Treasures have the wow factor (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Treasures have the wow factor

12:58pm Tuesday 2nd June 2009 in

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THERE is certainly something fishy about an exhibition at The Willis Museum in the new Sainsbury Gallery.

The exhibition, called Hampshire Treasures, is showing a host of weird and wonderful curios, including a giant pike – the biggest-ever caught in Basingstoke.

The eclectic collection has made good use of the Sainsbury Gallery, which has been completely transformed in a major revamp.

Hampshire Treasures was originally shown at Winchester Discovery Centre in April as the start of a county council year-long campaign called Culture-All, which aims to celebrate Hampshire’s diverse range of attractions.

While helping to install the treasures at The Willis Museum, which incorporates a Basingstoke angle, exhibition officer Nick Suffolk said: “What’s nice about the exhibition is that it has got what you might call obvious treasures, where people might say ‘wow that is spectacular’ – the type of thing you might expect to find in a national museum, like the British Museum or the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

“There are also objects that are very personal. So they may not look necessarily amazing, but when you know the story behind them, reflecting people’s lives and history, they are equally special and should be treasured.”

Among the wow objects is The Chase tapestry, designed by Heywood Sumner and woven in 1908. He was one of a group of arts and crafts artists in the circle of William Morris, and was inspired by the beauty of the New Forest.

The tapestry is usually on show at the St Barbe Museum in Lymington, and Nick said: “It’s a huge and beautiful tapestry and an immense amount of work has gone into it.”

A carving made from elephant ivory dating from the 1300s, depicting the Virgin Mary and Child, which is normally kept in store at the Hampshire Museums Service headquarters at Chilcombe House, Winchester, is also on display.

It was unearthed in 1922 at a nuns’ burial ground at Romsey Abbey.

Nick said: “It’s incredibly old and also very delicate, so it’s amazing that it has survived in such good condition.”

Another treasure of the distant past is an intricate Saxon jewelled buckle dating from the late 500s to 600s.

The archives service also has letters and books on show from historical figures such as Edward Lear, who wrote The Owl and the Pussy Cat, a childhood note from nurse Florence Nightingale, and a marriage register with novelist Jane Austen’s name in it.

“It was her father’s marriage register, and as a child she put in a fake marriage of herself,” Nick said. “She obviously had romantic thoughts about getting married as a child.”

A sketch book, dating from 1864, has an important Basingstoke connection as it belonged to John Thornycroft, whose lorry factory was based in the town, where Morrisons is today.

Nick said: “It shows where John Thornycroft was coming up with all his ideas – he’s drawn ships, engines, pistons, a miniature steamboat.

“You can get a view into his life and into his mind as he thinks of these fantastic engines and machines which of course he goes on to build.”

Not all the exhibits are connected to the great and the good, such as an old school exercise book, which was used as a diary for a young evacuee from Winchester.

Nick said: “It’s actually a brilliant personal document of one child’s experience of the war, with pictures and newspaper cuttings, and really is a window into his mind and perhaps the mind of some other children of that time.”

Many of the exhibits – including the pike – were included in Hampshire Treasures thanks to input from members of the public.

Sue Tapliss, the museum’s curator, explained: “When I gave a talk to the Harrow Way Over-55s Group, one of the things that several of the gentleman there asked was ‘have you still got the biggest pike found in Basingstoke?’.

“After a little bit of research at our headquarters at Chilcombe House, we discovered that we still had the pike and that he hadn’t been on display for a very long time. So we decided to dig him out of the stores so everyone can see him again.

“He was caught by a Mr Herbert, of Flaxfield Road, Basingstoke, in The Vyne’s Lake and apparently he was the biggest pike to have come out of that lake and he weighed in at a whopping 19lb.

“He’s a nice specimen that has been mounted as a sort of trophy and he was displayed in Mr Willis’ original collection at the town’s museum in New Road back the 1930s.”

Hampshire Treasures will be on show at The Willis Museum, in the Old Town Hall, Market Place, until July 4. Entry to the museum is free.