Wells and Mendip Museum facts for kids
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| Established | 1893 |
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| Location | Wells, Somerset, England |
The Wells and Mendip Museum is a cool place to visit in the city of Wells, England. It's like a treasure chest filled with amazing things from the local area. This museum is a registered charity, which means it's run for good causes and not for profit. It's also officially recognized by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. This shows it's a high-quality museum. Inside, you'll find all sorts of interesting items about local history. You can also see ancient discoveries from archaeological digs.
Contents
The Museum Building
The museum is right next to the famous Wells Cathedral. It's located in an old building called the Chancellors' House. This building first started being built way back in the 1400s! However, most of what you see today was built in the 1600s and 1700s.
Building Features
The museum is made of stone. It has special gabled roofs covered with Welsh slate. When you enter, a small hall leads to a staircase. This staircase takes you to a beautiful room called a salon. This room has a fancy Gothic Revival style and a marble fireplace. The front of the building was updated around 1828. A newer part was added to the back in the 1900s. The building is also a Grade II listed building. This means it's an important historical building. It is protected so it can be kept for future generations.
A Look Back: Museum History
The Wells and Mendip Museum was started by a person named Herbert E. Balch. He founded it in 1893. He wanted a place to show off his collection of local artifacts and memories. Since then, many more cool exhibits have been added.
How the Museum Grew
The museum is run by the Wells Natural History and Archaeological Society. It first opened in the cloister of the Cathedral. A cloister is a covered walkway, usually in a monastery or cathedral. In 1932, the museum moved to its current home. This is the Chancellors' House we talked about earlier.
What You Can See: Museum Collections
The museum has many different collections. Each one tells a unique story about the area.
The Balch Room
The Balch Room is named after the museum's founder. Here, you can explore exhibits about geology. Geology is the study of Earth's physical structure and substances. You'll also see fossils. Fossils are the remains or traces of ancient life. Many of these items were found in the Mendip Hills. Some of them are incredibly old, dating back to the Stone Age and Iron Age. These were times when people used stone or iron tools.
Ancient Discoveries
Other cool things to see include lead ingots from Roman Britain. Ingots are blocks of metal, like bricks of lead. These show how Romans used to live and work in Britain. You can also see statues from Wells Cathedral. There is also a collection of 18th-century samplers. Samplers are pieces of needlework that show different stitches and designs.
Cave Explorations
The museum also has exhibits about speleology. This is the scientific study of caves. One interesting exhibit is a skeleton found by Herbert Balch. He found it in Wookey Hole Caves. Some people thought it might be the skeleton of the "Witch of Wookey Hole." There's also a collection of animal bones. These bones were found in 2004. They were discovered when a new cave was found in a car park in Priddy.
