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George Eliot and Devizes
Read moreDuring work in our Library and Archive, one of our volunteers discovered some interesting connections between George Eliot and Devizes. Newspaper cuttings of Eliot’s visit
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Battle of Roundway Down
Read moreEngland. 1642. The First English Civil War has just begun with King Charles I of England and VI of Scotland fleeing London to Oxford after
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Thomas Lawrence – the ‘go to’ Georgian portrait painter from Devizes
Read moreThomas Lawrence was born in Bristol in 1769 and moved to Devizes in 1773, when his father became landlord of the Bear Hotel. Devizes was
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Bush Barrow dagger
Read moreThis dagger was buried with the Bush Barrow Chieftain who died in about 1950BC. The blade is made of bronze but the pommel is one
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Musical instrument made from human tibia
Read moreWorked bone tube, recently identified as being a musical instrument. It is made from a human femur which has been significantly scraped out. There was
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First use of a trowel in Archaeology – Bush Barrow
Read moreWhen asked about the first use of a trowel by an archaeologist, we had to tell the fascinating story of the excavation of Bush Barrow,
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First use of a trowel in Archaeology – Bush Barrow
Read moreWhen asked about the first use of a trowel by an archaeologist, we had to tell the fascinating story of the excavation of Bush Barrow,
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Richard Sandell’s Bracket clock
Read moreThis bracket clock has pride of place in the Long Room of our Library. It has not worked for many years, but has been restored
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Upton Lovell Shaman
Read moreShamanism is where people are regarded as having access, and influence, in the world of good and evil spirits. Typically, such people enter a trance
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Roundway Abbess – gold and garnet necklace
Read moreIn 1840, a barrow on Roundway Down was excavated to reveal a Saxon woman buried with various items, including a coin and a beautiful gold
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White Horse – dummy Puffin book by Eric Ravilious
Read moreIn 1939 Eric Ravilious was commissioned to create a Puffin book for children about the chalk downs and White Horses. He began a 'dummy' of
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Norah Ussher
Read moreIn 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
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The tale of Wiltshire Moonrakers
Read moreUS WUR CLEVERER THAN ‘E-AH, US DIDDLED ‘E ALRIGHT. In a pond up ‘Vizes way – smugglers ‘ad ‘idden a keg ‘o brandy & us
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Sir Richard Colt Hoare – catalogue of books and manuscripts
Read moreSir Richard Colt Hoare was born 9 December 1758 died 19 May 1838. He was a descendant of the famous banking family which was founded
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Gift of Stonehenge to the Nation – letter from Cecil Chubb
Read moreA thank you letter written to Canon Goddard from Cecil Chubb dated 1st October 1918 found whilst cataloguing a book entitled Wiltshire Autographs. This year
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Ship Money Tax – Kingsbridge Hundred 1635
Read moreStored in the Archives are over 450 boxes of papers given to the Museum over the years. The papers were donated and often represented research
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Cunetio hoard – the largest coin hoard from Roman Britain
Read moreThe Cunetio hoard of 54,951 coins was discovered at the site of the Roman town of Cunetio, near Mildenhall in Wiltshire. In 1978, after the
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Roundway Archer
Read moreBeaker from Roundway Down. A 3D model of the Roundway Beaker is featured on the BBC Civiliations Augmented Reality App – available for modern smartphones
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Calne Fates sculpture
Read moreThis sculpted block has been identified by Dr Martin Henig as depicting the three ancient goddesses of fate, the Parcae , and may come from
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Sir John Popham – Reports and Cases
Read moreWe have recently been donated ‘Reports and Cases’ by Sir John Popham of Littlecote, written in 1682. The Reports and Cases collected by the Learned
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John Britton
Read moreJohn Britton was born at Kington St Michael in Wiltshire (7 July 1771 – 1 January 1857) From an unpromising beginning he became an English
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William Cunnington III
Read moreA figure who should not be overlooked in the centenary year of his death is William Cunnington III (1813-1906), the principal founder of Wiltshire Archaeological
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Hungerford Papers
Read moreAmong the Library holdings are the Research papers of Canon J E Jackson (1805-1891) relating to the Hungerford family, their seat at Farleigh-Hungerford, and their
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Half Length Portrait of an Unknown Man by Sir Thomas Lawrence
Read moreThomas Lawrence (1769-1830) was a portrait painter born in Bristol, and the youngest of 16 children. In 1772 the family moved to Devizes where Lawrence’s
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Long-necked Beaker
Read moreThis Beaker was buried with a skeleton under a barrow just to the North of the Cursus near Stonehenge. The Beaker is carefully decorated with
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