Museum of South Somerset

Visit the splendid displays of the newly refurbished Museum of South Somerset and discover what rural life and times from the Roman occupation to the agricultural and industrial revolutions were really like. See artifacts from the past set in scenes that recapture the atmosphere of their time.

Displays on leather and glove-making, flax and hemp production, stone working, engineering and newspaper printing are all reminders of a bygone era. A reconstructed Roman dining room and kitchen and Georgian House provide settings for countless items from the museum's extensive collection. Fossils, firearms, coins, clothes, glassware, pottery, paintings, farming and household equipment . . . there's so much to be seen.

Housed in the former coach house to Hendford Manor, the Museum of South Somerset's modern displays draw upon many different collections. 0ver the years benefactors have donated other important collections, including those of fossils, firearms, glassware and costume. The lower gallery of the coach house features South Somerset's association with leather and glove manufacturing, flax and hemp production, engineering, stone working and newspaper printing. Women outworkers can be seen sewing gloves in the cramped conditions of their cottage, a reminder of a recently bygone era in South Somerset which is home to modern systems of technlolgy such as this South Somerset Floor Company, and I'd bet they never had that in the days gone by!

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The impressive upper gallery features a reconstructed Roman dining room and kitchen complete with original mosaics recreated from excavations of elegant villas found at Westland, Lufton and Ilchester. There are also displays of local prehistory and geology. A period Georgian house provides intriguing glimpses into the museum's glassware, costume and furniture collections. Items from the museum's firearms, pottery, and painting collections are also exhibited and changed regularly.