Bradford on Avon Fire Brigade
The Museum has added to its collection of items relating to the history of the fire service in Bradford with a new donation. We have received helmets, one of the Wiltshire County Brigade and another two from the previous Bradford Urban District Brigade, an axe with its leather case that would have been clipped to a belt, a heavy jacket with county brigade buttons and a county cap.There are...
Read MoreThe Iron Duke unveiled
At last, the culmination of so much work and fund raising, on Saturday 24th September the historic Iron Duke rubber calender machine was unveiled. A large crowd, amongst whom were were many who worked at the rubber factory, watched as the curtain fell.
Associated with the ceremony were activities in the Vaults, including films of ex-workers’ memories and a history of the machine...
Read MoreThe Iron Duke is glazed
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The historic Iron Duke rubber calender machine has now received its partial glazing. The 15mm-thick toughened glass was carefully measured and manufactured to fit under the COR-TEN roof and delivered from Bristol. The left side went smoothly, but the rough ground on the other side presented some difficulty.
The roof and glass give...
Read MoreThe Iron Duke has his hat on
After years of planning, fund-raising and conservation work the historic Iron Duke calender machine has finally been reassembled by Dorothea Restorations of Bristol. It now sits on its concrete plinth next to Kingston House, in Kingston Road.
It sat out in the rain for a few days, but now has its stylish roof of COR-TEN weathering steel that is held up by temporary steel supports. The...
Read MoreKing John and the Millennium Embroidery
Bradford on Avon Museum’s Millennium Embroidery will be displayed in the library’s exhibition/meeting room for the whole of August.
One of the twelve panels depicts King John crossing the Town Bridge during his visit to Bradford in August 1216, so this is an 800th anniversary of the event.
The embroidery can be seen during the hours that the library is...
Read MoreBarton Farm Booklets
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Latest addition to Bradford on Avon Museum’s list of publications is this booklet The buildings of Barton Farm, Bradford-on-Avon which has been written by Pam and Ivor Slocombe. It is of a slightly larger format than the usual range and is illustrated with many photographs, plans and drawings and full of scholarly...
Read MoreBuilding Bradford in old photographs
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Bradford on Avon Museum has recently acquired a collection of photographs and other items that relate to the Long family who, through several generations, were responsible for constructing many of the town’s 19th and 20th century buildings, especially Victorian terraces and villas.
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Roman painted plaster returns to Bradford
. When a Roman bath complex was excavated in Bradford in 1976, many jumbled pieces of painted plaster were collected. They would have fallen from the interior as the walls became ruined. They were put into Wiltshire County Council’s store along with other finds from the dig.
In 2004 volunteers from the Bradford on Avon...
Read MoreThe Iron Duke is getting closer to home!
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The project to bring the Iron Duke back home to Bradford has just taken two big steps forward. We have heard that we have been awarded £55,000 by the Heritage Lottery Fund and another £18,000 by the PRISM Fund (it stands for the Preservation of Industrial and Scientific Material), an Arts Council fund which is administered by the Science...
Read MoreAgatha Christie in Bradford on Avon?
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The Christopher Pharmacy in the Museum has been used as the setting for several television programmes. Usually these have been about antiques -Antiques Road Trip and Flog It- and for British television. The latest film crew was Japanese and wanted a suitable location for part of a film about an episode in the life of crime writer Agatha Christie. Like Jane Austen, Agatha Christie is...
Read MoreNew for the collection: A Roman Finger Ring
. This ring turned up in a garden in Bradford on Avon and initially was thought to be a piece of relatively recent costume jewellery. However, seeing a similar one on display in Salisbury Museum and from subsequent research, it appears to be of Roman date. Pieces of Roman pottery and a coin have been found in the garden before. The site lies below the Iron Age hillfort of Budbury, where a...
Read MoreNew booklet: The Medieval Town
Bradford-on-Avon: the medieval town is the latest addition to the Museum’s stable of booklets and the second of our Monograph Series, in which words take precedence over pictures and includes full references. It is the work of Ivor Slocombe, a dedicated researcher of historical archives and his wife Pamela, who draws on years of experience with the Wiltshire Buildings...
Read MoreSee the Millennium Embroidery
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Bradford on Avon Museum’s Millennium Embroidery is currently on display in Holy Trinity Parish Church.
It features twelve hand-sewn panels that depict episodes from a thousand years of the town’s history and was undertaken by a group of local volunteers to celebrate the Millennium.
The church is open for...
Read MoreBe part of Bradford’s history
Good things often come in small packages – and that’s certainly true of Bradford’s museum, upstairs at the town library. Our main ‘wow factor’ exhibit is Miss Christopher’s chemist shop, relocated in its entirety from Silver Street to the museum in 1990, when the library opened. In addition, curator Roger Clark has created numerous themed displays which tell the story of our town...
Read MoreThe Lost Milestone
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The cast iron plate that was fixed to the milestone on the Bath Road in the dip between Cumberwell and Farleigh Wick has not been in place for a good many years. This was a pity because three others -in Market Street, at Widbrook and Trowle Common- still exist.
Luckily, it has now turned up and has been given to Bradford on Avon Museum. It...
Read MoreA good start for 2015
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2015 has started well for Bradford on Avon Museum with 166 visitors in the two weeks since re-opening in mid-January and some interesting new acquisitions.
. A large enamelled steel road sign that was put up at one of the entrances to the town by the Royal Automobile Club. It lists the...
Read MoreNew to the Museum: Roman brooch
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Bradford on Avon Museum, Wiltshire
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A recent addition to the Museum’s small collection of Roman items is this bow brooch (fibula in Latin) that was found in a field near the Ashley Road, close to Bradford’s St...
Read MoreThe Museum’s Christmas Tree
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Bradford on Avon Museum Society has again joined with many other Bradford organisations and businesses in the Holy Trinity Church Christmas Tree Festival.
Our little tree -living and recycled from last year- has been decorated with lights and baubles that are copied from bottles and labels from the Christopher Chemist shop...
Read MoreLidar exhibition moves to Chippenham
. The Museum’s exhibition about the Ancient Landscapes of Bradford project is now on display at the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre.
The exhibition “A land through time” was held at Bradford on Avon Museum in November last year. Now it can be seen as a temporary exhibition in the entrance foyer of...
Read MoreBeau Street Hoard Roadshow
Saturday 18th October 10:30 am – 3:00 pm, at Bradford on Avon Museum
Come and discover the Beau Street Hoard, a unique find of 17,577 silver Roman coins uncovered by archaeologists in Beau Street, Bath.
Learn about the Hoard and its discovery
Handle coins from the...
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