Accy museum exhibits dumped on tip....

[garinda]

OAK HILL PARK MUSEUM, ACCRINGTON
In 1951 the museum at Accrington, Lancs., (founded 1900) was dispersed.
An account of its history and its biological collections has been submitted to B.C.G. Newsletter. However, its holdings of geological material were also
extensive and were largely the r e s u l t of donations by:-

Dr. Conrad Gerland. "3 cwts." of minerals and f o s s i l s given on 14.11.1930
a f t e r his death. He and his father, D r . B. W. Gerland,
arranged the museum collections during 1900-1.

Col. John Wilson Rimington, (18.5.1832-4.7.1909). The 1933 "Guide" to the
museum gives the t o t a l number of mineral specimens as
10,000 (possibly 18,000). The majlority of these were
probably donated by Rimington i n 1900-1. He was born a t
Broomhead Hall, nr. Sheffield, had a Cambridge M.A. and
lived a t Lynton House, Upper Norwood, nr. Croydon. He
also collected plants, insects and molluscs. Sales of
his minerals were held a t Stevens on June loth, l l t h , 1891,
June 15th, 1892, and in Paris on 9.12.1912 a f t e r his death
(1300 l o t s ) . There are a considerable number of specimens
from the f i r s t two of these sales a t Sheffield City Museums.
The 1933 "Guide" also mentions 2,000 Carboniferous f o s s i l s , but does not
give their source.

In 1951 the museum's collections were destroyed, sold or given away. The
f o s s i l s were dumped on a tip a t Baxenden, nr. Accrington, along with some of the larger minerals, but the bulk of the mineral collection was obtained for Reading University where it remains v i r t u a l l y untouched. Dr. Roger Harker has recently compiled a detailed catalogue of the collection which w i l l probably be s p l i t up into teaching, reference and exchange collections. A t present the collection occupies some thirteen cabinets of about 10 drawers each. Dealers' names found among the specimens include Bryce Wright of London, A. E. Foote of Philadelphia and A. Krantz of Berlin.
Photocopies of a l l relevant l i t e r a t u r e , D r . Barker's catalogue, the museum
guide, inventories, etc3, are retained a t Towneley Hall Museum, Burnley.
I should l i k e to thank Prof. P. Allen (Reading), Dr. R. Harker, Prof. F. Hodson,
(Southampton), Rosemary Preece (Manchester Museum) and T. Riley (Sheffield Museum)
for their help in tracing t h i s material.
M. A. Taylor,
Perth Museum 8 A r t Gallery

[garinda]

Sorry, it was getting late, and I was ready for bed. The above quote was taken from...

http://www.geocurator.org/arch/Curator/Vol2No3.pdf

[garinda]

The Mineralogical Record - Label Archive

Old label, Accrington Museum.

[garinda]

'The Corporation renovated the house, and the museum opened in 1910. There were eight rooms displaying various eclectic items of local history, art and specialised collections. Most items were donated. During the Second World War, the museum closed to the public and never reopened. For some years in the 1950s and 1960s, Whitewell Dairies ran a café on the ground floor.'
Shopping - Francis Frith

[garinda]

More details on the building, and photographs.

http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/f...cys-50060.html

The Friends of Oak Hill Park Accrington.

[garinda]

Class X. Institution confirmed as no longer having any natural history collections.

66 Accrington Museum

http://fenscore.man.ac.uk/nwcru/Skel...stclaslist.htm

[garinda]

'There have been a number of important new acquisitions in addition to the rock collections reported above. A collection of minerals numbering some thousands of specimens is being transferred from the University of Reading where it is no longer required for teaching or research. It includes the 19th century Accrington Museum collection. While a substantial number of the specimens will greatly improve the Oxford holdings, others that are too poorly documented for permanent retention will be set aside for handling collections and destructive research. '
Oxford University Museum of Natural History

[wadey]

Interesting, I often how many gifts to Museums and Libraries are rotting away in basements

[garinda]

Originally Posted by wadey

Interesting, I often how many gifts to Museums and Libraries are rotting away in basements

They're the lucky ones.

The ones not dumped at a tip.

[garinda]

The Rimington Collection must have been huge and very fine, perhaps one of the great "lost" British collections.

Some of the Rimington mineral collection was donated to the Accrington Museum ca. 1900 (possibly around 10,000 specimens!) along with his herbarium. The Accrington collections, in turn, were dispersed (a polite term for "destroyed, discarded, sold or given away")

The Mineralogical Record - Label Archive

[Retlaw]

I remember the museum when I was younger, at the top of the stairs were two statues on pedastles, one of them still exists, its the reception area at the Howarth Art Gallery, one other thing I remember is the 7.92x57 model 08 Maxim machine Gun, it was supposed to have been captured by the Pals, and offered to the mayor of Accrington by Col Rickman,
I have the serial numbers of those items that were donated, for some time it was in Blackburn Museum, with a sign on it captured by the Pals. It was moved to Fulwood some 7 years ago. Whilst working at Fulwood, I was asked to deactivate it for display in another museum, I stripped it down, and on examination, it wasn't the one Rickman donated, the serial numbers did'nt match. I then refused to have anything further to do with it.
Retlaw

[Atarah]

Keep on with this subject, you never know, "people power" may just win us a room up The Haworth. Think its time to officially write to Hyndburn Council asking whats the chances of?

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Atarah

Keep on with this subject, you never know, "people power" may just win us a room up The Haworth. Think its time to officially write to Hyndburn Council asking whats the chances of?

I think the idea that the Haworth can't display anything other than art, appears to hold less, and less credibility.

Accrington museum treasures on display at last (From Blackburn Citizen)

[garinda]

Originally Posted by garinda

Class X. Institution confirmed as no longer having any natural history collections.

66 Accrington Museum

http://fenscore.man.ac.uk/nwcru/Skel...stclaslist.htm

BCI: Oak Hill Park Museum Herbarium

[Retlaw]

I know of a couple of Items that are in the Haworth.
two gargoyles were uncovered in Warmden Brook, Grange Lane, in the early 1800's, and were reputed to be part of the old grange in Accrington, they were at Oak Hill museum.

Retlaw.