Culture without Borders Development Trust

Posted on 13 November 2017 by EFDMuseum

Become a Trustee for our new…………..

‘Culture without Borders Development Trust’

Created to support Epping Forest District & Lowewood Museums

and Spotlight Theatre, Hoddesdon

If you live or work in Epping Forest District or the Borough of Broxbourne, or have a passion for culture, history and learning and believe that you have the relevant skills and expertise to offer this exciting new development trust, we would love to hear from you.

We are establishing a Charitable Trust to assist us with our ambitious development plans and further promote the knowledge and appreciation of our shared history and culture, not only on a local, but on a regional and indeed, national level. We have appointed several people so far but have a few trustee positions still vacant and to celebrate ‘National Trustee Week 2017’, it’s a perfect opportunity to recruit.

The trust will play a key role in developing funding strategies, fundraising campaigns, including individual giving and legacies, to assist with the future development and help attract or create new exhibitions and events, building on the strong body or work already undertaken.

Trustee skills:

We welcome applications for Trustee positions, from those who are not only committed to ensuring that the museums’, culture and theatres futures are secured and that they go from strength to strength, but also have specialist skills in the following areas:

Finance – Fundraising – Philanthropy – Marketing – Communications – PR – Arts – Heritage – Leisure and Culture – Retail, hospitality and tourism – Charity & Social Enterprise

Deadlines for an expression of interest are midday Friday 24^th November 2017.

Interviews for shortlisted candidates will be during week commencing 4^th December 2017.

For an informal discussion or for an information pack, please contact:

Tony O’Connor

Epping Forest District Museum

39 – 41 Sun Street

Waltham Abbey

EN9 1EL

Tel: 01992 564986 Email: aoconnor@eppingforestdc.gov.uk

Museum on the Move reopens

Posted on 28 March 2016 by EFDMuseum

Epping Forest District Museum reopened it’s doors to the public on Saturday 19 March 2016 after a 2 year long Heritage Lottery funded redevelopment.

The bells of Waltham Abbey Church rang as reenactors from the 44th East Essex Regiment marched up Sun Street towards the museum.

Party atmosphere

A party atmosphere was enjoyed by all who came to celebrate the museum’s special day. They were treated to a jive dance demonstration and a morris dancing display by the Chingford Morris Men in Sun Street.

Over 750 people visited the museum, they enjoyed activities including decorating eggs in the new community space, and were given access to all the museum’s new galleries for the first time.

Welcome back

Museum staff were thrilled with the positive feedback they received. Comments include “Big improvement, proud to live in the Abbey” and “Welcome back! We’ve missed the museum and love the new look!”

Museum on the Move

The museum team also celebrated the reopening of the museum by making a film showing what has been going on behind the scenes. The ‘Museum on the Move’ film also features as part of the museum’s first temporary exhibition all about transport through history.

Church Street, Waltham Abbey

Posted on 7 January 2016 by EFDMuseum

Here is a gallery of some of the images in the Museum’s collection of Church Street in Waltham Abbey.

Find more images of Waltham Abbey and the District at efdhistory.org.uk

Church Street Waltham Abbey viewed from the east

South Side of Church Street looking East towards Sun Street c.1945

View of South side of Church Street viewed from church tower c.1950

View of South-west corner of Church Street at Bakers Entry; viewed from the church tower c.1950

Photograph of row of shopfronts at south-east corner of Church Street Waltham Abbey

Photograph of Church Street and Bakers Entry and Green Yard from Church Tower Waltham Abbey viewed from the north

The Welsh Harp on the left with road in foreground : tree in churchyard to left : buildings in Market Square visible in background

Update on the Museum redevelopment project

Posted on 29 October 2015 by EFDMuseum

Since our last update lots of changes have happened at the museum site. The majority of the building works are now complete and the project is on to the furnishing and decorating stage.

A key milestone in the last month or so is the installation of the lift. A big part of the museum project, the lift now makes the museum fully accessible throughout.

New lift at Epping Forest District Museum

The new spaces are also taking shape with the education/community room, temporary exhibition gallery and core gallery ready for decoration and furnishing.

Temporary Exhibition Gallery

View through from store space to the Core Gallery – visitors will be able to see directly into the collection areas

Artist impression of how the Education/Community Room will look

View through from store space to the Core Gallery – visitors will be able to see directly into the collection areas

Artist impression of how the Core Gallery will look

Education/Community Room

Temporary Exhibition Gallery

The project is progressing well and still on track for a Spring 2016 opening.

Sneak Peak: Objects going into the Museum’s new archaeology display

Posted on 8 October 2015 by EFDMuseum

Catherine Hammond, the museum’s Education and Outreach Officer, has been busy at the stores selecting objects for the Archaeology display in the new museum which is due to reopen early 2016.

‘I’ve been trying to find objects from all different periods of history and from different locations around the District. My aim is to show how long people have lived and worked all over this area.

As you go through box after box, taking photos, checking lists and making sure everything is recorded properly, it can be easy to forget what an incredible amount of history has passed through your hands. Its only now looking back through all my photos of potential objects I realise I took a journey through 5000 years worth of history in about 7 hours! One of the most exciting objects I found was this Neolithic bowl from Waltham Abbey. It is around 5000 years old and hasn’t been on display since it was sent away for conservation work.

Neolithic Bowl

Sometimes an object gives a direct link with the past when it shows what we have in common with people who lived here over 1500 years ago. These Roman tweezers used by a Roman lady to tidy her brows have hardly changed from ones we might use today.

Tweezers

As a horse lover, I can’t resist including something horse related, but I didn’t expect to find this ornament, made from a horse’s tooth! It dates from Saxon times and was found near Nazeingbury.

Horse Tooth

Sadly, some objects have no information with them so we have no way of knowing how old they might be or where they were found. This Axe Head is one such mystery object, but such a good one I’m tempted to include it.

Axe Head

My favourite find of the day had to be this Giant Mug, found in York Hill, Loughton. I happened to look in an unusual shaped box and was delighted to uncover this. After a day spent sorting over 150 objects from over 5000 years worth of history, I wished I had a mug as big as this for a cup of tea.’

Giant Mug

Waltham Abbey Stonework

Posted on 27 August 2015 by EFDMuseum

As part of the redevelopment project the museum has decided to undertake an assessment of some of the collections. One area of the collection that is being assessed is the stonework from the Augustinian Abbey Church.

The Abbey Church has a long history dating back to the seventh century when a wooden church existed on the current site. At this time Christianity was coming back to England. The church has within its collection a small book clasp which features eagles and a fish in the Salin II style. Both these animals have links to Christianity therefore it is likely this clasp dates to the earliest times in the church’s history.

This church was then enlarged on the same site in the ninth century and later the Holy Cross was installed at the church.

The next stage in the church’s history comes during the time of Harold. After he was cured of a skin disease by the Holy Cross and as a response to Edward the Confessor building Westminster, a new church was founded on the site in 1060 by Harold.

Following Harold’s death at the Battle of Hastings Henry I builds a church which is similar in structure to today’s church.

The Augustinian Abbey Church was then built by Henry II in 1177 as part of his penance for the murder of Thomas Becket. The museum’s stonework collection comes from this part of the church’s history. Below are some computer generated images of what the Augustinian Abbey Church would have looked like.

Plan View

East End

Chapter House

Bird’s Eye view of Augustinian Abbey

The Augustinian Church was later demolished in the reformation during the reign of Henry VIII (1536) and the stonework was used in various parts of the town.

After several excavations the museum now holds a number of pieces of stone from the Augustinian Abbey in the collection which are being assessed as part of the Museum’s redevelopment project. Here are some images of the stone work within the collection.

Waltham Abbey’s Other Churches

Posted on 13 August 2015 by EFDMuseum

Here is a small gallery of images of some of the other churches in Waltham Abbey from our photographic archive.

To find more images of Waltham Abbey and the district visit our local history website efdhistory.org.uk

Old Mission Hall, Honey Lane, c.1943

Wesleyan Church, Monkswood Avenue, c.1903

Baptist Church, Paradise Row, c.1880

Baptist Chapel, Paradise Row, c.1930

What will feature in the redeveloped Museum displays?

Posted on 30 July 2015 by EFDMuseum

As you might have seen in our recent blogs, the building work at the museum is well underway and the building itself is starting to take shape. While this work continues the Museum team are starting to plan and select objects to go on display in the newly redeveloped museum.

Over the coming months we will be giving you a sneak peak at some of the objects will be displaying!

Our first sneak peak is the whipping post:

The Whipping Post dates to 1598. It is over 400 years old. It was used to punish people who had committed crimes in Tudor times. The person’s arms were locked in at the top so they couldn’t move or escape. They were then whipped as a punishment for their crime.

Below are some images of the whipping post being unpacked and measured for its new case at the museum.

Unpacking the Whipping Post

Museum Heritage Lottery Fund Project Update

Posted on 16 July 2015 by EFDMuseum

Building work is progressing on the Museum’s redevelopment project so we thought we would share a little update with you.

Since our last blog all the internal walls in the new extension to the museum have been installed. This is the area above Waltham Abbey Library.

This means the new spaces in the museum including the community room, temporary exhibition gallery, Core gallery and new storage spaces are really taking shape. The team can get a feel for the spaces and what each space can really be used for.

Community Room

Temporary Exhibition Gallery

The preparations for the lift are also complete and this will be installed as one of the next tasks. Once all the wiring and electrics are complete the decoration work can begin!

We hope you are looking forward to seeing the completed museum and visiting us next year.

Waltham Abbey Houses

Posted on 18 June 2015 by EFDMuseum

The museum has a fantastic collection of photographs of Waltham Abbey and the surrounding district. For this blog we thought we would share images of some houses in Waltham Abbey from our collection.

Find more images at efdhistory.org.uk