Ilchester Museum is a small local museum in Ilchester,

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England. The museum is based in a former private house, known as the Town Hall House. Standing behind Ilchester Town Hall, the Town Hall House is a Grade II

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 Irel ...

History

The building

The building was built as a private house in

rubble masonry Rubble stone is rough, uneven building stone not laid in regular courses. It may fill the core of a wall which is faced with unit masonry such as brick or ashlar. Analogously, some medieval cathedral walls are outer shells of ashlar with an inn ...

and was probably completed in the 18th century. Standing behind Ilchester Town Hall, it may have been modified when the town hall was completed in 1816. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage of two bays facing onto the High Street. On the ground floor there was a central doorway flanked by two

bay window A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. Types Bay window is a generic term for all protruding window constructions, regardless of whether they are curved or angular, or r ...

s, all surmounted by a

lean-to A lean-to is a type of simple structure originally added to an existing building with the rafters "leaning" against another wall. Free-standing lean-to structures are generally used as shelters. One traditional type of lean-to is known by its Finn ...

slate roof. The upper two floors were fenestrated by

sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...

s and at roof level, there was a

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...

The collection

The museum was established in 1989, and is dedicated to the memory of the local author, James Stevens-Cox, who wrote the book, ''A History of Ilchester, the Ancient County Town of Somerset'', published in 1947. It is managed by the Ilchester Town Trust. The museum includes exhibits showing the history of the town from the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

periods, when it was known as

Lindinis Lindinis or Lendiniae was a small town in the Roman province of Britannia. Today it is known as Ilchester, located in the English county of Somerset in the United Kingdom. Name The name "Lindinis" appears in the 7th-century ''Ravenna Cosmography ...

, to the present day. These exhibits include a complete female skeleton from the end of the Roman period. There is also the town's 13th-century mace or

staff of office A staff of office is a staff, the carrying of which often denotes an official's position, a social rank or a degree of social prestige. Apart from the ecclesiastical and ceremonial usages mentioned below, there are less formal usages. A gold- or ...

, bearing the insignia of Richard I as well as three kings and an angel: it is the oldest staff of office in England. The collection also includes a full set of

Maundy Money Royal Maundy is a religious service in the Church of England held on Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday. At the service, the British monarch or a royal official ceremonially distributes small silver coins known as "Maundy money" (legal ...

which

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

presented to a local parishioner in Wells Cathedral in 1993 and which was acquired by the museum in 1995. A short programme about the gaols of Ilchester, made with the assistance of museum staff, featured on the BBC Radio Somerset programme, ''Treasure Trove'', in 2017.

References

{{reflist Museums in Somerset Grade II listed buildings in South Somerset History of Somerset Local museums in Somerset Grade II listed museum buildings