Saffron Walden Museum is a local museum in Saffron Walden, Essex, England. Established in 1835 by the Saffron Walden Natural History Society, with collections assembled from 1832 by local benefactors including Jabez Gibson and Lord Braybrooke of Audley End, it was built as a purpose-designed museum, making it one of the oldest purpose-built museums in the United Kingdom. It was built to house collections of natural history, antiquities and other objects of local and general interest, a role the museum continues to fulfil.
The museum is located on Museum Street within the town of Saffron Walden, set in an enclosed grass meadow near the ruins of the 12-century Walden Castle. Its collections comprise around 175,000 objects and specimens spanning ancient cultures, archaeology, ceramics and glass, costumes and textiles, geology, furniture and woodwork, social and local history, natural history, and world cultures.
Highlights of the museum's collection include: Wallace the Lion; the painted coffin of the Egyptian Tayef-herut-nakht; a Roman period mummy from Egypt; a rare late Tudor "rail and rope" bed; a glove traditionally associated with Mary, Queen of Scots; and an 18th-century suit of Japanese samurai armour. The museum also holds significant natural history and ethnographic collections assembled during the nineteenth century, alongside extensive archaeological material and later objects relating to the history of north-west Essex.
The museum is operated by Uttlesford District Council in partnership with Saffron Walden Museum Society Ltd, the charitable organisation that owns the building and collections and provides talks and events for its members, and is supported by a team of over 50 volunteers.
History
Foundation and Early Development Saffron Walden Museum was founded by the Saffron Walden Natural History Society and opened in 1835, three years after the Society's establishment. The idea of creating a museum in the town emerged in 1832, following discussions between local figures including Jabez Gibson, Richard Griffin, 3rd Lord Braybrooke of Audley End, and John Player. The earliest recorded meeting of the Society took place on 22 November 1832 at Gibson's home, adjoining the cattle market in Hill Street. At this meeting the Society's Rules and Regulations were agreed and a committee appointed: Jabez Gibson (chairman), John Player, Thomas Spurgin, Joshua Clarke and William Ward. The Society resolved to establish a museum containing "specimens in the several departments of Natural History, with Antiquarian remains, and other such Articles as may be of local or general interests."
For nearly three years before the museum opened, collections were assembled in Jabez Gibson's house, which served as a temporary store for specimens, cases and display equipment. During this period the committee actively sought donations from botanists, professors and private collectors. The earliest recorded accession was from a zoological society, consisting of 30 birds and a deer.
Although the ruins of Walden Castle were initially considered as a site, it was decided to erect a purpose-built building on Bury Hill, between St Mary's Church and the Castle. The land was leased from Lord Braybrooke, and the purpose-built museum was erected in 1833–34. An eastward extension, known as the Agricultural Hall (now the Great Hall) was included to accommodate meetings of the Saffron Walden Agricultural Society, which Lord Braybrooke had founded. The museum itself initially occupied the first floor of the western portion of the building, with rooms for lectures and other societies below.
The museum opened in May 1835. In its early years it was accessible primarily to subscribers and was open one afternoon per week during the summer months. Contemporary accounts describe displays dominated by large skeletons and taxidermy, alongside geological specimens, ethnographic objects and antiquities. One early visitor recorded "stuffed birds and animals... shells, birds' eggs, nests, skeletons... a beautiful rhinoceros... Indian curiosities... minerals... [and] the head of an elephant."
Significant Expansion (1837-1850s) In 1837 a large African elephant obtained through contacts with the Dunn family in South Africa was purchased by Jabez Gibson and mounted for display, becoming one of the museum's most celebrated early exhibits. The same consignment included a hippopotamus, rhinoceros, gnu and ant-eater. In response to the rapid growth of the collections, Lord Braybrooke agreed in 1837 to fund the addition of two large rooms at the rear of the building, one on the ground floor and one above (now the 'Worlds of Man' gallery), together with two smaller rooms, described as a "cottage", for the caretaker.
In 1838 the museum acquired one of its most notable specimens, the lion Wallace, from Wombwell's travelling menagerie. Wallace, reputedly the first African lion successfully bred in captivity in Britain, had been born in Edinburgh in 1812. He became widely known for participating in a controversial lion-baiting event at Warwick in 1825 and died in 1838 at the age of 25, an unusually long lifespan for a menagerie animal of the period. His mounted remains became a prominent feature of the museum's displays.
A significant setback occurred in 1842 when a quantity of gold and silver coins was stolen from the collections. Suspicion fell on John Wright, the son of the building's caretaker, after a witness claimed to have seen him selling old coins in London. Wright was arrested and brought before the Saffron Walden magistrates, but the evidence proved insufficient and he was acquitted.
In 1844 John Player compiled a comprehensive catalogue of the museum's holdings, published the following year. It is regarded as one of the earliest illustrated museum catalogues in Britain and included an engraving of the museum interior showing the elephant, rhinoceros, giraffe, panels painted by Cipriani, Australian Aboriginal weapons, stuffed birds and Roman pottery. The catalogue contained sections on birds, reptiles, fishes and geology, as well as phrenology and ethnographic material described as illustrating the "habits of various nations".
During the same period the museum developed significant ethnographic collections. Material from south-eastern Australia was donated by John Helder Wedge, a surveyor in Tasmania and early settler near Melbourne, who collected Aboriginal artefacts in the 1830s. Objects from the Pacific Islands were contributed by George Bennet, who travelled extensively between 1821 and 1829 while inspecting missionary stations for the London Missionary Society. In 1838 the museum also acquired a Hawaiian feather cloak from the Rector of Widdington, who had received it from his brother-in-law, an attendant to the King and Queen of the Hawaiian Islands during their visit to Britain in 1824.
Financial Pressures and Reorganisation (1850s-1880s) The fame of the museum continued to spread during the 19th century, in part through the inclusion of its African elephant in the Great Exhibition of 1851. The Trustees agreed to lend the specimen at the request of the Exhibition's organisers, who wished to display an Indian howdah upon it, despite the elephant's African origin. The removal of the mounted animal from the first-floor gallery and its transport to London, was a notable undertaking and attracted local attention.
Despite its public profile, the museum experienced increasing financial difficulties in the second half of the century. Treasurer's accounts show that trustees were frequently required to supplement funds and archival records suggest a gradual decline in resources between the 1850s and 1870s. Nonetheless, important additions to the collections continued, including architectural fragments and further ethnographic and decorative arts material. In 1872, William Murray Tuke acquired items from the dispersal of the Sudbury Museum collections and later deposited many of them at Saffron Walden.
A similar fate to that suffered by Sudbury Museum might have befallen this Museum had it not been for beneficence of George Stacey Gibson who in the 1880s endowed the Museum in such a way as to give it a new lease of life. in addition to financial assistance, Gibson also played a key role in the extension of the Town Hall in 1879, which included an Assembly Hall and rendered the Agricultural Hall redundant as a civic meeting space. This enabled the Natural History Society to assume full occupation of the museum building. Gibson also contributed to the funding of a paid curator and supported the reorganisation of the museum's administration and displays.
Professional Curatorship and Educational Development (1880-1918) The first paid Curator of the Museum was George Nathan Maynard, appointed in 1880. His initial responsibilities included reorganising the collections and transferring material from the first-floor galleries to newly available space in the Agricultural Hall and other areas on the ground floor. He introduced systematic accession registers in bound volumes, establishing a collection recording system. Among the objects relocated in 1880-81 was the African elephant, which became the central feature of the reorganised displays. The first-floor galleries were subsequently refurbished to accommodate expanding collections of ceramics and glass, much of which had been donated by William Murray Tuke and Henry Stear, a local Medical Officer of Health. By 1887 the museum's improvements were recognised in a report in a report by the British Association for the Advancement of Science, which classified it as a first-class provincial museum.
In 1904 Guy Maynard succeeded his father as curator. Having grown up in the building, he placed particular emphasis on the museum's educational role, placing an unusually strong focus on teaching within a provisional museum of the period. In 1916 he reorganised one of the ground-floor rooms so that children could sit and be shown objects from collections. He also produced interpretative drawings illustrating the historical development of the town and introduced other measures to improve public understanding of the displays. In addition, he designated space for the preparation of new displays, reflecting an increasing systematic and professional approach to museum practice.
The museum remained open during the First World War, though it experienced heavy use from soldiers stationed locally or on leave. Following an incident involving attempted theft from the donations box, access for soldiers was restricted to weekends under supervision.
Concerns about lack of space persisted. In 1913 the trustees purchased cottages at 36-40 Castle Street with the intention of demolishing them to extend the museum northwards; these plans were suspended following the outbreak of war. In 1914 the curator moved into one of the cottages, freeing former residential rooms within the museum for display purposes. The curator's former living room now forms part of the museum's exhibition area, while the remaining cottages were subsequently let or sold.
Inter-war and post-war changes (1918-1974) In 1918 Guy Maynard left to take up a post at Ipswich Museum and was succeeded by Hubert Collar, who worked in collaboration with George Morris. During the 1920s and 1930s the Natural History Society experienced significant financial difficulties, reflecting wider challenges faced by many provincial museums. Persistent problems of limited space and an ageing building continued to affect the institution. By 1923, overcrowding had become apparent; the so-called "bird room" also contained tapestries, war relics and oak carvings.