Visiting the Museum!

Our standard opening hours are:

Wednesday-Saturday 10-4.30pm*

Sundays & Bank Holidays 2-4.30pm*

*Please note the earlier closing time over Winter

Closed Mondays (apart from bank holidays)

Tuesdays are reserved for pre-booked group visits by schools and other parties in term time. 

www.saffronwaldenmuseum.org

Object of the Month

The Museum’s ‘Object of the Month’ provides an opportunity to explore interesting and unusual objects from our stores. 

November’s Object of the Month is a selection of objects from ‘The Arkesden Hoard’, chosen and researched by volunteer Joanne Pegrum.

Dating to the Late Bronze Age (1000 – 800 BCE), the hoard is a collection of bronze objects discovered in Arkesden, Essex in 1872. The hoard was originally found buried in a bucket-shaped hole by workers during land draining works. It was initially shared out between them but subsequently recovered by antiquarians.

The hoard consists of mostly broken or damaged pieces of axes, spearheads, sword blades and bronze ingots.

November’s Object of the Month highlights three of these objects: a socketed axe, part of a ‘palstave’ which is an axe more typical of the Middle Bronze Age and a bronze ingot.

(Pictured left): Late Bronze Age socketed axe. © Saffron Walden Museum

Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, both of which were mined in Britain during the Bronze Age, tin in Cornwall and copper in North Wales and Cheshire. The objects on display today are mostly dull and tarnished but originally they would have been a shiny, yellow-gold colour. They exemplify the technologies and trade of the Bronze Age: the smelting of metals, the manufacturing of implements in moulds and the trade of raw materials.

Other similar hoards have been found in Essex and across the South-East. It is thought that the hoards were buried by travelling smiths but why were they buried and not collected again? Could the hoards be evidence for ritualistic burial?

Visit the Museum for a closer look and see what you think!

(Pictured left): Late Bronze Age bronze ingot. © Saffron Walden Museum

Upcoming

Bone Black: 

a brief history of colours 

Sat 12 Nov 2022 –

Sun 19 March 2023   

An exhibition exploring the making, meaning and use of colours from prehistory to the present day

Last chance to see..

Object in Focus: Horniman Museum

Runs until 4 November

Objects in Focus is a loans programme run by the Horniman Museum in London, funded by Arts Council England, which aims to improve access to their collections and strengthen their partnerships with other museums and cultural organisations, by offering a range of objects for loan free of charge.

The Museum has loaned some tattoo design examples from the Horniman Museum under this Objects in Focus scheme.  These tattoo models from Sarawak, Borneo date to the 19^th century. 

The display (in the "Your Stories" section of the museum) also features a tattoo implement from Fiji, made from a bone plate with a bamboo handle, which has been decorated with plaited coconut fibre.  It was collected in Viti Levu, Fiji, Oceania Polynesia in 1876.

(Pictured left): Kayan tattoo model, Horniman Museum ©

The next Your Stories display will be Black Lives in Uttlesford which has been compiled by Saffron Walden Library. More about this display in next month's issue. 

Guided Tours 

On Saturday 12 November and Wednesday 16 November, 11am -12.30noon join Human History Officer, Jenny Oxley on a whistle stop introductory tour of the museum's galleries.

Free activity, but Museum Admission fee applies.  Book in advance by emailing museum@uttlesford.gov.uk or use the museum's Art Tickets events page to pay museum admission in advance online.

Thank you!

October Half-Term

Thank you to everyone who came out to support our half term craft activity Flappy Owls on Tuesday 25 October and the ghostly evening event on Thursday 27. 

It's lovely to get such good feedback 

Thank you!

Saffron Day 

Thanks to everyone who supported us on Sunday 16 October when we extended the standard opening hours for Saffron Day, to provide access to our Saffron Crocus (Crocus sativus) themed collections. 

The temporary display included beautiful illustrations, Crocus corms, a carved wooden panel from Saffron Lodge and the Crocus Tavern pub sign.  We also highlighted Saffron Crocus themed items on display permanently in the museum, such as the Town Charter from Tudor times, the Saffron Gold Moorcroft vase and the Pargetting block. 

The Lost Language of Nature continues

Our Lost Language of Nature artist Janetka Platun is working closely with local school pupils who will be visiting the Museum in November to learn more about the inspiration behind the project. Although the main exhibition ended on 30^th October, a selection of birds will take over from the Saffron Celebration displays in the Great Hall from 4^th November and will stay on display for the whole month. So there’s still time to share your memories, stories, traditional or silly names, or drawings of birds, other animals and plants – look for our special Lost Language postcards with the mini display in the Great Hall.

Autumn is here

If the downpours and mini tornadoes haven’t been enough to convince you that autumn is finally here, the Museum’s tubs and planters are here to help.

The cyclamens I wrote about last month are coming on very strong, and we’ve spotted some surprise saffron crocuses in one of the other pots!

Recognition by

Buglife charity

We’re thrilled that our initiative to improve the biodiversity of the Museum and Castle grounds have been accepted by the charity invertebrate conservation Buglife as a contribution to its B-lines scheme.

B-lines aims to create a patchwork of sites where pollinators and other insects can feed and breed, on corridors drawn between existing major wildlife sites. You can find out more about B-lines and their other work here https://www.buglife.org.uk/our-work/b-lines/.

Image taken from Buglife website © Buglife 2022.

Location, location, location

It’s been a busy time in the Natural Sciences store at the museum, with changes to the storage locations of around 200 items of the bird taxidermy. This was essential work to make them easier to reach for research, exhibitions and to check for pest infestations.

Most of these birds are preserved as study skins which means the skins are simply padded internally to anatomical proportions, not given glass eyes or arranged into realistic lifelike poses.

Previously, these items were stored on top of a high shelving stack which was difficult and unsafe to access (see photo). They are now stored on shelving which is easily accessible with a stepladder.

Collections on the Move

On Monday 26 September removal company Eezeemovers, helped us to move our costume and textile collection stored at the museum to our external store on the Shire Hill industrial estate.

The museum costume store was essentially an overgrown walk-in cupboard, but you can see from this image of all the boxes once they'd been moved to Shire Hill (pictured left), it must have been a bit of a tardis and actually fitted in quite a few boxes!

It took 4 hours to move everything out of the museum's costume store and a further 2 hours to unpack it out of the van and get it all onto the racks at Shire Hill!

This is the start of work to improve the storage conditions for these collections.

We've begun to categorise the boxes and reorganise them. They will then be checked, catalogued, researched and repacked. 

We hope to be able to hang the long garments on padded hangers in calico bags eventually, so they will no longer have to be folded in boxes, which can over time cause damage to them.

If you or anyone you know is skilled at sewing by hand or at using a sewing machine and could spare us some time. It would be great if we could get some volunteers to help make up calico bags with velcro fastenings and sew padding onto wooden hangers for this project.

Contact the Museum by email at museum@uttlesford.gov.uk or ring 01799 510333 and use the reference Costume Project if you would like to be involved. 

Egyptian items on loan

a figure of Bastet the cat god and two Horus (falcon) figures, which are usually on display in the museum's Egyptian gallery, have been lent to Epping Forest District Museum for their current special temporary exhibition "Animal Mummies," which started in mid September and runs until December. 

Pargetting Researcher 

Anna Kettle has begun a joint placement here at the Museum and with SPAB (the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings). She is documenting and researching all the instances of pargeting on buildings in the town.

Pargetting is the ornamentation of plastered and rendered building facades that would otherwise be smooth, lined-out or roughcast.

Wooden stamps and combs are used to render the designs in the wet plaster. The finished effect is very distinctive and still regularly seen on buildings in Saffron Walden and the surrounding villages. 

Anna recently demonstrated her pargetting skills in the town for Saffron Day!

We expect that further small displays and activities relating to this research project will be held at the museum and in the town early next year as the project progresses. Stay tuned to find out more about these and more about Anna's project over the coming months. 

Project Update:

Greater in Spirit,

Larger in Outlook

Epping Forest District Museum in Waltham Abbey and Saffron Walden Museum have received an Arts Council National Lottery project grant of £100,000 to work in partnership on their world culture collections.

The aim of the project is to ensure the museums and their collections reflect their diverse communities by working directly with cultural groups to research different objects and tell their stories.

The project’s title, ‘Greater in Spirit, Larger in Outlook’ is inspired by Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. Museum staff will work with relevant community groups including the Ethiopian History Society, to explore, explain and exhibit the collection leading to a new permanent display at Epping Forest District Museum, due to be completed by the end of 2022.

The project has begun to work with relevant community and cultural groups linked to the world cultures collections in preparation for the major temporary exhibition in 2023 at Epping Forest Museum for this project. 

Alice Lodge, has now been employed in the role of Collections Connector on the project and is splitting her time between both museums. On Fridays, you will see her researching in the World Cultures gallery here. 

For more about the project: https://www.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/museum-world-culture-collections-project/

(pictured left): Image of Saffron Walden Museum's world cultures gallery. 

Learning & Outreach

Saffron Walden Museum is committed to sharing stories from its collections through its learning and outreach services.

We welcome schools and community groups to the Museum or offer outreach sessions. 

Why not book in your school or community group.

Our loan boxes are also available for hire, at £18 for 6 weeks, and will be quarantined in between hires to ensure they are Covid secure.

Shop Focus:

Museum Shop Sunday

 Sunday 27 November 2 - 4.30pm 

Saffron Walden Museum will be taking part in Museum Shop Sunday, on 27 November, which is an international event celebrating the unique shops and products which play a vital role in helping arts, culture, and heritage attractions to survive and thrive.  

After the chaos and crazy discounting of Black Friday, Museum Shop Sunday offers an alternative way to do your Christmas shopping and do some good at the same time!

Find original gifts – The museum shop offers bespoke ranges, stocking fillers and unique gifts such as our annual season tickets.  All your Christmas shopping dilemmas solved in one go!

Shop with a conscience – By shopping at your local museum, you are actively contributing to Saffron Walden Museum’s future sustainability and success. What better way to give back at Christmas?

This year author Paul Wood will be on hand from 2.30pm to give a talk about his recently updated book From Station Officer Drane, folllowed by a Q&A session and book signing. 

Long Service "Silver Owl" Awards for our Valued Volunteers

We are delighted to announce that, on Thursday 10 November, three Saffron Walden Museum volunteers - who have each been volunteering with us for 25 years or more – will be awarded a certificate and Silver Owl badge at the SHARE Museums East 2022 conference in Ely.  They are:

June Baker

In addition to her regular shifts on the ‘Front of House’ Welcome Desk, June also covers occasional Sundays and Volunteer desk duties in the evenings at the ‘Museum at Night’ events (where she can be seen wearing a witch’s hat and mauve hair!). 

She has taken on responsibility for inducting and mentoring new recruits, ensuring that ‘Team Saffron Walden Museum’ consistently deliver excellent customer service at the Welcome Desk.

June is committed to contributing towards the museum’s exhibition programme. She has loaned personal items and stories for many special exhibitions, including accessories for Completing the Look: 300 Years of Fashion Accessories, the Uttlesford: A Community of Collectors temporary exhibition, the National Volunteer week displays and most recently royal memorabilia for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee.

Jenny Day

In her capacity as Welcome volunteer, Jenny is the ‘Face of the Museum’ being the first impression a visitor gets either in person or on the telephone.

Jenny gives a friendly welcome to visitors; sells tickets and merchandise and provides information about the Museum. 

As well as the length of service, Jenny has demonstrated amazing commitment, by kindly covering double shifts on the ‘Front of House’ Welcome Desk on a fortnightly basis and coming in to cover other volunteers shifts when they are unable to attend the Museum, even when she herself was struggling with a poorly leg!

Ann Holloway

Over the years Ann has supported the museum in many ways, highlights include:

Ann took part in our co-curated community exhibition, Uttlesford: A Community of Collectors, working with curatorial staff to create a display of her collection of Pestle and Mortars.

In the absence of a Learning Officer at the Museum (prior to Charlotte being in post), Ann kindly dressed as ‘Mistress Ann’ bringing in her own collection of Tudor artefacts and conducted hands-on history activities with the school children. This really made a positive difference to the school visits and we received wonderful letters of thanks from the school teachers and children.

We extend our congratulations and grateful thanks to them all.

Volunteering at the Museum

This month we welcome to the team Elspeth and Steve who have recently joined our Welcome Volunteer team.  

Would you like to join our team?

We are always looking for additional new volunteers to join our welcome desk team on a regular or adhoc basis. 

To find out more about these and ‘Learning and Support’ volunteer opportunities please contact the museum using the details below.

Pictured left: Natalie meeting and greeting visitors on the Welcome desk.