Sidmouth Museum is a museum in

Sidmouth, Devon Sidmouth () is a town on the English Channel in Devon, South West England, southeast of Exeter. With a population of 12,569 in 2011, it is a tourist resort and a gateway to the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. A large part of the town has ...

, England. The museum is housed in Hope Cottage, a Grade II listed building. The building was extended in 2020 to include more space for exhibits as well as new disabled access. In addition to exhibits relating to prominent local figures and history, it holds significant and diverse collections in areas such as

lace Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is divided into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted o ...

making, local

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

, and

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

. It is owned by the

Sid Vale Association The Sid Vale Association (SVA) is a voluntary conservation charity. It is headquartered in the coastal town of Sidmouth in the English county of Devon. Following the government's restructuring of the legal framework for charities the SVA was regi ...

(SVA).

History

Establishment and early period

In 1950 Mary Kilgour invited the SVA to take over a collection of exhibits for which she had shared responsibility with

Annie Leigh Browne Annie Leigh Browne (14 March 1851 – 8 March 1936) was a United Kingdom educationist and suffragist. She co-founded College Hall, London, and funded and worked to get women elected to local government. Life Browne was born in Bridgwater in 1851 ...

and Lady Lockyer, wife of Sir Norman Lockyer. Opening initially at Woolcombe House (now the town council premises), the SVA then moved the museum to its current premises in Hope Cottage in 1970. To this day, it is owned and funded by the SVA.

The museum today

Sidmouth Museum is run entirely by volunteers, most of whom are members of the SVA. It is a seasonal museum, closing for the winter months, during which most of the exhibits are replaced from the museum's considerable archives housed in the town. The museum operates a small shop, which sells the SVA's latest publications as well as Sidmouth-inspired souvenirs and trinkets. The museum is open from 10 am to 4 pm every day except Saturday, when it closes at 1 pm. It is closed on Sundays. Admission is £2.50, except for SVA members and under 16s, for whom entry is free. Several times a year, the museum holds children's activities days. Children can also complete a quiz trail during their visit. The museum runs guided geology and town walks through Sidmouth, led by local experts. The museum has committed to the digitisation of its holdings, much of which are too fragile to put on display to the wider public. A notable example of this digitisation effort was the scanning of ''Sidmouth Shingle'', a 10-volume illustrated record of the Sidmouth's coastline, particularly its beaches, which totals over 4,000 pages.

Collections

Though the collections change every year, the museum exhibits items in several areas, including but not limited to geology,

, famous Sidmouthians (including

Sir John Ambrose Fleming Sir John Ambrose Fleming FRS (29 November 1849 – 18 April 1945) was an English electrical engineer and physicist who invented the first thermionic valve or vacuum tube, designed the radio transmitter with which the first transatlantic radi ...

and Peter Orlando Hutchinson) as well as local history. The museum currently displays a collection of military medals and offers a display recalling Sidmouth during the Second World War. Before the 2021 season, the museum secured several digitisation grants, which provided the opportunity to present many of the museum's offerings in digital form. As a result, visitors can now access a great deal of information via screens and

QR codes A QR code (an initialism for quick response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional barcode) invented in 1994 by the Japanese company Denso Wave. A barcode is a machine-readable optical label that can contain information about the ...

. Digitisation means that the museum can display much more in an electronic form than would be physically possible in a relatively small building. Almost the entirety of the museum's art collection, for instance, is accessible via interactive screens.

Reception room

The reception room contains a large roof-high cabinet displaying assorted

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...

memorabilia from

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

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 her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

. The children's area is also located here. In addition, there are exhibits on the last Lord of Sidmouth Manor,

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

John Balfour, the life of Peter Orlando Hutchinson, fossils and archaeological items from the

East Devon East Devon is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Devon, England. Its council has been based in Honiton since February 2019, and the largest town is Exmouth (with a population of 34,432 at the time of the 2011 census). ...

area in the 'Life in East Devon - Stone Age to the Romans' display.

Geology room

The geology room contains many rare reptile fossils and amphibian bones which have been found on Sidmouth's beaches, including the remains of the

Rhynchosaur Rhynchosaurs are a group of extinct herbivorous Triassic archosauromorph reptiles, belonging to the order Rhynchosauria. Members of the group are distinguished by their triangular skulls and elongated, beak like premaxillary bones. Rhynchosaurs ...

, a herbivore reptile. Graphic displays chart the history of Sidmouth's

Jurassic Coast The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. It stretches from Exmouth in East Devon to Studland Bay in Dorset, a distance of about , and was inscribed on the World Heritage List in mid-December ...

, a

UNESCO World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

, through geological time. Other items on show include a

megalodon Megalodon (''Otodus megalodon''), meaning "big tooth", is an extinct species of mackerel shark that lived approximately 23 to 3.6 million years ago (Mya), from the Early Miocene to the Pliocene epochs. It was formerly thought to be a member ...

tooth,

belemnite Belemnitida (or the belemnite) is an extinct order of squid-like cephalopods that existed from the Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous. Unlike squid, belemnites had an internal skeleton that made up the cone. The parts are, from the arms-most to ...

guards and a selection of

wooly mammoth Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. As an ...

teeth, the largest of which weighs .

Sidmouth 1942

In 1942, Kennaway House became home to a

RAF Regiment The Royal Air Force Regiment (RAF Regiment) is part of the Royal Air Force and functions as a specialist corps. Founded by royal warrant in 1942, the Corps carries out soldiering tasks relating to the delivery of air power. Examples of such ta ...

officer cadet training school, and later an aircrew school. The museum's 'Sidmouth 1942' display is based around this wartime role. It is home to the crest of HMS Sidmouth, a

Bangor-class minesweeper The ''Bangor''-class minesweepers were a class of warships operated by the Royal Navy (RN), Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), and Royal Indian Navy (RIN) during the Second World War. The class derives its name from the ...

, which took part in the

Dieppe Raid Operation Jubilee or the Dieppe Raid (19 August 1942) was an Allied amphibious attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe in northern France, during the Second World War. Over 6,050 infantry, predominantly Canadian, supported by a regiment o ...

and

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

Military medals and coins display

In the 2022 season, the museum included a military medals display for the first time. The items on display range from coins commemorating the

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister of ...

's victories, to medals awarded by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

in the post-Second World War period. Many personal effects of the medal recipients were donated to the museum, a select few of which are also visible to the public. The medals of

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

Edward Bailey, who was awarded the

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land. The award ...

for gallantry in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and

Corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non ...

R. F. Pearcey, who served as an

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

mechanic in North Africa and Italy during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, are present alongside their personal items.

Main room

The main room takes on a scientific and technological flavour. In 2021, a significant donation of 1970s-1990s computer technology was made to the museum, which is now on display. The scientists Sidney Brown,

Frederick Lindemann Frederick Alexander Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell, ( ; 5 April 18863 July 1957) was a British physicist who was prime scientific adviser to Winston Churchill in World War II. Lindemann was a brilliant intellectual, who cut through bureauc ...

and Sir Norman Lockyer are remembered here, with Lockyer's display including his

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

star. These displays are in addition to a display cabinet covering the history of the museum, and an additional cabinet holding coronation memorabilia.

Lace room

Sidmouth Museum holds considerable quantities of lace in its collection, though only a small fraction of this can be displayed physically in the building itself. A digital monitor allows visitors to view other examples of lace not on public display at the museum. The room also hosts the original Long Picture, a panorama of Sidmouth seafront painted by Hubert Cornish in 1814. Sidmouth Long Picture

Archaeology room

The archaeology room contains

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

pottery and animal bones, as well as

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

flint tools such as axe heads, scrapers and knives. In addition, visitors can view some of Sir Norman Lockyer's collection of Ancient Egyptian artefacts, donated to him by

Sir Flinders Petrie Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Flinders Petrie, was a British Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. He held the first chair of Egypt ...

, the father of modern scientific archaeology.

Ushabti The ushabti (also called shabti or shawabti, with a number of variant spellings) was a funerary figurine used in ancient Egyptian funerary practices. The Egyptological term is derived from , which replaced earlier , perhaps the nisba of "' ...

dolls and beads from the time of

Tutankhamun Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...

form the centrepieces of this collection.

References

External links

Sidmouth Museum website

Sid Vale Association website

Devon Museums website

Facebook page
{{authority control Sidmouth Art museums and galleries in Devon Natural history museums in England Local museums in Devon History museums in Devon Museums in Devon