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29. Neolithic Stone Axes The stone objects seen here are axe heads from the ‘New Stone Age’ or Neolithic period found near Clovelly.  The people of the Neolithic are known as the first farmers, who, spreading from the eastern Mediterranean, arrived in Britain round about 4,000 BC. To create their fields of early wheat and …

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30. Queen Victoria's Slippers There are a number of pairs of Queen Victoria’s slippers in museums. It is said that she wore each pair only once, and they were then passed on to her attendants.  Some of them were kept and passed down to their descendants, which is how this pair ended up in the …

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31. The Abbott Overmantel This plaster overmantel was created around 1620, by John Abbott the Elder, of Frithelstock, a member of the celebrated North Devon family of plasterers. It shows the Annunciation, where the Angel Gabriel tells the Virgin Mary that she will give birth to the son of God.   Although the scene is biblical …

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32. A Yeomanry Table Napkin The Royal Devon Yeomanry Regimental Collection includes a set of illustrated silk table napkins made by Thomas Marshall in 1850 for the Officers’ Mess.  The hand drawn images show the range of the Yeomanry’s activities at that time. Thomas Mervyn Bouchier Marshall was the son of the banker John Marshall …

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33. The Surf Board This surfboard was made by Chapter Surfboards of Braunton in the 1980s, when surfing in North Devon was really taking off. People were surfing at Woolacombe as early as the 1920s, probably on belly boards. By the mid-60’s the number of surfers had increased, and there was sufficient activity to spread …

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34. The Land Army Embroidery This embroidered tablecloth records the names and celebrates the work of women at the Braunton Bulb Farm during the Second World War. The Braunton Bulb Farm was established by Seymour Cobley Ltd in 1923 on poor, rabbit-infested sandy soil at the edge of the Great Field and Braunton Burrows.  They …

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35. Animal, Vegetable or Mineral? We often bring this rather beautiful object out as a “Mystery Object” when giving talks to local societies or for visiting groups.  What can it be?  Suggestions in the past have included a cannon ball (too light); a tropical seed (too plain); or a toy (but made of what?).  This …

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36. The Barnstaple Pottery Kiln The largest artefact in the Museum, and the most evocative of life in seventeenth century Barnstaple, is the pottery kiln excavated in 1987 on the site of the future library. The remains found on the library site were intact enough to be lifted and rebuilt in the Museum, where a …

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37. The Yeomanry Music This hand-written sheet music was created in 1852 by the Thomas and John Marshall, the sons of the owner and manager of the Barnstaple Bank. The two Regiments of Yeomanry, the North Devons and the First Devons, had originally been created to protect against a potential invasion by Napoleonic France.  By …

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38. Matron's Autograph Book This autograph book belonged to Jane Appleton, the fourth and final matron of the Barnstaple Red Cross Hospital in the First World War. The hospital was set up at The Miller Institute on Derby Road, now Yeo Valley Primary School.  It was one of around 3,000 temporary Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) …