Harborough Museum facts for kids
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Harborough Museum is a fun place to discover the history of Market Harborough, a town in England. It opened in 1983 inside an old factory that used to make corsets, which are special garments worn to shape the body. The museum works together with local councils and a historical society to share amazing stories and objects from the area. Since 2014, a charity called the Harborough Museum Trust has helped manage it.
The museum celebrates Market Harborough's past as a busy market town and a center for making things. It collects items from southeast Leicestershire and north Northamptonshire.
What You Can See at the Museum
The museum has many interesting things on display. You can see old corsets made by the Symington factory, including the famous liberty bodice, which was a more comfortable type of corset. There are also items from other local companies, like Symington Soups and the Harboro Rubber Company.
You can explore a workshop that shows how boots and shoes were made long ago. There's an 18th-century long case clock that was made right in Harborough. You might also be surprised by some 17th-century toys found in a local church! The museum also shows off many archaeological finds from the area, which are objects dug up from the ground that tell us about the past.
The Amazing Hallaton Treasure
One of the most exciting things at Harborough Museum is the Hallaton Treasure. This is one of the most important Iron Age discoveries ever made in Britain! The museum was updated in April 2014, and the Hallaton Treasure became the main focus of its displays.
The treasure was found near Hallaton in the Welland Valley in 2000. It was discovered by local community archaeologists and experts from the University of Leicester. Imagine finding over 5,000 silver and gold coins! The treasure also includes a silver Roman helmet, shiny jewelry, and many other objects. Most of these items are from around the time the Romans came to Britain in the 1st century AD. The place where the treasure was found was a very important religious site for people living before and after the Romans arrived.
The incredible Hallaton Helmet was carefully cleaned and studied for about ten years at the British Museum. It has been on display at the Harborough Museum since January 2012. Another special find was a silver cup, which experts believe is the oldest of its kind made in Britain.
Old Toys and More Discoveries
Besides the Hallaton Treasure, the museum has other cool displays. One unique collection is more than 200 toys from the 1600s. These toys were found hidden behind a bricked-up staircase in St. Dionysius Church in Market Harborough.
The toys include things like whip-tops, tip-cats (a game played with sticks), small balls, and sap whistles. They were made from simple materials like wood, pig's knuckle bones, and fabric. Kids long ago had to make their own toys because they weren't mass-produced like they are today. The Market Harborough Historical Society also shares parts of its collection at the museum.
