The West Wales Museum of Childhood was a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

which opened in 2005.

Location

The West Wales Museum of Childhood was located in

Llangeler Llangeler () is a hamlet and community located in north Carmarthenshire, Wales. The name is believed to refer to St. Gelert. Llangeler parish covers a wide area including to the west, the textile village of Drefach Felindre, Waungilwen, Cwmpen ...

, near

Newcastle Emlyn Newcastle Emlyn ( cy, Castellnewydd Emlyn) is a town on the River Teifi, straddling the counties of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire in West Wales. It is also a community entirely within Carmarthenshire, bordered by those of Llangeler and Cenar ...

along the A484, the

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, RP: ; cy, Caerfyrddin , "Merlin's fort" or "Sea-town fort") is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy. north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, ...

to Cardigan road. It was sited in the

River Teifi , name_etymology = , image = File:Llyn Teifi - geograph.org.uk - 41773.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = Llyn Teifi, the source of the Teifi , map = , map_size = , map_caption ...

river valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ...

only a short distance from the Welsh

National Woollen Museum The National Wool Museum, located in Drefach Felindre, Llandysul, Carmarthenshire is part of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. Background Historically and into the 19th century, the woollen industry in Wales, including spinning and w ...

(latterly known as the National Wool Museum) at

Drefach Felindre Dre-fach Felindre is a village in Carmarthenshire, West Wales. It is located four miles south-east of Newcastle Emlyn. It lies at the confluence of three fast-flowing streams, the Nant Bargod, Nant Esgair and Nant Brân, where their steep-sided ...

. The museum has now closed and the collection has been moved to

Wisbech Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland port and civil parish in the Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bordering Norfolk and only 5 miles ...

in Cambridgeshire.

Exhibits

There were more than 10,000 items on display in the five galleries of the museum. Exhibits included toys,

doll A doll is a model typically of a human or humanoid character, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have also been used in traditional religious rituals throughout the world. Traditional dolls made of materials such as clay and wood are foun ...

s, model trains,

model car A model car, or toy car, is a miniature representation of an automobile. Other miniature motor vehicles, such as trucks, buses, or even ATVs, etc. are often included in this general category. Because many miniature vehicles were originally aime ...

teddy bear A teddy bear is a stuffed toy in the form of a bear. Developed apparently simultaneously by toymakers Morris Michtom in the U.S. and Richard Steiff under his aunt Margarete Steiff's company in Germany in the early 20th century, the teddy b ...

toy soldier A toy soldier is a miniature figurine that represents a soldier. The term applies to depictions of uniformed military personnel from all eras, and includes knights, cowboys, American Indians, pirates, samurai, and other subjects that involve ...

s, costumes,

pinball machine Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...

s, games, a period schoolroom, and household items. The museum was a privately run enterprise and received no outside funding. Photos of some of the exhibits can still be seen on the People's Collection Wales website. The museum was awarded accreditation under VisitWales VAQAS -the Welsh Assembly Government's Visitor Attraction Quality Accreditation Scheme Visitor Attraction Quality Accreditation Scheme
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References

Children's museums in the United Kingdom Toy museums in Wales Museums in Carmarthenshire Mass media museums in the United Kingdom Museums established in 2005 2005 establishments in Wales {{UK-museum-stub

Location

Exhibits

See also

References