Victorian

Happy New Year!

Wishing you all a very happy and healthy New Year, with a selection of our Victorian New Year’s cards.

On the 9 September 1875, in rough open water Harriet Elphinstone-Dick swam seven miles from Shoreham Harbour to Brighton’s West Pier. She completed the distance in a record making 2 hours and 45 minutes. It was regarded as one of … Continued

Diatoms: Hidden Climate Heroes

In almost every drop of water, from the shallowest puddles to the deepest oceans, you will find tiny life forms known as diatoms. To the naked eye, diatoms are invisible, but it is surprising how even the smallest things can … Continued

The Illustrations of Edward Neale (1833-1904): Booth’s Bird Artist

Delving into the Booth Museum libraries we uncover the beautiful bird drawings of Victorian illustrator, Edward Neale. Neale illustrated Edward Thomas Booth’s published diaries. The main legacy that Edward Booth (1840-1890) left to the town of Brighton was his famous … Continued

Making Things of Beauty out of Found Materials… Under my Feet

Collections Assistant Joy wonders how pieces of broken Victorian china ended up in her back garden and discovers the answer lies in ‘The Dust Destructor’, used by the Victorians to sort domestic waste and recycle. When I first moved to … Continued

Novelty and Amusement in Victorian Ceramics

Welcome back to our Cultural Icons series exploring the fascinating stories behind the people commemorated in flatback ornaments in the Willett Collection of Popular Pottery in the Brighton Museum. Many of these Victorian souvenirs, which are only decorated on the … Continued

The story behind the picture: Eating your greens, Victorian style

At Preston Manor in the summer of 2015 we lifted the lid on the dark-side of the Victorian kitchen with an event in planning for a long time but which needed a strong stomach to create. The finished product turned … Continued

Victorian Celebrities Immortalised in Ceramic

The Death of Nelson Remembered in Pottery

Royals in Ceramic Capture Victorian Hearts

Hero or Villain? Cultural Icons of the Museum Collective

Members of the Museum Collective – a youth group run regularly by Royal Pavilion & Museums – worked with local ceramist Louise Bell to create figurative ceramics based on the theme of heroes and villains. They created these works as … Continued

How Victorians Celebrated Celebrity in Ceramics

The exhibition Cultural Icons at Hove Museum earlier this year provided an opportunity to display some of the flatback ceramics from the Decorative Arts Collection. Previously housed in one of our stores, these historic flatback figures offer a glimpse of the … Continued

Why is a Raven like a Writing Desk? Preston Manor’s 2019 Riddle Trail

During the summer season 2019 families visiting Preston Manor were challenged by a specially created Riddle Trail. The trail took them on a journey around the house encountering Victorian brain-teasers, puns and puzzles on the way. Arguably the most famous … Continued

What’s in the Box? Shell-Shaped Ceramics

Here’s the latest story from our What’s in the Box display. Collections Assistant Lucy Faithful on how a display of shell-shaped ceramics at Hove Museum can both twist your tongue and give an insight into the changing fashions and ideas … Continued

Ch-ch-ch-changes: the South Gate of the Royal Pavilion through the ages

The gateway at the southern entrance to the Royal Pavilion estate has gone through many transformations. The existing India Gate dates from 1921 and was designed by Thomas Tyrwhitt in a simple Gujarati style. It was erected as a gift … Continued

Recreating Nature

The Booth Museum is a wonderful showcase of Victorian taxidermy, but one of the main features of Edward Thomas Booth’s displays are the dioramas his birds are displayed in. The typical manner of displaying taxidermied birds during the Victorian period … Continued

Dining at Preston Manor

The Stanfords and their Servants At Preston Manor, owned by the Stanford family, there is documentary evidence to contrast dinner in the dining room with supper in the servants’ hall. A typical menu for the Stanfords and their guests consisted … Continued

Early interiors at Preston Manor

Until recently, a series of photographs taken in 1909 by the owner of Preston Manor, Ellen Thomas-Stanford, comprised the earliest known views of the interior of the house. In 1982 a series of watercolours was purchased depicting the interior and … Continued

Contains Preservative

The first thing to strike a visitor to the Booth Museum is the smell of the place – which is basically ‘mothballs’. And if you think it’s noticeable in the main gallery you should spend the day in the stores … Continued

The collecting gene at the Booth Museum

I went to the legendary Booth Museum yesterday and I will certainly be going back some more during my Blogger-in-Residence time. I had ‘the tour’ from Keeper John Cooper and it was every bit as fascinating as promised. I’ve mulled … Continued