Museum of East Dorset facts for kids
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The Museum of East Dorset is a super interesting place in Wimborne Minster, a town in Dorset, England. It used to be called the Priest's House Museum. You can find it right on the main street, across from the big Wimborne Minster church. The museum is inside a really old building. It's a special kind of house from the late 1500s or early 1600s. This building is so important that it's officially protected!
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Discovering East Dorset's Past
The Museum of East Dorset helps you explore what life was like in a market town in Dorset long ago. The exhibits show the daily lives of people who lived in the house itself. They also tell stories about people from Wimborne and the wider Dorset area.
What You Can See Inside
The museum building has been carefully fixed up. Many of its original features are still there for you to see. You can explore a main hall from the 1600s. There's also a beautiful parlour from the 1700s. Don't miss the Victorian kitchen! It has a working 'Beetonette' stove, just like people used over a hundred years ago.
The museum also has cool displays that look like old shops. You can see Mr. Low's Victorian stationery shop. It was closed for over 30 years before being recreated! There's also Coles' Ironmongers, a hardware store. Both were rebuilt using the actual items that were once sold there.
Exploring Local Life
Beyond the main house, there's the East Dorset Villages Gallery. This part of the museum gives you a peek into community life. You can learn about local industries and how people shopped. It also shows what school and church life were like. There's even a hands-on Victorian schoolroom where you can imagine being a student from the past!
The Museum's Garden and Tea Room
Behind the main museum building, you'll find a lovely walled garden. It's a big space, about one-third of an acre, and it's open for visitors to enjoy. You can sit and relax there.
Also in the garden, right by the River Allen, is a tea room. This building used to be a boathouse in the 1920s. It's a great spot to grab a snack or a drink during your visit.
How the Museum Operates
The Museum of East Dorset is run by a special group called an independent charitable trust. This means it's not owned by the government. It gets some help from the East Dorset District Council. However, it mostly relies on the money from tickets and donations to keep running and open for everyone to enjoy.
A Close Call in 2009
On July 3, 2009, the museum almost faced a big problem. A fire started in the buildings right next door! Several shops, like Martin's newsagents and a Thomas Cook travel shop, were damaged. The Albion Inn, a pub, also got hit. Luckily, the museum itself was very fortunate and avoided any serious damage from the fire.
