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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