It’s a History Tardis!

Nationally Accredited and award-winning Louth Museum celebrates its Centenary this year. David Robinson, President of the Louth ‘Ants and Nats’ recalls its history and describes a journey of discovery through its galleries.

Words and Photographs: David Robinson

Louth Museum is one of only a handful in the UK purpose-built by a learned society – the Louth Naturalists’, Antiquarian & Literary Society, a voluntary charity. The Society was founded as a naturalists’ club in 1884 by four teenage boys with an interest in the natural world. Henry Kew (15) studied butterflies and moths, inspired by the collection of his grandfather Thomas Wallis, the famed Louth woodcarver; Richard Goulding (15) the future Louth historian and publisher, had a collection of ladybirds; William Wells was a birdwatcher; and Edward Kendal (16) was interested in plants.

They met in the greenhouse at Edward’s home, and invited ‘interested gentlemen’ to join. The latter found a proper meeting room, over Maltby’s Café in the Market Place. Interest spread to local history, ladies joined and in 1888 they became the Louth Antiquarian & Naturalists’ Society – hence the still used colloquial name ‘Ants and Nats’.

Louth architect James Fowler, already four times Mayor, was elected President of the Society, succeeded in 1892 by bank manager Charles Nesbitt who found two rooms in New Street and paid the first five years rent. One of the rooms became a ‘museum’, but donated artefacts and specimens soon outgrew the limited space.

In 1909 the Borough Council gave a plot of land on Enginegate (now Broadbank), the Society raised the funds, £529 12 6d (£30,000 today) to create a single gallery museum. Nearly half (£250) was contributed by the Auguste Pahud trustees who had established Hubbard’s Hills as Louth’s country park in 1907.

Architect John Cresswell, son of the then Society President, schoolmaster Samuel Cresswell, produced the innovative design, and the builder was Thomas Mawer. The first Honorary Museum Curator, Charles Carter Smith, served from 1901 to 1933; he was given three guineas to move the collections from New Street. The society changed its name to the present full title and the new museum opened to the public on 18 October 1910; some 2,000 visitors were admitted in the first four days.

John White became Hon Curator in 1933, succeeded by Cecil Simpson in 1956, the year when Louth Mechanics’ Institute was wound up and the Society inherited the Mansion House or Assembly Rooms on Upgate together with the Institute’s library and collection of archives and artefacts.

The exhibits in the Museum underwent complete redesign by the then Midlands Museums Service in 1963-64, using redundant glass display cases from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. 1990 saw further change, when Jean Howard became Hon Curator, with upgrade of displays and attention paid to reserve collections. Four years later a pitched roof replaced the original flat roof and leaky glass lantern, and in 1995 the Museum achieved national registration status.

However, towards the end of the Millenium it was clear that the single gallery was totally inadequate to display new collections, and there was insufficient space to undertake educational activities with visiting school groups. The Society therefore embarked on an ambitious scheme to extend the Museum with two new galleries, a classroom/library, a store for reserve collections and a shop. Completely new displays were created to interpret key elements of the local heritage and to enable many objects to be on show to the public for the first time.

John Stainton of Tathwell was the architect with John Chapman of Phoenix Design as museum designer. The builders were Rodden & Cooper of Louth. The project cost £660,000 with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (£435,000) and other national sources, local authorities, charitable trusts, benefactor Hugh Bourn and the Society’s own fundraising.

The scheme also created full disabled access, and increased opening hours to five days a week (previously 2½ days), with a paid manager as well as volunteer greeters and guiders and curatorial team. During the fitting out phase we had a visit by HRH The Duke of Gloucester, and since re-opening in 2006 the Museum received Renaissance Heritage and other awards. In 2009 Louth Museum was voted the second most popular museum in Lincolnshire.

To be continued next issue when David takes the reader on a journey of discovery.


FACTFILE
The objects of the Louth Naturalists’, Antiquarian & Literary Society are the advancement of education by promoting and publishing the results of research into history and antiquities, natural history and literature of Louth and neighbourhood, and to conserve and display objects and information in Louth Museum for the benefit of the public. The collections are also an important resource for schools, colleges and individual researchers.

The Society organises a winter season of twenty lectures and two summer visits, all open to the public, and has published seventeen books, with ‘Adam Eve and Louth Carpets and The Story of Eve & Ranshaw Ltd’ forthcoming this summer.

Louth Museum is open April-October, Tuesday - Saturday, 10am – 4pm Admission £2.50 and £1.50. 4 Broadbank, Louth LN11 0EQ Tel: 01507 601211, email: louthmuseum@btconnect.com 
website: www.louthmuseum.org

Published June 2010