Museum News
What's been going on at Halstead Museum? - Winter 2025 - by John Walmsley
We have been donated, from the now closed Day Centre in Bridge Street a lovely limited edition print of the Halstead town layout. Dated 1990 it lists all of the then current shops and other establishments. Drawn by Thomas Gray all the way from Hunstanton Hall.
An Evans Electroselenium Galvanometer was brought in and donated. Adding to our growing collection of Evans artefacts. Don’t ask me how it works!
The Halstead road runners have donated 3 marathon medals to complement our expanding collection.
The museums first ever bus has been donated by a Mr Howler. It has been garaged out of the rain in our transport display cabinet. Being only 6” long, it is a Bedford Type OB coach in Eastern National colours with Halstead as its destination above the front windscreen. This coach was produced in large numbers either side of the last world war.
An interesting old sampler of Halstead United Reform Church made by Mary Ann Hinnell (undated) is now for sale on Ebay. We estimate its date of sewing to be in the 1850s. Unfortunately this item is beyond our means.
Also on this well-known auction site is a pub sign that once stood outside the White Hart on Market Hill. Mr Wilshin had been the landlord during 1898 and 1899. Where would we display it should it fall into our possession? Alas the sign had to be collected in person, from an address in the New Forest. A tad too far maybe!
Malcolm Root donated a lovely book on The Earthquake of Essex. We were suitably shaken by his generosity.
A Halstead resident from New Street found some old paper up one of his chimneys. It turned out to be several forms for admitting persons into the workhouse dated 1850s.
Our member Graham Fooks has found a copper lump during his day in a field metal detecting. It is a raw copper ingot originating from Cornwall or North Wales that would have been traded across the country during the Bronze Age. It still has the charcoal fused inside from the original smelting process, turning raw rock in to metal.
Society member Trevor Beal managed to purchase for the museum two photographs of the prisoner of war camp in Golden Meadow. Never seen before these images were sent to us from Australia. How on earth did they end up there?