Medieval Themed Diamond Jubilee Event Salisbury May 1st

There are two weeks to go until communities from across wiltshire showcase their areas at the fun-packed Diamond Jubilee celebration event on May 1.


The medieval-themed event will take place at Salisbury's Cathedral Close from 10am to 5.30 pm because of the city's links to the Magna Carta. All Wiltshire's community areas will be represented with a tent packed with activities and artefacts.

Congratulations to Salisbury Museum for securing Grant from DSCMS Wolfson Fund

The DCMS/Wolfson Fund have awarded £100,000 to the museum towards the development of our new Archaeology of Wessex gallery (working title). This new gallery will be of international importance, telling the story of Salisbury and the surrounding area from prehistoric times to the Norman Conquest.

The Archaeology of Wessex gallery will show why Salisbury has a unique place in the region’s and nation’s history. Our collections include some of the most important archaeological finds outside a national museum in Britain, including artefacts from the Stonehenge World Heritage Site and the Pitt Rivers Wessex Collection. The gallery will place the story of Stonehenge within its wider chronological and regional context.

http://www.salisburymuseum.org.uk/about-us/news/museum-secures-grant-from-dcms-wolfson-fund.html

Bags of Creativity coming soon to Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum

Saturday 21 April - Saturday 1 September 2012.

Local artist Suzie Gutteridge is working in collaboration with the Museum and local schools and groups to create an exciting and sensory exhibition inspired by two items in the Museum’s Costume Collection. By treating this installation as an ‘archive’, the exhibition will also show visitors how the Museum documents and records its own Collections.

The Lavender Pin Cushion currently on show in the Costume Gallery and the Tudor Sweet bag (or pomander) held in the reserve collection have provided a basis for Suzie’s own modern versions of the sweet bag which will be filled with lavender.  Tudor sweet bags could be used to hold small, often scented, gifts.
Through Bags of Creativity Suzie shows how upcycling (finding a new use for an unwanted object) can result in unusual and exciting artwork.  She has invited a range of groups, schools and individuals to make and decorate their own sweet bag from old clothes or bits of material which hold personal memories for them.   

By following the Museum’s collection procedures, Suzie plans to create her own ‘archive’ for the sweet bags.  Each bag will be separately documented with its own accession number, label and object history using the stories and memories evoked by the upcycled item

This promises to be a fun, visual, sensory artwork.  There will be plenty of opportunities to take part, please see the What's On section of this website.

Tisbury Hoard goes on display at Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum

Adrian Green, Curator of the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum describes the exciting new hoard on the museum website:

"An exciting new Bronze Age hoard discovered in west Wiltshire has just gone on display at Salisbury Museum. It was found a month ago in a field near Tisbury by a metal detectorist. He reported the first object, a spearhead, to the Wiltshire Finds Liaison Officer. A team of archaeologists then excavated the remaining objects and recorded how they lay in the ground.

The hoard of over 100 copper alloy objects is over 2,700 years old and dates to the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age. It consists of tools - axe heads, chisels, sickles, gouges, and weapons - spearheads, daggers, knives, swords and scabbard fittings. It is the most important hoard to have been found in Wiltshire since the discovery of the Salisbury Hoard in the 1980s.

It is very unusual for a hoard of this significance to be on display in a regional museum before it has been assessed by the experts at the British Museum. The hoard will only be on display until Saturday 26 November – it will then go to the British Museum for assessment and the local coroner will need to hold an inquest to determine whether it is Treasure Trove.