Richard Sandell’s Bracket clock

This bracket clock has pride of place in the Long Room of our Library. It has not worked for many years, but has been restored for us by Matthew McMurray of the Devizes Clock Workshop. The Westminster Chimes are now a welcome sound in the Museum - listen to a

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Upton Lovell Shaman

Shamanism is where people are regarded as having access, and influence, in the world of good and evil spirits. Typically, such people enter a trance state during a ritual and practice divination and healing. The shaman culture is most common among the people of Asia and North America. Shamanism is

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Inspired by Jurassic fossils

A Jurassic fish known as Lepidotus minor. Prehistoric fish such as these had armoured small scales, which did not rot - allowing the fossil to be preserved almost perfectly. 1.0.0.20 1.0.0.20

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Inspired by handaxes

Handaxe - by John Carter   1.0.0.20 Varying size and shape, handaxes date from the Paleolithic period (2.6 million -10,000 years ago.) These flint tools were used for a variety of tasks - including butchering meat, cutting and scraping.   1.0.0.20 1.0.0.20 1.0.0.20

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Inspired by Beakers

  1.0.0.20 1.0.0.20 1.0.0.20 1.0.0.20 Stephan's work is inspired by a beaker in the museum collection. Between the end of the Neolithic period and the beginning of the Bronze Age, a range of influences from the Continent appear to have changed the way people chose to bury their dead in

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Inspired by the Golden Lozenge

Golden Lozenge - by Jean Carter and John Carter 1.0.0.20 These pieces are inspired by the Bush Barrow golden lozenge. Less than half a mile to the south of Stonehenge lies Bush Barrow, on the top of the Normanton Down ridge. The barrow was raised over the burial of a

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Elements of a gold and amber necklace

Roundway Abbess – gold and garnet necklace

In 1840, a barrow on Roundway Down was excavated to reveal a Saxon woman buried with various items, including a coin and a beautiful gold and garnet necklace. She had been laid to rest on a wooden bed, wearing a Christian cross on a small enameled disc, mounted on a

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White Horse – dummy Puffin book by Eric Ravilious

In 1939 Eric Ravilious was commissioned to create a Puffin book for children about the chalk downs and White Horses. He began a 'dummy' of sketches showing how the book might work and began to paint a series of watercolours that were to be the illustrations. The text was to

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Norah Ussher

In 1979, Alexis Taylor was sorting through her Great Aunt Norah’s belongings after her death. In a chocolate box titled ‘A present from Weymouth’ she discovered treasures from Norah’s early 20s when she campaigned for the Vote in Devizes. This ‘gentle Christian woman with a good sense of humour’ had

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The tale of Wiltshire Moonrakers

US WUR CLEVERER THAN ‘E-AH, US DIDDLED ‘E ALRIGHT. In a pond up ‘Vizes way – smugglers ‘ad ‘idden a keg ‘o brandy & us wur trying to get at un. Us were scrabbling away with gurt ‘ay rakes when us spied ‘zizeman ‘a’watching. So us pointed to moon’s ‘flection

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