of Skye IV55 8WF open
EDMONSHAM HOUSE & GARDENS Wimborne BH21 5RE open
ELTON HALL Nr. Peterborough PE8 6SH open
EUSTON HALL Thetford IP24 2QP open
FLOORS CASTLE Kelso TD5 7SF open
FORDE ABBEY & GARDENS Chard TA20 4LU open
FURSDON Cadbury EX5 5JS open
GAWTHORPE HALL Burnley BB12 8UA open
GLAMIS CASTLE by Forfar DD8 1RJ open
GLENARM CASTLE BT44 0BQ open
GLENHAM HALL & GARDENS Little Glenham IP13 0BT open
GOODWOOD HOUSE Chichester PO18 0PX open
GOSFIELD HALL Gosfield CO9 1SF 2003
GOSFORD HOUSE Longniddry EH32 0PX open
GREYFRIARS HOUSE AND GARDEN Worcester WR1 2LZ open
HANBURY HALL AND GARDENS Hanbury WR9 7EA open
HARDWICKE COURT Gloucester GL2 4RS open
HARTLAND ABBEY Nr. Bideford EX39 6DT open
HARTSHEATH Mold CH7 4HP open
HAYES BARTON Budleigh Salterton EX9 7BS 1966
HEDINGHAM CASTLE Hedingham CO9 3DJ open
HESTERCOMBE HOUSE & GARDENS Hestercombe TA2 8LG open
HEZLETT HOUSE Coleraine BT51 4TW open
HIGHCLIFFE CASTLE Christchurch BH23 4LE open
HINCHINGBROOKE HOUSE Huntingdon PE29 3BN open
HOPETOUN HOUSE South Queensferry EH30 9SL open
HOUGHTON HALL & GARDENS King’s Lynn PE31 6UE open
HOUSE OF THE BINNS Linlithgow EH49 7NA open
HUTTON-IN-THE-FOREST Penrith CA11 9TH open
INVERARAY CASTLE & GARDENS Argyll PA32 8XE open
ISEL HALL Cockermouth CA13 0QG open
KELBURN CASTLE By Lars KA29 0BE open
KENTWELL HALL & GARDENS Sudbury CO10 9BA open
KINGSTON BAGPUIZE HOUSE Abingdon OX13 5AX open
LEIGHTON HALL Carnforth LA5 9ST open
LEITH HALL Huntly AB54 4NQ open
LENNOXLOVE Haddington EH41 4NZ open
LISSAN HOUSE Cookstown BT80 9SW open
LITTLE MALVERN COURT Nr. Malvern WR14 4JN open
LLANCHAERON Aberaeron SA48 8DG open
LODGE PARK Near Cheltenham GL54 3PP open
LOWER HUXLEY HALL Chester CH3 7RQ 1964
LULWORTH CASTLE & PARK Wareham BH20 5QS open
MANDERSTON Duns TD1 3PP open
MAPPERTON Beaminster DT8 3NR open
MARKENFIELD HALL Ripon HG4 3AD open
MELLERSTAIN HOUSE Gordon TD3 6LG open
MEOLS HALL Southport PR9 7LZ open
MOGGERHANGER PARK Moggerhanger MK44 3RW open
MONZIE CASTLE Crieff PH7 4HD open
MUNCASTER CASTLE & GARDENS Ravenglass CA18 1RQ open
NEWHOUSE Salisbury SP5 2NX open
NEWLISTON Kirkliston EH29 9EB open
NORTON CONYERS Ripon HG4 5EQ open
NUNWELL HOUSE Brading PO36 0JQ open
OLDWAY MANSION Paignton TQ3 2TY 1975
OWLETTS Gravesend DA12 3AP open
PENCARROW Bodmin PL30 3AG open
PENFOUND MANOR Bude EX23 0DZ 1970
PEOVER HALL & GARDENS Knutsford WA16 9HW open
PLAS GLYN Y WEDDW Abersoch LL53 7TT open
PORT ELIOT St. Germans PL12 5ND open
POWDERHAM CASTLE Nr. Exeter EX6 8JQ open
PRIDEAUX PLACE Padstow PL28 8RP open
RAMMERSCALES Lockerbie DG11 1LD open
RESTORATION HOUSE Rochester ME1 1RF open
RIPLEY CASTLE Harrogate HG3 3AY open
RODMARTON MANOR Cirencester GL7 6PF open
ROKEBY PARK Barnard Castle DL12 9RZ open
SAMLESBURY HALL Samlesbury PR5 0UP open
SAND Sidmouth EX10 0QN open
SAUSMAREZ MANOR St. Martin GY4 6SG open
SCAMPSTON HALL & WALLED GARDENS Malton YO17 8NG open
SCAWBY HALL Brigg DN20 9LX open
SEZINCOTE HOUSE Moreton-in-Marsh GL56 9AW open
SHAW HOUSE Newbury RG7 5EN open
SHERBORNE CASTLE & GARDENS Sherborne DT9 5NR open
SHIPTON HALL Much Wenlock TF13 6JZ 2016
SKAILL HOUSE Sandwick KW16 3LR open
SLEDMERE HOUSE Driffield YO25 3XG open
SMA’ SHOT COTTAGES HERITAGE CENTRE Paisley PA1 2HZ open
SOMERLEYTON HALL Lowestoft NR32 5QQ open
SORN CASTLE KA5 6HR open
ST MARY’S HOUSE & GARDENS Bramber BN44 3WE open
ST. GILES’S HOUSE Wimborne St. Giles BH21 5NA 1971
STANSTED PARK Rowland’s Castle PO9 6DX open
STANWAY HOUSE & WATER GARDEN Cheltenham GL54 5PQ open
STOCK GAYLARD HOUSE Nr. Sturminster Newton DT10 2BG open
STOWE HOUSE Buckingham MK18 5EH open
STRADEY CASTLE Llanelli SA15 4PL open
STRATFIELD SAYE HOUSE Nr. Basingstoke RG7 2BZ open
SUDELEY CASTLE Winchcombe GL54 5JD open
SUFTON COURT Mordiford HR1 4LU open
SUTTON PARK Sutton-on-the-Forest YO61 1DP open
THE BLACKHOUSE Isle of Lewis HS2 9DB open
THE HEATH HOUSE Stoke-on-Trent ST10 4HA open
THOMAS CARLYLE’S BIRTHPLACE by Lockerbie DG11 3DG open
THRUMPTON HALL Thrumpton NG11 0AX open
TIGH IAIN DHONNCHAIDH/CLEADALE CROFTING MUSEUM Isle of Eigg PH42 4RL open
TISSINGTON HALL Ashbourne DE6 1RA open
TITSEY PLACE Oxted RH8 0SA open
TRAQUAIR HOUSE Innerleithen EH44 6PW open
TREOWEN Nr. Monmouth NP25 4DL 1945-2017
TREWITHEN Truro TR2 4DD open
TUDOR MERCHANT’S HOUSE (NT) Tenby SA70 7BX open
TURVEY HOUSE Turvey MK43 8EL open
UGBROOKE PARK Chudleigh TQ13 0AD open
WESTONBIRT HOUSE & GARDENS Tetbury GL8 8QS open
WHITMORE HALL Newcastle-under-Lyme ST5 5HW open
WHITTINGTON COURT Cheltenham GL54 4HF open
WOLFETON HOUSE Dorchester DT10 2BG open
WOODCHESTER MANSION Stonehouse GL10 3TS open
WORTHAM MANOR Lifton PL16 0ED 1967
Categories
Museum Snapshots

Datchworth Museum

Datchworth Museum sign
Datchworth Museum sign, 2007

This museum occupies an old blacksmith’s forge which had been unused since 1953. The collection was begun by Doreen Hodson-Smith, a local resident, but it had outgrown her home. The forge was seen as a suitable venue for a museum to house the collection, and after refurbishment it opened in 1991. The old forge and blacksmith’s bellows were retained and these remain a focal point. The museum illustrates Datchworth’s history with over 900 artefacts, and in 2009 the collection expanded to include the village telephone kiosk, still in situ on the Green.

Image via the museum.

Categories
Museum Snapshots

Basket Museum

Basket Museum interior display

The Basket Museum is part of Coates, a willow business based on the Somerset Levels. Willow for basket making has been grown on the levels for centuries. The museum displays a variety of willow items including bushel baskets, tricycles and traps.

 

Basket Museum display including Red Cross baskets

Images via the museum.

Categories
Museum Snapshots

David Mellor Design Museum

Bus stop at the David Mellor Design Museum

David Mellor was a designer specialising in cutlery, although he also designed street furniture including bus stops and the traffic lights still in use in Britain today. The museum shares the site with a working cutlery factory, which occupies a new building on the site of Hathersage’s old village gasworks.

Image via the museum.