Welcome to the 24 Hour Museum news in brief page for the week ending September 9 2007.
07.09.2007 – Singing in the (Roman) bath
Tyne & Wear Museums Choir and other local choral groups will be singing in the bath this weekend – the Roman bath.
Roman bath-houses along Hadrian’s Wall will be filled with the sound of vocal music on Saturday September 8 when seven different sites are visited by singing groups.
Between 2pm and 3pm, you can hear a few ditties at: Segedunum, Chesters, Carrawburgh, Vindolanda, Housesteads, Carlisle Covered Market, and Ravenglass. Normal admission charges apply.
07.09.2007 - Bath and Camerton Archaeological Society Open Day
Bath and Camerton Archaeological Society is holding an open day on Saturday September 8 at its Upper Row Farm site near Norton St Philip (on the A366), North Somerset. The event is free and runs from 10am-6pm.
Visitors will be able to see a range of Iron Age and Roman artefacts, many found during the summer’s excavations. These include two rare Celtic coins from the late first century BC, and some beautiful Roman brooches.
Roman archaeology still in situ in the trenches will also be on view, and archaeologists will be demonstrating different skills.
For more information, see the society’s website at www.bacas.org.uk.
06.09.2007 – Neolithic henge and Roman horse head excavated in Cornwall
Archaeologists in Cornwall have been excavating a 5,000-year-old henge site in Cornwall - the first uncovered in nearly 50 years in the county.
The earthwork henge in St Newlyn East was first identified from the air as a marking in a field of crops – now the Cornwall Archaeology Society is finding out more about the ancient ceremonial site.
While digging, the team also turned up Roman-age remains, including pottery and a horse’s head. The latter is an unusual discovery for two reasons – Cornwall’s acid soil usually means such items aren’t well preserved, and the Romans never had a hold on Cornwall. However, ideas about the Roman influence in Cornwall are being re-thought after the second ever fort in the county was confirmed to be Roman, near Restormel Castle earlier in 2007.
05.09.2007 - Market Harborough Museum prepares for return of Iron Age hoard
Market Harborough Museum is set to shut for six months in 2008 to allow curators to prepare for the arrival of one of Europe's most important Iron Age finds.
The hoard includes a silver and gold cavalry helmet (pictured), the finest of its kind to be found in this country, and was unearthed along with 5,000 silver and gold coins in a field in Hallaton in 2002.
After conservation at the British Museum the hoard is due to return to the museum for an exhibition in spring 2009. Before then the museum will need to close in autumn 2008 to allow for the builidng of ultra-secure displays which will tell the story behind the remarkable find.
05.09.2007 - New Museum Resource centre open day in Hereford
Herefordshire residents will get their first opportunity to see the state-of-the-art Museum Resource and Learning Centre in Hereford’s Friar Street at an open day on Thursday, September 6.
The £1.83 million building, converted from the old telephone exchange with the help of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, will be open to the public as part of the national Heritage Open Days which aim to allow free access to interesting and historic buildings.
The Building Our Museum event from 11am until 3pm will include tours of the new spaces in the Museum Resource and Learning Centre including the behind the scenes areas of the new facility which have specialist climate controlled spaces to keep all of the county’s museum collections together for the first time.
For more information about Heritage Open Days log onto the website www.heritageopendays.org.uk or look out for the Herefordshire leaflet and local posters.
05.09.2007 - National Railway Museum prepares for 2008 Summer of Steam
The National Railway Museum (NRM) in York is starting to put together plans for a summer of steam for 2008.
From May 24 to June 1 2008 the museum is going to be hosting an event to mark the 40th anniversary of the last steam hauled passenger train in 1968 and as part of the event visitors will see the newly restored NRM locomotive Oliver Cromwell as the star of the show.
Visiting locomotives and vehicles from around the country will assemble at the Museum to mark the anniversary of the last days of mainline steam, the survivals and revivals that followed and the effects felt by the people and communities involved. More details will be available in the coming months.
A month later, on 5 and 6 July 2008, the NRM will be host to one of the most spectacular sights in the history of steam locomotive preservation, when the museum welcomes 3 operational ‘A4’ Class locomotives to stand side-by-side with the world record holding Mallard.
04.09.2007 - English Heritage grants for two Sussex heritage sites
English Heritage has announced two grants totalling £70,000 to help preserve Bignor Roman Villa and Treyford Old Church in West Sussex, two of the most important historic sites in the area.
Bignor Roman Villa, near Pulborough has just been removed from the Buildings at Risk Register and will benefit from a £60,000 grant from English Heritage to preserve the significant historic site for years to come. The grant is helping to fund the new thatch roof over the 'cover buildings' and a scheme to help repair the mosaics, which have been damaged by water leaking through the old roof.
A second English Heritage grant will go towards preserving the ruins of Treyford Church, near Chichester. The building, long disused, is currently on the Buildings at Risk Register and is a scheduled monument. The site is overgrown and English Heritage has offered £10,000 to help specify what conservation works are needed, and to clear vegetation from the ruins.
English Heritage is also encouraging local volunteers to help clear away debris on the Treyford site. Anyone wishing to help should contact Judith Roebuck on - 01483 252044 and/or Geoffrey Green - 07836 369449.
4.9.2007 – Artist exhibits poo-ctures in Lincoln
A Lincoln artist has created some captivating landscapes that on closer inspection are constructed of something rather unappealing – dog poo.
Fine Art MA student Sacha Marran has manipulated photos of canine excrement to transform them into mountain and lake scenes. The poo comes from various pooches, including her own pet greyhound.
The works are on show in an MA Fine Art exhibition at Greestone House, Lincoln, open to the public from September 6-8 2007.
03.09.2007 – Woodcrafts day at Amberley Working Museum in Sussex
Amberley Working Museum in Sussex is holding its annual Wood from the Trees event on Sunday September 9 2007, where traditional techniques used to work wood will be displayed.
Visitors will be able to see the museum’s steam crane and saw bench, the Woodturner’s Hut and watch bodgers, hurdle-makers, carvers, turners and other woodland craftspeople at work.
“This is very much a working event,” said organiser Howard Stenning, “and a poignant reminder of how the world has changed. Between the various exhibitors, there is an extraordinary amount of experience and knowledge of a way of life which has all but died out.”
03.09.2007 - Transplant patient to come face to face with her own heart
Heart transplant patient Jennifer Sutton will come face to face with her own heart when she visits the Wellcome Collection's Heart Exhibition on September 4.
She gave her old heart, which was suffering from restrictive cardiomyopathy, to the Wellcome Collection to help increase public awareness about the disease and organ donation.
Her old heart forms part of the exhibition, which explores the medical and cultural significance of the heart and runs until September 16 2007.
03.09.2007 - Rescued Cardiff tram makes its way into museum after 50 years
A historic Welsh tram has finally made its way into a museum after a 50-year wait.
Tramcar Cardiff 131 was built in 1905 and was presented to the Museum Committee of the Light Railway Transport League when Cardiff Corporation Tramways closed in 1950.
The Committee was eventually to become the Tramway Museum Society, founders of the National Tramway Museum in Crich Derbyshire, and while the Cardiff tram was the very first to arrive there in 1959 it was subsequently put in off-site storage and has only just returned to be restored to its former glory.
“It was rescued from the scrap-heap by enthusiasts back in the 1950s and has remained untouched since then,” said Rolling Stock Engineer Peter Bird, who is in charge of restoring the tramcar.
“Now begins the painstaking but fascinating task of stripping back over 100 years’ worth of history.”
