Essex Fire Museum and Saffron Walden Museum have collaborated to create a unique presentation of the history of Essex County Fire and Rescue Service, which will go on display at Saffron Walden Museum from Saturday 2 April. Research for this exhibition has been undertaken at Saffron Walden Library, Essex Record Office Access Point based at… Read More »
The Museum’s ‘Object of the Month’ provides an opportunity to explore interesting and unusual objects from our stores. April’s Object of the Month chosen by Jenny Oxley, Collections Officer (Human History) is a charred key fob discovered after the Rose & Crown fire in the town on Boxing Day 1969. It forms part of the museum’s… Read More »
The Museum’s ‘Object of the Month’ provides an opportunity to explore interesting and unusual objects from our stores. March’s Object of the Month chosen by Curator Carolyn Wingfield features three clay tobacco pipe bowls, all recently found in the Castle Street area. Last autumn, archaeologists monitoring building works at the Fry Art Gallery, Bridge End Gardens recovered two… Read More »
A bit of Valentine’s related history for February from our collections! An invitation to a Valentine’s ball at Wimbish Village Hall, 12 February 1943. Miss McQueen was well-known locally she had a small farm at Rowney Corner from which people could buy fresh eggs and she also played the organ in the 1970s at… Read More »
February’s Objects of the Month are minerals with connections to love and relationships, in honour of St Valentine’s Day on 14 February. Amethyst is the birthstone for February, but as a symbol of love, St Valentine is said to have worn an amethyst ring so Christian couples in Ancient Rome could identify him. Valentine was… Read More »
Following the occupation of Poland, the Nazis introduced anti-Semitic laws against the country’s Jewish population. Jewish people were segregated, forced from their homes to live in squalid crowded ghettos and had to wear a Star of David to identify themselves. In 1942 the Nazis began what they called ‘the Final Solution’ – a plan to… Read More »
This beautiful illuminated 1514 Charter can be seen on display in the museum’s Local History gallery. Here are a few facts about what is contained in the charter… When Henry VII came to the throne in 1485, he introduced charges for traders, brewers and bakers in Saffron Walden. The townspeople were not happy about this,… Read More »
Ptarmigan in Winter Plumage Our ‘Object of the Month’ for January is a Ptarmigan in white winter plumage. This bird was collected between 1835 and 1899, after Saffron Walden Museum opened in 1835 and before the end of the nineteenth century. It is a stuffed specimen mounted on an imitation rock with a painted wooden… Read More »
In 1855, Robert Driver Thurgood, decided to demolish his mansion in the centre of Saffron Walden, between Market Street (Market End) and Common Hill, to sell the land to provide additional space for the town’s cattle market. The house was one of several previously owned by John Harvey (d. 1593). Harvey was a gentleman… Read More »
1914 Christmas Gift Box for the Troops The Museum’s ‘Object of the Month’ provides an opportunity to explore interesting and unusual objects from our stores. December’s Object of the Month chosen by Jenny Oxley, Collections Officer (Human History) is a Princess Mary Christmas gift box, an embossed and monogrammed tin which was intended to be… Read More »
