Welcome to the 24 Hour Museum news in brief page for the week ending February 2 2008.
01.02.2008 - English Heritage repairs famous Norfolk Priory
English Heritage has repaired the ruined gatehouse at Binham Priory, the most intact and impressive monastic ruins of a Benedictine priory in Norfolk.
The nave of the priory, with its 13th century west front and great bricked-up window, is now the parish church. English Heritage gave a grant of £50,000 towards the repairs, including the landscaping of the area around the gatehouse, which has revealed more of the medieval building for visitors to see and was completed in December 2007.
The conservation work is a part of the wider Binham Access and Conservation Project, a partnership of the Binham Priory Parochial Trust, The Norfolk Archaeological Trust and Binham Parochial Church Council.
01.02.2008 - History of the ancient Ridgeway in South Dorset to come alive
The history of the South Dorset section of ancient track the Ridgeway is to be brought to life with a major project that has just received £150,000 in backing from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).
The area includes archaeology from the Stone Age through to Roman times and more than 500 ancient monuments, all of which will be celebrated by the three-year project.
Activities planned include archive research, an oral history project to record local tales and promoting walking routes to the Ridgeway, together with the provision of interpretation boards and MP3 guides.
01.02.2008 – Oxford University Museum to return Maori remains
Oxford University is to return Maori human remains to New Zealand which are currently in its Natural History Museum collection. The remains – three skulls and a section of pelvis – were brought back in the 19th century.
New Zealand’s national museum, Te Papa, has been attempting to retrieve bones of indigenous people since 2005 as part of a government initiative.
31.01.2008 - Art Not Oil Praises end of Shell sponsorship of Wildlife competition
Campaign group Art Not Oil have spoken out in praise of the end of Shell’s sponsorship of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.
The annual competition and accompanying exhibition is organised by the Natural History Museum in London and BBC Wildlife Magazine, and has been sponsored by Anglo-Dutch oil company Shell for the last two years, but will not be in 2008.
Art Not Oil staged protests and counter-exhibitions criticising the sponsorship.
“The oil industry is destroying our future, as well as the habitats and lives of countless living beings right now throughout the world,” said Chris Hyde of the campaign group. “For that reason, and because this victory has shown what climatically conscious grassroots art can achieve, we will be keeping up the pressure with our Art Not Oil campaign.”
31.01.2008 - Victorian Society slams plan to destroy Luton heritage
Plans to flatten buildings in Luton’s historic hat making district, including three listed structures, have been slammed by the Victorian Society, the national charity campaigning for the Victorian and Edwardian historic environment.
Part of a proposed shopping development, the demolition plans would take away several buildings known to have been involved in the hat industry and remove two Grade II-listed buildings (53 Cheapside and 47 Guildford Street) and a Victorian pub.
“These buildings are physical records of the development of Luton,” said Heloise Brown, Conservation Adviser of the Victorian Society. “They are remarkable survivals and their loss would deprive a whole section of the city of its historical context and setting. It would be a wasteful and short-sighted solution for an area in need of selective and sensitive regeneration.’
“We urge Luton Borough Council to hold out for a scheme that makes the most of the city’s heritage, rather than razing it to the ground.”
31.01.2008 - First railway casualty returns to museum for National Storytelling Week
A nineteenth century Tory MP who was the first person to die from a railway accident will come back from the dead to tell his story this weekend, as part of the National Story Telling Weekend (2-3 February).
The re-enactment of William Huskisson’s horrific death at the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, in 1830, will take place as part of a programme of storytelling at the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI).
MOSI is based on the site of the former Liverpool Road station – the end terminal of the original Liverpool & Manchester Railway.
Liverpool MP Huskisson was one of a select group of politicians and aristocracy, including Prime Minister the Duke of Wellington, who were transported on the first rail journey from Liverpool to Manchester on 15 September, 1830.
However, celebration turned to despair as Huskisson was caught by the steam engine Rocket during a water break at Parkside Station. He died later in the evening from his injuries.
30.01.2008 - Work to save Roman bridge over the Tyne completed
Work to save the ramp of a huge Roman bridge which once spanned the River Tyne at Corbridge has been completed.
Originally uncovered by archaeologists and volunteers from Tyne and Wear Museums during an excavation in 2004, the lavishly decorated ramp of the bridge was once part of the main Roman road from London to Scotland, and fuctioned as part of an important military route for the northern reaches of the Roman empire.
After a consultation the remains have been dismantled and reassembled on a nearby site safe from erosion by the river, where they can be seen by all and appreciated for years to come.
30.01.2008 - Stone Age tribe from Merseyside discovered
Archaeologists working on the site of a road improvement scheme in Merseyside have discovered the earliest evidence of human activity in the area.
Finds dating back 7,000 years, including toasted hazelnut shells and flints, have been uncovered at the Huyton site, at Junction 6 of the M62. Later finds of Roman pottery were also turned up.
Open days are taking place on Friday and Saturday, February 1 and 2, for the public to view the finds at the site office off Windy Arbour Lane (12pm – 6pm on Friday, 9am – 1pm Saturday).
“We will be turning this important construction site into a museum for the day,” said Gary Hilton, Highways Agency project manager, “before the artefacts are handed over to the experts who will preserve them for future generations.”
29.01.2008 - Elgar birthplace museum spreads its wings
The Elgar Birthplace Museum in Worcestershire has introduced new special 'bespoke days' for groups and 'speakers' who can visit and talk to groups in the local area.
The bespoke days include behind-the-scenes tours and talks centred on Elgar or a specific item in the collection, together with tours to Spetchley Park Gardens, a thirty acre Victorian delight situated eight miles from the museum. The speakers will visit local groups and talk about Sir Edward Elgar and the museum.
Groups that are interested are invited to contact the museum to discuss their requirements.
The piece will go on permanent display at Judges' Lodgings Museum as part of its extensive collection of Gillow furniture.
Described as a "Gillow masterpiece" the bookcase, which measures 2.13 metres (seven feet) tall and 1.21 metres (four feet) wide, was made for Mary Hutton Rawlinson, widow of wealthy Lancaster Quaker merchant, Thomas Hutton Rawlinson, in 1772. The piece has remained in the ownership of Mary Rawlinson’s descendants for more than two centuries. Portraits of Thomas and Mary Hutton Rawlinson also hang in the Judges' Lodgings.
The Art Fund contributed £100,000 towards the acquisition with additional support from local, regional and national agencies including grants from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF), the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, and the North West Regional Development Agency.
Individual donations came from individuals anxious to secure the bookcase for Lancashire.
28.01.2008 - An American perspective on quilts and patchwork at the Manx Museum
An American perspective will be brought to Manx National Heritage’s temporary exhibition Manx Quilts and Patchwork during February and March with a lecture and workshop by the American quilter, Cheryl Cheek.
Cheryl will be giving an illustrated talk at the Manx Museum on Saturday February 9 2008 at 2pm entitled Underground Railroad quilts of the American Civil War.
The talk will be an account of the quilts produced during the American Civil War period and their connections to the ‘Underground Railroad’, whereby slaves from the southern states were smuggled to freedom in the north via a series of safe houses.
She will follow this up on Saturday March 8 2008, with a workshop entitled Making A Memory Quilt Wall Hanging, which will be an opportunity for families to design and make their own memory quilt wall hanging using fabric, pictures and some small mementoes.
For more information on these and other workshops and guided tours contact the museum on enquiries@mnh.gov.im or phone (01624) 648000.
28.01.2008 - National Coal Mining Museum celebrates National Yorkshire Pudding Day
The National Coal Mining Museum for England will be celebrating National Yorkshire Pudding Day on Sunday February 3 with traditional sunday roasts with Yorkshire puddings.
The museum café will be serving roast dinners from 11.45pm – 2.30pm and organisers hope that once they have enjoyed their Sunday roast and Yorkshire puddings visitors will venture 140 metres underground with an ex-miner to experience another great Yorkshire tradition, coal mining.
Yorkshire puddings are a traditional dish dating back to the 1700’s and National Yorkshire Pudding Day has been launched by recipes4us.co.uk.
