Museum of Somerset facts for kids
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| Location | Taunton, Somerset |
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The Museum of Somerset is a cool place to visit! It's found inside the old Taunton Castle in Taunton, a town in Somerset, England. The castle itself is super old, built way back in the 1100s.
An independent group called the South West Heritage Trust runs the museum. Many of the items you'll see were first collected by the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, who actually own the castle.
Before 2008, it was called the Somerset County Museum. It got a big upgrade with help from the Heritage Lottery Fund and reopened in September 2011 with its new name. Inside, you can discover amazing things like the Frome Hoard (a huge collection of ancient coins!), the beautiful Low Ham Roman Mosaic, and a very old bronze shield from South Cadbury.
The Museum's Story
The Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society bought Taunton Castle in 1874. Between 1899 and 1900, the castle's Great Hall was fixed up. It became the main space for their museum.
Later, in 1908-1909, the Adam Library was built. This was to hold the society's growing collection of books. Today, the society lets Somerset County Council use the castle. This is where the Museum of Somerset is now located. Many of the items in the museum were first gathered by this society.
A special visitor came to the museum on May 8, 1987. It was Queen Elizabeth II, along with the Duke of Edinburgh.
In October 2007, big plans were made to improve the museum. These plans cost about £6.5 million. The museum closed on April 18, 2008, for a two-year makeover. It reopened as the Museum of Somerset on September 29, 2011. A key part of the new museum is the "Tree of Somerset." This is a sculpture carved from oak wood. It came from the Quantock Hills and shows important events from Somerset's history.
What You Can See
The museum has many different collections. You can see old toys and dolls, interesting sculptures, and items about natural history. There are also fossils, beautiful silver pieces, and ancient pottery.
The museum also has many archaeological finds. One amazing item is the mosaic found at the Low Ham Roman Villa. You can also visit the Somerset Military Museum inside. Here, you can learn about the Somerset Light Infantry. This group of soldiers fought in many campaigns around the world.
The Frome Hoard
One of the most exciting things to see is the Frome Hoard. This is a huge collection of 52,503 Roman coins! A metal detectorist named Dave Crisp found them in April 2010. He found them near the town of Frome.
The coins were all inside a ceramic pot. The pot was about 45 cm (18 in) wide. The coins date from AD 253 to 305. Most of them are made from silver that was not very pure, or from bronze.
The Frome Hoard is one of the biggest coin hoards ever found in Britain. It's also special because it has the largest group of coins from Carausius. He was a Roman emperor who ruled Britain on his own from 286 to 293. He was the first Roman emperor to make coins in Britain. The Museum of Somerset got the Frome Hoard in 2011. They received a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund to buy it.
