Wincanton Museum  Where are we now?

Many readers will know that we had to move from the cottage at 32 High Street in 2010.  However the Museum lives on and will shortly have a whole new future. But, as the heading says, where are we now?

We have been in productive discussions with South Somerset District Council (SSDC) and we have agreed, potentially, terms where we can utilise a room within the Wincanton Library, Carrington Way.  This is useful space immediately opposite the main entrance which used to house the Tourist Office.  The Library Staff have been incredibly supportive at both local and area level.  We in the throes of agreeing a three year lease, that we would expect to extend as the term matures.  The lease conditions are very favourable to us.  Once the lease is finalised it will be “all systems go” to put in place display cabinets and thence the artefacts. We will also introduce a modern electronic display to show other related presentations.  Proper signing will be arranged in the streets, and outside and inside the premises.

Funding has been carefully considered.  We hold certain reserves but the SSDC have been greatly supportive and have agreed a one off capital grant of £2,350.  Wincanton Town Council will also look favourably on an operational grant that will help us cover the rent and public liability insurance over the next three years.  A huge thank you is extended to both Authorities.

In the meantime the artefacts have been carefully preserved.  Some are in secure storage and interesting articles are on display in special cabinets at Wincanton Primary School and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Primary School.  Other items are being shown, on loan, at King Arthur’s Community School (those relating to World War 2 to complement related studies) and in the restaurant at The Dolphin Hotel.  Important sorting, cleaning and cataloguing work continue.

So we are optimistic of reopening the Museum this summer (2012).  In the meantime our programme of regular history talks continue – see elsewhere on our web page for details.  We also need help from any interested party.  Currently our curator would appreciate support in the artefact management processes.  When we open (possibly 5 mornings a week) we will need additional volunteer stewards.  This is not an onerous task and full training and on-going support will be given.

Jim Longley   April 2012

The Fabulous Mosaics of Ravenna. A talk by Hendrika Foster Friday 27^th April

Art Historian Hendrika Foster has chosen for her next illustrated talk for the Wincanton District Museum and History Society the fascinating story of the mosaics of Ravenna.

This Italian city was the scene of the fading  of the Roman Empire, its capture by the Ostrogoths and the triumph of the Orthodox Emperor Justinian and his beautiful and controversial queen Theodora.

The mosaics which were the product of these events are amongst the most stunningly beautiful and unusual artworks in Italy, a country rich in great art, and the stories they have to tell are amazing also. Richly illustrated as always and told in her own inimitable style, this talk is one not to be missed.

Friday 27^th April in the Balsam Centre Wincanton.  £5 entry and free for members.

Review by John Baxter.

Hendrika Foster’s illustrated talk on the Mosaics of Ravenna really was something.  She told the story of how this small but ancient town on the Northern coast of Italy became the most important naval base of what had become the Christian Roman Empire and the home of the earliest and most brilliant collection of Mosaics ever seen.

She showed us how behind the spectacular figures of Emperors Empresses, Mary, Jesus and the Saints depicted on the walls of its churches, lay a tradition of pagan symbols which were taken over by the new religion and given new meaning. She introduced us to some of the earliest images of Jesus,  showing him as a young man without a beard, at times dressed in Imperial purple and once in the armour of a Roman soldier.

She explained how Mosaics as an art form were taken over from pagan Rome where they were used to decorate the walls and floors of the palaces of the rich. Instead mosaics were used as the first medium in which to develop and explore a Christian iconography or set of visual images, something not possible for Christians at the time of their persecution except for some small paintings in the catacombs of Rome.  She showed us in detail how the fragments of brightly coloured glass were meticulously set in plaster to give a mysterious shimmering effect when viewed by candlelight and how the skill of the craftsmen who made them could reproduce life-like,  character filled faces as well as splendid robes, animals and beautiful decorative patterns.

She also told us about the characters of the rulers of the Empire as it  was buffeted by barbarian invasions and the Arian heresy until Constantine decided it had to be divided into East and West having two capitals, Constantinople becoming more important than Rome. Finally there was the amazing story of how the Emperor Justinian fell for a dancer from Constantinople’s red light district who he made his queen and Empress and how she came to exercise political and religious power.

I think it is fair to say Hendrika kept us spellbound.

Dr Terry Stanford’s  talk  Death, Destruction and the Cat and Mouse Act on Friday 24^th February was a fascinating introduction to the Suffragette Movement and their struggle to achieve votes for women.  What came as a surprise to some of us was to realise that for most of the 19^th Century  only some 40% of men had the vote.  Even  after the third Reform Act of 1884 which enfranchised  all male home owners, many millions were still excluded. The legal position of women was generally dire with no rights to the custody of children, to higher education or access to divorce. Power was in the hands of middle class men and  aristocrats.

As for the Cat and Mouse Act, this apparently was a sly piece of early 20^th Century legislation. It provided for the release of suffragette prisoners who went on hunger strike, had been force fed and were close to death.  They could then be nursed by their families only to be re-arrested when they had recovered.  This was to make sure they did not die in custody  – so bad for PR – or get away with their non-compliant behaviour in going on hunger strike. Not nice to think this was government policy here just a century ago.

Terry was at pains to emphasise that we should not judge people by contemporary standards, but rather by how they saw things at the time and the bad treatment meted out to the suffragetes did gradually change public opinion in their favour, though perhaps women working in the arms factories during the First World War had a bigger impact. This is a relevant point. Today we are often appalled by what we hear about  the treatment of women in many Muslim and African countries and of honour killings and  the subservience expected of many women in our immigrant communities. That is understandable, but before we get too self-righteous about such behaviour and attitudes it  is sobering to remember just how recent  gender equality and the right to vote is in this country, and how much we owe to the brave women who followed Emily Pankhurst and before her the  Liberal philosopher, economist and politician John Stuart Mill who was the first MP to put forward a bill to give women the vote in 1867.  Terry reminded us that it was however only in February 1918 that women here at last were enfranchised.

Again this talk was very well attended and sparked off interesting questions and lively discussion.

John Baxter

Wincanton and District Museum and History Society.

In recent months after a lot of discussion and searching for alternatives the Museum closed finally on 25 July and the bulk of the artefacts have been moved to storage . This has been made available to us by the council and currently we are working on the storage of the items in such a way that they will be available for future use as needed.

In the meantime we have arranged for small exhibitions to be placed in Wincanton Primary School, and King Arthurs Secondary school.  It is anticipated that in the near future we will be undertaking a similar project with Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Primary School.  These exhibitions are designed to tie in with areas of the curriculum currently being taught at the schools.    In addition we have arranged with the management of The Dolphin Hotel to display exhibits in the new restaurant and these seem to fit in very well.

It is our hope to be able to use part of the library, the old Tourist Office, as a small museum and currently we are waiting to hear from the library service as to the viability of this idea.  As this and other activities develop they will be advertised in the normal way.

There was a good turnout of Museum and History Society members together with other invited guests to a celebratory cream tea in the sun filled gardens of the Quaker Meeting House in Wincanton on Saturday 25^th June. The presence of our MP David Heath was particularly appreciated bearing in mind how pressured he is as a Government Minister. Many remembered the support he gave the Museum when he came to Wincanton specially to speak about it.

The occasion was to honour and thank Chris Kemp. The Museum and History Society President, Frank Foster spoke about Chris’s work as committee member of the Society for eight years and chairman for five. He described how during that time support and interest in the society has grown steadily despite the problems which have now arisen concerning the need to close the building which has been the home of the Museum for more than twenty years. To no small measure the growth in support is recognised as being due to Chris’s persistence and enthusiasm in finding speakers and organising interesting talks.

He has now retired from the committee and was presented with a framed certificate of Life Membership as a symbol of the respect and gratitude felt by members for his service to the community.

V

From: Jeff Kingaby <su2195@eclipse.co.uk>
Date: 8 June 2011 10:42:20 GMT+01:00

WINCANTON AND DISTRICT MUSEUM AND HISTORY SOCIETY

Closure of Museum We are now able to report that we have had some success at last regarding the display of some of the artefacts to various locations in the town

Wincanton Primary School have now agreed that the museum can display some of our artefacts in a showcase in the school starting in September The staff at the school have always been keen to encourage the children to learn something of their heritage and almost every year classes have visited our museum.

King Arthur School have agreed that some of our artefacts will be on display in the school starting in September.

We would like to thank the staff in both schools for their co-operation in providing these facilities.

Wincanton Public Library have not been able to give us a reply as to whether we can use the small room in the library as this will depend on the number of mobile libraries operating in the area.

Some other locations in the town have expressed an interest in displaying our artefacts.

Old faithful. The propeller and other engine parts of “Old faithful” from the Flying Fortress bomber that crashed at Snags Farm in 1944 have now been removed to that farm hopefully as a final resting place where a plaque is about to be erected in memory of those unfortunate men.

In the last year a lot of work has gone into sorting our some of the artefacts from the museum prior to the society vacating number 32 High Street at the end of July this year and moving to a new store.   This has been a mammoth task returning some items to their owners, offering some artefacts to other museums in the area.  The society owes a debt of gratitude to our Chairman, Terry Stanford and our Curator, John Atkins and others for all this work.

ILLUSTRATED TALKS

The committee were delighted with the number of members who have attended the last two or three talks all of which have been described as excellent.

FUTURE TALKS

30^th September - Arnolfini Portrait, Van Eyck,in 1434, etc,  by Jonathan Weeks

28^th October The history of Brewham Coal Mine in 1800. By Brian Shingler

John Baxter write: Brian Shingler has lived at Gant’s Mill since 1949 and is fascinated by the history of this former silk mill and has followed this up with research in the County Archive. There he discovered a forgotton story of one of the mill’s former owners, Theophilus Percival, who in the early 1800s was well know in social and business circles and an enthusiastic entrepeneur.

On seeing others around Bath Avon and Radstock making a killing by opening up coal-mines, he thought – on the basis of very little evidence – that under the clay of South Brewham lay – if you dug deep enough – coal.

Despite the negative evaluation of William Smith who visited the site and was one of the first geologists and published the first map of the geology of the country, Theophilus pressed ahead, set up a company and got 100 local worthies to stump up £20 each, at least £1000 by today’s values. With this they founded a mining company and employed a foreman and teams of miners to start digging. Over three years they went down 625 feet, but found no coal. At that point suddenly water came flooding in at such a rate that the whole enterprise had to be abandoned and all the share-holders lost almost all the money they had invested.

Told with maps and diagrams and pictures it was a fascinating account of an incident in local history which was big at the time but which, because it failed and the land was cleared up afterwards, has been almost forgotten.

Brian spoke with humour, sympathy and considerable knowledge of the people involved and of the time, illuminating the tough lives of the majority and the grand lives of the gentry – who discounted Smith because he was not one of them. It was also a time when the population doubled in a few decades and energy and transport links were in short supply.

It was also the time when a canal was planned to run from Bath to Poole to carry all the hoped for manufactured goods and coal. It would have run through Wincanton and Bruton, but because enough coal was never found it was never built.

Many questions were asked and there was an excellent turnout with everyone staying to chat afterwards over a glass of wine in the Balsam Centre.

(Brian owns Gants Mill in Bruton)

Jeff Kingaby                                    e-mail: westaish@eclipse.co.uk

01963 824786

The fascinating story of one of England’s darketst periods which includes the trials for witchcraft in this area.  Our speaker is Andrew Pickering, Senior lecturer in History and Archaeology at Strode College and Programme Manager for local University of Plymouth students reading History and Archaeology. Together with David Pickering he has just completed a book, Witch-Hunting in England.

With its local focus and relevance to students likely to go on to Strode College this should be a lecture that will attract a lot of interest.

27th May, Friday in the Balsam Centre 7.30 pm. £6 for adults  – special rate to be decided for school students, refreshments included.

Andrew Pickering’s Talk
Tue May 31, 2011, 19:25:57

Andrew Pickering, together with his brother, is author of Somerset Witches, the result of his researches on the subject. As Senior Lecturere in History at Strode College he often finds himself teaching students from KA who have gone on to study History at A or AS levels or to begin a university course. After hearing his presentation I think they are really lucky to have a historian of such distinction and a teacher of such enthusiasm for we all saw he is someone who can really bring his subject to life and yet does it without oversimplifying or giving easy answers.Andrew started by reading excerpts from the account written by Joseph Glanville in 1670 of the terrible story of Jane Brooks of Shepton Mallet. This very ordinary village woman on the evidence of a young boy was accused of witchcraft and finally hanged in 1657. It was a horrible story for from our modern perspective the case against her sounds unbelievably thin and speculative and those concerned frighteningly gullible. The poor woman had done no more than stroke the boy’s arm and give him an apple. The point Andrew made initially, with his dramatic reading, was that it is very difficult indeed for us to get inside the heads of people living in the seventeenth century for then acceptance of the supernatural and of magic and witchcraft as real phenomena was not only part of the mindset of ordinary working people of little or no education, but also of the educated gentry and in the case of Joseph Glanville, someone who was a member of the Royal Society and regarded as a serious scientist.

Andrew went on to tell us how in England between 1562 and 1685 between 500 and 1000 women were executed for witchcraft. These numbers were small compared to the executions carried out in Europe, particularly in Bavaria, Franconia and Alsace-Lorraine.
While there was never a case of a witch being accused in Wincanton, both Stoke Trister and Brewham produced cases.

Overwhelmingly it was women who were picked on, usually old maids or widows, some with odd habits or as we would say “Mental Health issues.” Others could find themselves picked on by family enemies or people who might have an eye on their homes or their land. The move from Catholicism to Protestantism also made many people uncertain and fearful. Add to this the massacre and mayhem suffered across the country by the Civil War which raged between 1642 and 1648.

Andrew brought the whole period vividly to life and his talk stimulated the large and attentive audience to ask a good number of interesting questions. In all it was an excellent evening.

John Baxter

Write a comment

Subject: