Chard Museum is a small local museum in

Chard, Somerset Chard is a town and a civil parish in the English county of Somerset. It lies on the A30 road near the Devon and Dorset borders, south west of Yeovil. The parish has a population of approximately 13,000 and, at an elevation of , Chard is the ...

, England. It opened in 1970, in a converted 16th century

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

, with collections of exhibits about local history and displays related to the lives of notable local residents.

History

The basis of the collection dates from around 1880 when Arthur Hull collected ‘curiosities’. He left these to the town and in 1917 they were transferred to the

Museum of Somerset The Museum of Somerset is located in the 12th-century great hall of Taunton Castle, in Taunton in the county of Somerset, England. The museum is run by South West Heritage Trust, an independent charity, and includes objects initially collected ...

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by t ...

, before returning to the new museum in 1970. The museum is housed in a 16th-century

thatch Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

ed building which was originally four cottages. The building was converted and restored for use as a museum in 1970, and later incorporated the building next door which had been the New Inn

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

. In 2010 doubts were raised about the ongoing funding of the museum.

Collection

Exhibits within the museum tell the story of the town and the local area including geology, the fire of 1577, the

Monmouth Rebellion The Monmouth Rebellion, also known as the Pitchfork Rebellion, the Revolt of the West or the West Country rebellion, was an attempt to depose James II, who in February 1685 succeeded his brother Charles II as king of England, Scotland and Ire ...

and local lace mills. Outside there is a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

's forge and display of farm machinery. There are also displays on notable people with connections to the town. John Stringfellow and another local man William Samuel Henson achieved the first powered flight, in 1848, in a disused lace factory, with a 10-foot (3 m), steam-driven flying machine.

James Gillingham James Gillingham (1839–1924) was a prosthetic limb manufacturer based in Chard, Somerset in the 19th century and one of the first to have photographs taken of his works. Early life Gillingham was educated at Chard School. Career Gillingham wa ...

pioneered the development of articulated artificial limbs, after working as a shoemaker in the town and seeing a man who had his arm so badly shattered in an accidental explosion of a cannon that it had to be amputated to the shoulder socket. The museum includes a representation of his consulting room, including several examples of his artificial limbs. Corporal Samuel Vickery who was awarded the VC in 1897 for his actions during the attack on the Dargai Heights, Tirah, India during the

Tirah Campaign The Tirah campaign, often referred to in contemporary British accounts as the Tirah expedition, was an Indian frontier campaign from September 1897 to April 1898. Tirah is a mountainous tract of country in what was formally known as Federally ...

. Margaret Bondfield, who was an English Labour politician and feminist, the first woman Cabinet minister in the United Kingdom and a member of the Congregational Church.

References

External links

{{authority control Museums in Somerset Biographical museums in Somerset Grade II listed buildings in South Somerset History of Somerset Archaeological museums in England Local museums in Somerset Museums established in 1970 1970 establishments in England Chard, Somerset Thatched buildings in Somerset