On and Off the Rails

‘On and Off the Rails’ is our latest temporary exhibition and it celebrates the railways of South Gloucestershire!

Working with other museums in the South Gloucestershire Museums Group, our museum has contributed to charting the story of local railways from their early history in the 1830s up to the 2020s.

The exhibition deals with themes including: past (but no longer surviving) stations, such as Thornbury; the working lives of railway staff; passenger holidays; and the transportation of freight.

Come along and revel in the history of a vital local transport system.

The Museum is open on Tuesday and Friday afternoons, from 1pm to 4pm and on Saturdays from 10m to 4pm.  Entry is free.  All ages welcome!

Thornbury in the Making

Our upstairs front room is re-opening in 2024 with an exhibition called ‘Thornbury in the Making’.

The exhibition tells the stories of past Thornbury businesses and trades – the market, saddlers and harness makers, butchers, dairies, tailors, clockmakers and….   come and find out what else!

The illustration shows Trayhurn the butchers, whose wares hung out in the open air, at a time when local butchers had abattoirs behind their shop premises.  These days, butchers have to pay more regard to hygiene regulations!  The Trayhurn shop, incidentally, was situated in Quaker Place, where L. and J. Gulwell, the funeral directors, are now.

If you’re interested in the history of your local market town, come along and explore the different trades and businesses that have flourished here.

Handel Cossham: Thornbury’s Man of Substance

2024 marks the bicentenary of Handel Cossham’s birth in Thornbury on 31st March 1824.

To mark the occasion, our museum’s first exhibition of the year was “Handel Cossham: Thornbury’s Man of Substance“.

As a result of popular demand, we’re reinstalling the exhibition from August to December.  Clearly, there is a great deal of interest in this local boy made good, who was such a benefactor to the town of Thornbury.

Handel was the son of a joiner and builder but, instead of following in his father’s footsteps, he became a clerk in a colliery and taught himself about the geology of the local coalfields.

He went on to become a leading colliery owner in this area and one of the West Country’s major employers. He was also a lay preacher, a temperance advocate, an educationalist, a politician and a public benefactor.

On the day of his funeral it was estimated that 50,000 people were present at the cemetery or lined the route.

Handel Cossham never forgot his native town. In 1862 he paid for the setting up of a British School at Gillingstool in Thornbury and then, in 1888, he gifted the former Wesleyan Chapel building to the people of Thornbury for use as a public hall.  We know the building today as the Cossham Hall, right next to the museum.

Our exhibition includes the story of the Cossham Hall.

Come along and find out more about this major West Country figure – a man who did so much for Thornbury.

Severn Salmon Fishing

Come and discover the tough life of the traditional Severn salmon fishermen.

Tied to the tides, the fishermen had to be ready to harvest the fish caught in their woven willow putchers as soon as the river receded enough to allow them to wade out in their thigh- or chest-high waders.

Sometimes, they used traditional lave-nets to scoop up the salmon – but trying to move fast in the treacherous waters of the tidal Severn was a dangerous undertaking.

This exhibition is packed full of information gleaned by the late Nick Large from his numerous interviews with the last generation of Severn salmon fishers.  His sharp black and white photographs illustrate their stories.

You can also watch short film clips of interviews with Deryck Huby and Don Riddle, the last of the willow putcher-makers.  The film shows them cutting the withies and making the putchers using traditional tools and techniques. They are shown setting the putchers out in ‘ranks’ but also fishing with traditional lave nets.  At the end of the season, they were required by law to bring ashore all their putchers, a back-breaking job which had to be carried out between tides.  Friends and family often helped out at this stage – and then helped them celebrate the end of the season afterwards, with – inevitably – barbecued salmon and a drink or two!

Local artists at the museum

We’re delighted to be hosting two artists on the Severn Vale Art Trail this year. Over the May Day Bank Holiday, we’re opening specially every day from Thursday to Monday from 10am to 4pm.

Alison Dyson creates exquisitely detailed ink drawings of subjects found in nature, such as this very fine kingfisher.

Thornbury-based Rosemary Millar makes beautiful silver and gold filled jewellery, incorporating semi-precious stones and pearls, attractively displayed.

Their work is for sale but there’s no compulsion to buy.  Just come and discover what talent we have locally – and feel free to chat to the artists about how they go about their work.

Indian Stories

We’re delighted to be hosting a touring exhibition which tells the inspiring and often moving stories of some South Gloucestershire residents of Indian heritage.

The exhibition is a blend of images and stories, filmed interviews and objects on loan from the interviewees.

The stories have some common themes: family history, travel, work, education and family life.  The filmed interviews relate quite different experiences but they all explore questions of identity and belonging.

The exhibition is the result of an Arts Council-funded collaborative project, led by South Gloucestershire Council, to which all the museums in South Gloucestershire contributed.  We pay tribute to the individual interviewees who were so generous with their time, and open and honest in relating their thoughts and experiences.  We greatly enjoyed taking part in this project and have learned a great deal as a result.

Do come along and enjoy this richly colourful exhibition.

Thornbury’s Roman Coin Hoard

In 2004, a local Thornbury man was digging a garden pond and came upon a Roman coin hoard.

He reported the find and the 11,460 copper alloy Roman coins were in due course declared ‘treasure’.

Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery bought the hoard and they hold the majority of it but a selection of the coins is on loan to Thornbury & District Museum.

Come and discover the story of the hoard.

Who knows?  You might find something when you’re digging your own garden!

Thornbury Castle and the ill-fated 3rd Duke of Buckingham

Downstairs, in our Roman Coins room, as well as learning about the coin hoard discovered when a Thornbury man was digging a garden pond, you can also read about the builder and (short-lived) owner of Thornbury Castle.

Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, had grand ideas about his place in Tudor society.  He set about building a castle where there had once been merely a manor house.

He drew ideas from some of the grandest buildings in Tudor England – and was innovative too.  Thornbury had ornate twisted chimneys before Hampton Court did.

But his ambition cost him dearly.  Before the castle was finished, Buckingham was executed by order of Henry VIII in 1521.  2021 saw the 500th anniversary of his death.

Museum researchers have uncovered a great deal about Buckingham and his castle.  Come and find out for yourself why Henry VIII distrusted such a powerful potential rival.

Thornbury Railway

Thornbury Railway came into being 150 years ago this year.

It’s pretty hard to imagine Thornbury with a railway, with trains regularly carrying passengers and freight to a station at the top of the High Street!

But maybe you CAN imagine it, and even remember it?   If so, come and tell us all about your memories of the days when a locomotive was a common local sight.

Thornbury Treasures

We’ve put on display some of the objects that reflect Thornbury’s varied past.  Come and explore!

The display is downstairs, in the same room as the Roman Coins.