Story Category: Legacy

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

DV8 student Harry Symes has recently been working with our programming team. In this guest post, he shares his thoughts on our experimental film exhibition at Brighton Museum.

Still from Grandma’s Reading Glass, 1900, by George Albert Smith. Courtesy of British Film Institute

As part of my Media course at DV8, Brighton, I spent two days working at Brighton Museum and spent time in the Experimental Motion exhibition.

Experimental Motion is a great exhibition. It ranges from information about early film to showing short self-produced films. It is very interesting to see the cameras from the late 1800s to early 1900s and what types of films they were used in. The information boards are full of interesting facts that I didn’t know, such as film editing was first used in Brighton & Hove.

The gallery has a few small screens on the walls showing short films, with a pair of headphones for each screen, which really helps immerse you in the films, I was so immersed that I didn’t realise I had spent the best part of an hour watching them all! All the films are very different from each other, but all are intriguing and draw you in. One of the films that I particularly enjoyed was made using the game Grand Theft Auto 5; I never thought that someone could create something so powerful using a game. It is self-aware of the fact that it is a film in a virtual environment, making a couple of comments about how it is not reality but the experience is real.

There is one big screen playing a number of short films at the end of the room. There is a bench facing the screen which has a cinema feel, and it is also a place to rest if you’re feeling weary after walking around the museum. I would definitely recommend this exhibit to anyone who has an interest in film or anyone passing through the museum to take a look at this gallery.

Harry Symes, DV8 student

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Earlier this year I posted about our work with 3D digital technology, and how you would be able to see more examples this year. To accompany our Visions of the Royal Pavilion Estate exhibition which opened in Brighton Museum last week, volunteer Colin Jones has produced a new model based on 1806 designs for the estate.

While Colin’s previous models have shown the Royal Pavilion estate as it is today, or how it once looked, this model shows the estate as it might have been. This is the Royal Pavilion in a form that was never built, a design that only existed in the pages of a book and the imagination of its designer, Humphry Repton.

For anyone who knows central Brighton, this model will appear both familiar and strange. Brighton Dome, the former stable complex which was completed in 1808, appears as it does today. But the Royal Pavilion looks very different, and the west garden, which now features a conservatory, is much more secluded. A hotspot on the northern edge of the building shifts the viewing point to the other side of the building, revealing a proposed observatory.

The model can be sampled below, but is best viewed in full screen.

This model does not feature any additional information or audio commentary, but it is intended to help tell the story of Repton’s book. Original illustrations from Repton’s designs can be seen in the Visions of the Royal Pavilion Estate exhibition, but you can also download a copy of the book and listen to Royal Pavilion curator Alexandra Loske discussing Repton’s book on our Tales from the Pavilion Archive web pages.

What excites me about Colin’s model is how it makes the book more accessible. I find maps and plans fascinating, but I lack the spatial imagination to visualise how they would translate into a 3D space. Colin’s model does precisely that, and this is probably the closest we will ever get to seeing how the Royal Pavilion might have looked if history (or rather Prince George) — had taken a different course.

As ever, my sincere thanks go to Colin for his work on this model, and for my curatorial colleagues who have supported this work.

Kevin Bacon, Digital Manager

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

On Wednesday 8 March, people of the world threw their fists in the air for International Women’s Day – a day that has been celebrated since 1909 to commemorate the movement for women’s rights.

We couldn’t not have a celebration of our own, so on Saturday 4 March, Brighton Museum & Art Gallery joined forces with Brighton Dome and Brighton Women’s Centre to throw a good old-fashioned shin-dig. With entry to the museum free all day and a specially curated programme of inspiring speakers, activists and innovators, workshops, arts and crafts, causes and campaigns for everyone, it was looking set to be a big one – and it didn’t disappoint!

The day began at 10am, and the hordes of revellers were impressive and steady from the get-go. The Dome café boasted a vibrant marketplace of ideas, from a pop-up sari shop to SmallHillArts’ stall dedicated to Communal Quilting; the creation of a communal, unconventional patchwork quilt by members of the public. Upstairs in the Dome’s mezzanine bar was the Cultural Sharing Area, a space for an eclectic mix of artists and public speakers to come together to celebrate and provide historical context to International Women’s Day.

The museum was rammed to the rafters with things to listen to, look at and get stuck into, and on arrival it was virtually impossible to choose where to check out first! The Museum Lab seemed a good bet, with the option to craft one’s own ‘Votes For Women’ pin badge and have a chin-wag with some important women from history. Brighton suffragette Minnie Turner and fossil hunter Mary Anning were present to greet visitors, offer their insights and talk us through some of Brighton Museums’ collections. Satisfied with my new badge and pumped by my chats with Minnie and Mary, I decided to venture along to the exhibition gallery, where word around the campfire had it that something interesting was going on.

21 Years / 21 Works is the live and online collection of choreographer Charlotte Vincent’s work – and the power behind the pop-up Virgin Territory workspace in the exhibition gallery last Saturday. The thought-provoking space encouraged visitors to reflect and respond to how our digitised, porn-infused culture is affecting young people’s identities, personal choices and relationships. Through various media of art, we were invited to share our thoughts on areas such as the hyper-sexualisation of children in fashion, music videos that make us feel uncomfortable, sexual consent and the way in which women in magazines are punished and judged no matter how their bodies are presented. Not only was I blown away by the striking and slightly haunting aesthetic of the space, which had been an empty husk of a room just days beforehand, but left hugely disconcerted by the ideas presented and thoughts evoked – the workspace did its job.

In the Fashion & Style Gallery a mannequin had appeared, inviting passers-by to decorate her figure with Post-It notes suggesting how and why she might want to alter her body. Continuing to provoke discussion on cosmetic alterations and body image were boards sharing hair-raising facts about the complete inaccuracy of a Barbie doll’s proportions – did you know that Barbie’s neck is twice as long as and six inches thinner than the average woman’s, meaning she’d be incapable of lifting her own head? Or that with feet and ankles so miniature and such top-heavy weight distribution, she’d have to walk about on all fours? It’s no wonder our ideas about physical ‘perfection’ have become so unattainable and warped.

Also filling the Fashion & Style gallery was a newly created soundscape exploring the creative responses of thirteen young women who used the gallery itself to explore themes of identity and self-image.

Throughout the day, other activities and special features included pop-up talks from curator Dr Alexandra Loske on paintings by female artists; walking tours of the Royal Pavilion Estate from tour guide Louise Peskitt to explore the important women of Brighton’s history; an open discussion on what it means to be a feminist in the 21^st century, hosted by Brighton Women’s Centre; and a presentation in the Old Courtroom from renowned photographers Marilyn Stafford and Nina Emett of their work based on the theme of women.

In the Education Pavilion, a series of short talks were held throughout the day. The first I popped my head into was at 12.30pm and from Laura Barton, writer and journalist (mostly for The Guardian), about travelling alone as a woman. Laura has spent many a year globe-trotting solitary and has found it peppered with equal measures of pleasures and challenges. In Laura’s talk she discussed not only the new perspectives that travelling alone as a woman can bring, but the general assumptions and reactions of others when they learn that a lone female traveller is what you are. (The words ‘slut’, ‘suspicious’ and ‘failure’ were each mentioned more than once). One particular quote from Laura really resonated with me: ‘We are not encouraged as girls or women to go anywhere alone – it is not deemed becoming to explore those edges of ourselves.’

Next was Fat Bodies with Mathilda Gregory, another Education Pavilion-based talk – this one centred on society’s reactions to and fears about fat bodies. Mathilda is the world’s most famous werewolf erotica author in the world – but is also a writer and performer who makes work about bodies and popular culture. With a light-hearted air, Mathilda chatted to us about her experiences in life and in talking so publically about her own body – and explained how one of the reactions she receives most frequently at the end of her shows is “But you’re not fat!” This displeases Mathilda; instead of feeling that fat bodies are so upsetting and abhorrent that they must be denied, we should consider starting to openly accept that we are what we are – and that’s not the end of the world.

At 2.45pm, the Fashion & Style Gallery became hushed and filled from wall to wall with audience members, all present to hear musician and writer Helen Reddington (aka Helen McCookerybook) lift the lid on women in the punk scene. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to sit in on the entire talk, but stuck around just long enough to listen to Helen share some anecdotes about her youth as a Brighton punk – think running away from the police and being inspired by X-Ray Spex’s Poly Styrene.

To round off the day, I took part in a workshop called Blog to Express, Not Impress from Brighton Girl editors Pippa and Sofaya. Brighton Girl is an online and printed magazine for young women living and working in Brighton, also hosting events and meet-ups to bring the community together. As a group, we discussed where we currently are on our respective blogging journeys, challenges we face and what frightens us most about the big, scary blogging world. An eclectic mix, the group ranged from seasoned bloggers with impressive readerships to complete novices. One particular member runs a blog campaigning for an end to the production and use of nuclear weapons, whilst another has plans to start a blog dedicated to speaking frankly about her illness. When asked what their top blogging tip would be for us, Pippa and Sofaya kept it simple – really, there are no rules. Writing without too much thought, in a way in which you feel comfortable, is the key to success. Each and every one of us has a different voice, and blogging is all about celebrating that.

And with that, the fun and games had drawn to a close, the museum’s walls heaving a heavy sigh as the excitable revellers filed out into the evening. I had a brilliant day and came away feeling both reflective and inspired. The only disappointment was my not seeing and doing everything I possibly could have – there simply weren’t enough hours in the day! What I was left with, though, was the complete satisfaction that this world is full of strong, creative and inspirational women – young and old – all passionate about making the world a better place. To everybody who spoke, oversaw, performed, organised, helped out and everything in between: thank you.

Ruby McGonigle
Bookings Office and Retail Assistant, Royal Pavilion & Museums

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

International Women’s Day is a worldwide event which celebrates the achievements of women, while also calling out for gender equality.

On Monday the 13^th of February a group of young women collaborated with Brighton Museum to explore issues such as ‘the things women do to feel beautiful’ ahead of International Women’s Day and to look at the way women are represented in today’s society.

The group was a combination of different cultures, languages and backgrounds. Everyone had strong opinions on what they felt was right, or not, when it came to changing yourself to be beautiful. For the majority of the girls it was their first time meeting each other. We spent the morning learning each other’s names and finding out things we had in common. A couple of girls were thrilled when they found out they were both from the same part of the world, other girls were shocked about how similar their taste in music was despite having completely different lives.

We had the chance to look at some objects which the Museum brought out of storage. These included tiny shoes and a corset. When the young women were asked who they thought the shoes were designed for, they said children, or possible china dolls. It was a sensible assumption because of the size, but the shoes were actually designed for Chinese women who had bound their feet.

Two Chinese ‘lotus’ shoes (not a pair)

After learning what ‘foot binding’ involved, the girls look mortified. Everyone was shocked by the amount of pain and suffering those women went through just to be considered beautiful. It was a difficult subject to talk about, everyone was in agreement that it was wrong but it was also mentioned that, if the women wanted to bind their feet, then who were we to say that they couldn’t.

We discussed the reasons the women might have wanted to look that way; to seem more attractive to men, to show they were wealthy and didn’t need to work, or to be the same as the other girls who had ‘lotus feet’. Despite these reasons the group was in agreement that it wasn’t right.

In the same way some Chinese women bound their feet, Victorian women in England wore corsets to make their waists smaller. Despite the risks and the discomfort they caused, it was almost mandatory to wear one. It was believed to make women seem more sexually appealing to men, made them appear thinner and their busts larger.

In groups we made lists of all the things modern day women do to change their appearance. We only had several minutes but the lists seemed to be endless. Ranging from makeup to surgery, it seemed insane how many different things women would put themselves through just to feel what is considered, to many girls nowadays, as… normal. Looking at the lists we realised not much has changed since the times of corsets and foot binding, women haven’t stopped altering their appearance, the methods haven’t become painless or risk free, they have just become more widely available and are viewed as nothing out of the ordinary.

Just some of things women do to change their appearance

The girl’s discussions and thoughts were recorded throughout the day. As they wandered around the Fashion and Style gallery at Brighton museum they discussed which outfits were most beautiful or most comfortable, they talked about what was the most conformist and the most outgoing. All the discussions, thoughts and opinions from the activities were saved so they could be made into a ‘sound loop’ to be played on International Women Day.

We ended the day making music out of sounds. It was very strange, someone sticking a microphone in your face saying “make noise”. If we had started the day with this activity I don’t even think I would have be able to join in but after a whole day of getting to know each other and laughing and sharing thoughts, we all felt completely comfortable. It was the best part of the day in my eyes. Everyone went straight for it, everyone had fun and the piece of ‘music’ we made at the end was absolutely brilliant.

You can hear the soundscape in Fashion & Style Gallery at Brighton Museum as part of the International Women’s Day Celebrations on Saturday 4^th March. Find out more about what is going on here.

Don’t worry if you miss it you can also visit it on the 5^th, 11^th and 12^th of March.

Ellen Hall, Learning Museum Trainee

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

I have been volunteering at the Booth Museum since October 2016.

So far I have been cataloguing bird skins, which means cataloguing on to the database many of the birds that have been preserved and archived in the Museum. It has been a very helpful way of increasing my knowledge on birds and enabled me to see what some birds actually look like close up – birds being notoriously hard to get close to! It has also been interesting to see when the birds were collected and where. Many specimens have been preserved in pretty good condition since the end of the 1890s. Some birds were given as a gift to the museum from other parts of the world, namely Japan, Holland and Norway. You can see photos and find further information on these birds on the Museum website.

I have also tried my hand at photographing the birds and the training on object handling that we had really helped with manoeuvring the birds in to position.

But it’s not just the tasks you are given which is so interesting about working at the Booth it is the things that happen around you. On my first day volunteering just by chance someone returned a piece of meteor which they had borrowed from the museum. The meteor was found in Argentina sometime in the early 1500s – around the time of Henry VIII reign! What’s more it was really heavy. I don’t think I have ever thought about how much a meteor would weigh! But the fact that I was holding a piece of meteor found in the early 1500s to me was slightly mind blowing!

Last week I came to do my weekly volunteering session at the Booth museum and the writer in residence Mick Jackson (who had worked here the year before researching the Booth) showed us several books he had found which were handmade, written and illustrated by a Collectors wife in 1930. The books were works of art not only in their description of a bike ride through the Sussex Downs in 1930s rural Britain but also in their illustration, through hand painted drawings, of the wildlife she saw on her journey. A particular highlight being an inventory of the birds she saw every morning on waking and her absolute delight in encountering a moorhen that was nesting on the ground nearby. I was also fascinated by the menu she had included of what they ate and drank throughout their tour. Ryvita being a particular favourite snack (I didn’t realise Ryvita existed then!) It was an incredible example of someone’s personal and beautiful account of the natural world around them which has since become part of our natural history.

As I sit writing this I am sitting opposite a tortoise shell and skull of the tortoise head which is still all intact. Never having seen this before I look at the tortoise skull and observe the back bone goes from the base of the skull down to the shell where the vertebrae fuse to the shell almost immediately underneath the topside of the shell. As a child I had often wondered whether tortoises could separate from their shell I now know for certain they cannot! Something I may tell my son later on today.

My tasks next week are to work with the paper butterflies. I will be learning how to photograph, catalogue, preserve and display them. Every week I look forward to coming and when I arrive my supervisor, Grace, who is very knowledgeable and friendly, fills me in on the tasks for the day. Now I’m just going to take a look at the tarantula sitting behind me…!

Catherine, Booth Museum Volunteer

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Preston Manor staff and Royal Pavilion & Museums conservation team and volunteers used the February half-term last week to give the rooms and furnishings a thorough overhaul.

As part of the general tidy up and deep clean a filing cabinet was opened to reveal a collection of photographs that were once the property of Mr Henry Roberts, the first curator of Preston Manor when it became a museum in 1933.

World’s First Trackless Train in Brighton, 1926

One photograph in particular stood out. It shows 56 year old Henry Roberts sitting in the cab of the World’s First Trackless Train – the vehicle parked outside the Royal Pavilion showing the Brighton Dome in the background. Henry is shaking hands with an unknown man whose suit, jaunty hat and general demeanour suggest he might be one of the representatives from the Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer film company. MGM used the ‘train,’ which is actually an articulated rubbed-wheeled road vehicle faked as a train, to promote the film company.

Wherever it went the train caused a sensation and bought out huge crowds, and there was plenty to marvel at: an engine and single Pullman coach with six berths, kitchenette, diner and observation platform all lighted and heated by electricity.

The first ‘trackless train’ was manufactured by the Henry O McGee Manufacturing Company, Indianapolis in 1917 as a new venture in transport, a precursor perhaps of ideas one hundred years on about driverless vehicles.

McGee’s trackless train, as seen in this photograph, was leased by Metro-Goldwin Pictures in 1925 ahead of a three year world tour, travelling first to the US and Canada, and then in Europe, Australia, Mexico and Central and South America.

Moving images of the train visiting London and being admired by crowds and whizzing past a sedate tram can be seen in the British Pathe film archives.

[arve url=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/jepegBJDQvs” align=”center”/]

The train came to Brighton in the summer of 1926, possibly June, as it was in Guildford in Surrey on 18 June where it broke down outside the Guildhall.

Although clearly summer by the full foliage on the trees note the three piece suits, ties and stout overcoats worn by the men and the school cap and blazer worn by the boy on the right – and the highly-polished shoes and hats worn by all but one bystander.

In 1926 there was a through road between the newly built India Gate (1921) and the William IV Gate with traffic passing close to the building, and part of this road is visible in the photograph. Henry Roberts was, at this time, Director of the Royal Pavilion Estate and busy overseeing the restoration of the Pavilion following its use as a military hospital between 1914 and 1920. Perhaps he hoped the appearance of the famous vehicle would draw attention to the restoration needs of a building much bruised by war use.

The train returned to the US in April 1928 after its tour thrilling the world. However, the trackless train idea never took off and the train in this picture returned to Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer and was used as a travelling motion picture studio before being sold for scrap in the build up to the Second World War.

Paula Wrightson, Preston Manor Venue Officer

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Since Fashion Cities Africa closed its doors for the final time on 8 January, it’s been a busy month. Deconstructing a major exhibition is no mean feat!

The take-down began with the mass ordering of all the kit required for the job; bubble wrap, textile boxes, wrapping tape, and so on. Then, with all equipment on-site and ready to use, the first job for Curator of Fashion & Textiles Martin Pel and Collections Assistant Stephen Kisko was to photograph all of the mannequins fully-dressed and in position, labelled with chalkboards. The ‘M’ on the chalkboards stands for ‘mannequin’ with the ensuing numbers corresponding to the physical order of the mannequin in the exhibition. Next, all garments were labelled and photographed in a similar fashion, this time using a slightly more complex numbering system. The ‘C’ on the board stands for ‘clothes’, with the first number corresponding to the mannequin number and the decimal point representing the particular accessory or item of clothing in the ‘order’ in which it appears on the mannequin’s body. And this is only the beginning!

Then of course came the Mannequin Challenge, the day when museum staff came together to fit in with the stars of Fashion Cities Africa by channelling their inner mannequin. This footage is in the process of being chopped up and polished as we speak and we hope to have the finished product with you very soon – keep your eyes peeled!

Martin and Stephen’s next task was to carefully remove the clothes from the mannequins and write condition reports on each and every garment, noting any faults or wear. Luckily, the damage overall was extremely minimal and the majority of the pieces have perfectly withstood their nine months of air time. Along with the condition reports, Martin and Stephen have also written instructions on how best to dress and style the mannequins – this scarf is draped towards the front and not the back! This trilby should be worn slightly tilted! All of this literature will be passed on to Amsterdam’s Tropenmuseum, where the exhibition is moving next, to help them perfectly reconstruct the show for their visitors.

All non-creasing garments were then wrapped in tissue paper and folded up into textile boxes, whilst the pieces more likely to crease over time have been left hanging on a clothes rail for the time being. Any other clothes that are in need of dry cleaning or minor repair have been stored in plastic boxes.

Now, we are left with a room full of slightly startling naked mannequins. These nude figures were photographed, again labelled with their existing chalkboards, so that the Tropenmuseum will know exactly which mannequins are meant for which outfits. Next, they were deconstructed, each into seven parts, with each body part carefully labelled with its mannequin and part number. The mannequin number comes first, whilst its part is listed as a decimal point – the head and torso is listed as .1, .2 is the legs, .3 is for the left arm, .4 for the right arm, and… You get the picture! Such time and care was taken in cataloguing the mannequins because we will be retrieving them from the Tropenmuseum once Fashion Cities Africa is over so that we can rent them out to other museums and public spaces in the future.

The mannequin parts were then wrapped in bubble wrap, with some parts stored in plastic boxes and others simply stacked up in the galleries. Admittedly, large piles of severed hands and limbless torsos are a fairly sinister sight! In the meantime, members of the Programming and Design teams such as Creative Programming Curator Jody East and 3D Designer Alex Hawkey have been deconstructing and whisking away the exhibition’s staging and set work.

So, whilst none of this sounds like a walk in the park, I was intrigued to find out whether there were any processes that were particularly challenging. ‘None of it’s been easy – it has been a bit of a logistical nightmare,’ Stephen admitted. By all accounts, devising and deciding on the most effective systems for cataloguing the mannequins was tough – in fact, working with the mannequins in general was way more challenging than working with the textiles. ‘A lot of stuff we’ve just had to deal with and plan for as we’ve gone,’ Stephen told me. ‘The goat skull headdress featured in To Catch a Dream needed to be packed really carefully so I had to hand-make some packaging for the inside of a box, complete with moulds for the horns and everything.’ So, if winging it isn’t your style then taking down an exhibition perhaps isn’t for you!

The Constable and Brighton exhibition opens in April but will only take up two thirds of the gallery space. The third gallery room will be used to store all Fashion Cities Africa paraphernalia until July, when it will then begin to be packed up and shipped to Amsterdam. There’s currently some talk of Brighton Museum staff potentially nipping over to Amsterdam with the kit to help the Tropenmuseum with putting the exhibition together – but that’s yet to be confirmed. The Tropenmuseum’s doors are due to open on Fashion Cities Africa in September 2017.

So, there you have it – a full account of what exactly has been going on behind the scenes here at Brighton Museum! We’ll be sure to keep you updated on the ongoing work and how Fashion Cities Africa is getting on in Holland.

Thanks for reading!

Ruby McGonigle, Retail and Bookings Office Assistant for the Royal Pavilion & Museums

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

So it is over, a month since the workforce development conference and it seems like a good time to reflect.

The conference team, Nick, Alice, Kate, Ellie, Helen and I had two days to make the final preparations including making the name badges, the delegate packs, designing the signage and ensuring everything was in place ready for the off. Typically for the end of November, there were germs going round with half of the conference team feeling the sniffles.

Eventually the big day came and despite all of our preparations there were unforeseen hiccups that we could not have prevented. A TV screen which we planned to use and had tested would not work, and we could not find an extension cord and worst of all one of our workshop speakers called to say he might not be able to make it in. But our weeks of planning and preparation had prepared us for this, so we were ready. The TV was turned off and on again, two extension cords were located just for good measure, and with the support from Nick and Kate the speaker was able to do his session.

Maria Foy giving her speech.

The conference was held in a rather cold Old Courtroom, part of the Royal Pavilion Estate just across the road. The Mayjor of Brighton & Hove opened the day, followed by Helen Graham, leader of the Workforce Development programme; Abigail Thomas, line manager of the staff involved; and Maria Foy, an ex-staff member who developed skills in the programme to set up her own company. We then heard from some external speakers including London Museum Development on innovative training approaches to cross-departmental working; Norwich Teaching Museum, Extend (engage) on Co-production: Nothing About Us Without Us; and the Museums Association on the Transformers programme.

After a lunch break the first of two workshop sessions started. I was quite disappointed that I was not able to watch some of these sessions because I had my own workshop to run on the Pavilion Tales programme. The session included a short tour round the building, including some of the areas the tales have focused on, a talk from Maria Foy who set up the programme and me on taking over since Maria left. I have given talks to the public before, but there is something more nerve wracking when the talk is to peers. Despite starting off nervously I managed to get into the swing of it even answering all of the questions with only a little difficulty.

One of our workshop signs.

After my own workshop Nick and I swapped places between steward and presenter for the session he was presenting with Ted on their work with the conservation department. When it had been uncertain if Ted would be able to make the session through other commitments, Nick had organised for Gaye the conservation manager to present with him. The session turned into a medley of Nick’s experience of working with the conservation team; Gaye’s management perspective of how it has helped the under staffed department; and Ted’s wealth of knowledge on the history of the copperware that they have been working on.

John Orna-Ornstein of Arts Council England

Back in the Old Courtroom for the last part of the day it had warmed up from the introduction of heaters which we had borrowed from other parts of the estate. John Orna-Ornstein, Director of Museums at Arts Council England, closed the day discussing the importance of programmes like Workforce Development and how he had been helping develop a museum course for local college students that same day. During his talk he remembered my presentation I gave at the Transform People to Transform Museums conference in Colchester a few months before on the ways in which Workforce Development helped me to gain skills I needed to be able to secure the job I was not ready for earlier this year. I was rather humbled and embarrassed that he remembered such a story but it also made me remember how far I have come in such a short year.

Alice and Nick closed the day by summing up their experiences of the Workforce Development programme and the day. Neither of them had experience of public speaking and it took a lot of guts for them to get up and talk. Although I was rather jealous, it used to be that presenting at a conference was a rare thing — now it feels like everyone has done it!!!

Alice and Nick presenting to close the conference.

As part of their talk Alice and Nick reminded people of the drinks reception and Fashion Cities Africa gallery talk given by Curator Helen Mears and we all headed over to Brighton Museum. The gallery talk gave the rest of us enough time to run around putting out popcorn and filling glasses. Although there were more staff than delegates at the reception it was a great way of thanking the staff who had worked so hard on the day and before, for preparing their presentations, and a lovely way of carrying on the conversations.

We were locally trending on Twitter

Overall the day was a major success despite the cold temperatures. We even managed to be locally trending on Twitter for a bit. If you had asked me that morning if I would run another conference, I would have said NO, not ever. Ask me now and I say bring it on!

Holly Parsons, Visitor Services Officer

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

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 from the people of India to the people of Brighton to commemorate the Indian soldiers wounded during the First World War who were tended in the military hospital established on the Royal Pavilion estate. But what did the south gate look like before 1921?

Surprisingly, we know very little about the design of the south gate in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries. In architect John Nash’s ground plan from 1826 it is called a ‘lodge’ and depicted as two small square brick structures:

The much more substantial gate house in this print from c1835 (a lithograph by T Cooper after a drawing by Edward Fox) was built in 1831 at a cost of £3437 10s.

After Edward Fox: The Entrance to the Royal Palace, Brighton, c1835. Lithograph by T Cooper for ‘Views in Brighton’

It was designed by the architect and surveyor Joseph Henry Good, who also created the North Gate, which survives. Among Good’s architectural plans in our collection there are at least twenty that show various proposed designs for the South Gate. He drew it from different angles and perspectives, outlining each storey, indicating how rooms in the lodge could be used, and provided suggestions for external ornamental detail.

Architectural plan of the South Gate by J.H. Good, 1831.

The version that was built had two stories containing a number of staff rooms and bedchambers for staff and possibly guests, and a third attic-like storey without fenestration. It was linked via narrows halls and stairwells to a large steward’s room and laundry areas to the east and a servants’ dormitory block to the west, resulting in a much more enclosed look than the earlier gate, but creating valuable work and living space.

Architectural plan of the South Gate by J.H. Good, 1830.

In the Cooper lithograph we can see royal guards in and next to their sentinels to the left and right of the gated carriage entrance. Fashionably dressed figures and the Blue Coach office advertising a coach service between Brighton and London add to the impression of a busy and thriving town. However, in the first complete descriptive account of the Royal Pavilion by E. W. Brayley (1838) the author criticises the look of the new entrance: ‘The South Lodge, which has more resemblance to a gate-house prison than to any object of architectural beauty, is utterly unworthy of description.’

The South Gate to the Royal Pavilion. Coloured postcard dating from c.1904.

After the purchase of the Royal Pavilion from the crown by the town commissioners in 1850 the South Lodge was demolished, the bricks sold for their material value, and replaced with a much more open and lower structure, comprising two arches resembling the main porte cochère of the Pavilion, on a much smaller scale. This first municipal South Gate can be seen in many late Victorian and Edwardian postcards and was eventually replaced by the India Gate.

Volunteer 3D modeller Colin Jones has been re-creating the different appearances of the South Gate in 3D-images. Here are some examples:

3D image by Colin Jones of the later 19th century municipal gate.

3D image by Colin Jones: Aerial view of the south end of the Royal Pavilion estate in c.1832

3D image by Colin Jones: View of the South Gate, c.1835, with water and clock tower visible to the right.

The Cooper lithograph, the Good plans and many other lesser known and unusual images of the Royal Pavilion Estate will be shown in a new display titled Visions of the Royal Pavilion Estate at the Prints & Drawings Gallery in Brighton Museum, 14 March 2017 to 3 Sept 2017. Over the next few months I will focus on more highlights from the display in the free local magazine Viva Brighton.

Alexandra Loske, Curator, Royal Pavilion Archives

More information

• Tales from the Pavilion Archive project
• 3D models of the Royal Pavilion
• Unveiling of the Indian Gate
• The Royal Pavilion during WW1

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Collections related to Martha Gunn.

The images and text in this collection are all available for free re-use by schools.

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