Chelmsford Museum

The Chelmsford Museum is based in Oaklands House, an historic property off Mousham Street in Chelmsford, Essex. It is a Grade II Listed building.[1]

Chelmsford Museum
Oaklands House
Shown in Essex
Established1930
LocationOaklands House, Chelmsford,
Coordinates51.72262°N 0.46388°E / 51.72262; 0.46388
TypeLocal history and industrial heritage
Websitewww.chelmsford.gov.uk/museums

Oaklands House
The Last Stand of the 44th Regiment at Gundamuck, a painting by William Barnes Wollen

The house was designed by Charles Pertwee for Frederick Wells, a director of the Chelmsford Brewery, and completed by 1865.[1] It was constructed with an elaborate campanile, and went on to be used as a hospital during the First World War.[1] Since 1930 the building has housed the Chelmsford Museum.[2]

Collections

The Chelmsford Museum is a local history and industrial heritage museum. A major £5 million extension and redevelopment scheme opened in January 2010 and the museum now includes exhibits and interactive displays focusing on the engineering pioneers R.E.B. Crompton, Guglielmo Marconi, and Hoffmann Ball Bearings, as well as illustrating the development of the town and city from prehistory up to modern times.[3] The fine art collection includes works by noted artists with a connection to Chelmsford, including Alfred Bennett Bamford, Doris Boulton-Maude and Richard Spare.[4] It also holds pottery including Castle Hedingham ware and that made by the Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry.[5]

The house also incorporates the Museum of the Essex Regiment and the Essex Yeomanry.[2] Highlights of this collection include the French Imperial Eagle captured by the 2nd Battalion of the 44th Regiment of Foot from the French 62nd Régiment d'Infanterie de Ligne at the Battle of Salamanca in 1812, as well as The Last Stand of the 44th Regiment at Gundamuck, a painting by William Barnes Wollen depicting the 1842 retreat from Kabul in Afghanistan.[6]

References
  1. "Oaklands House". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  2. "History of the Chelmsford Museum". Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  3. "Chelmsford Borough Council – New Chelmsford Museum draws in the crowds". Chelmsford.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
  4. "Online Collections Portal". Chelmsford Council. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  5. "The Chelmsford Sissies by Grayson Perry". Art Fund. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  6. "Military exhibition". Chelmsford Council. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
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