Monmouth Museum
{{Short description|Museum in Monmouth, Wales}}
{{For|the Nelson Museum in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, United Kingdom|Norfolk Nelson Museum}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox museum
| name = Monmouth Museum
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| image = Monmouth Museum - geograph.org.uk - 1708313.jpg
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| coordinates = {{coord|51.8131|-2.7156|type:landmark_region:GB-MON|display=inline}}
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| dissolved = 2022
| location = Market Hall, Monmouth, Wales
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The Monmouth Museum, previously known as The Nelson Museum and Local History Centre, was a museum in Monmouth, Monmouthshire, south east Wales. It featured a collection of artefacts associated with Admiral Horatio Nelson, and a local history collection. The museum was located in the Market Hall in the town centre. It was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom and did not re-open thereafter. In 2021 Monmouthshire County Council announced plans to move the museum collection to the Shire Hall in Agincourt Square. The five-year project, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, will see a new museum open at the Shire Hall by 2027. The Market Hall site will be let as commercial premises.
History
=Collections=
The Nelson collection was a bequest to the town of Monmouth on the death of Lady Georgiana Llangattock in 1923.{{cite news|title=Monmouth and Its Rich Past|url=http://herefordshire.greatbritishlife.co.uk/article/monmouth-and-its-rich-past-town-heritage-shopping-herefordshire-18133/|access-date=31 May 2012|newspaper=Herefordshire Life|date=19 February 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130113235709/http://herefordshire.greatbritishlife.co.uk/article/monmouth-and-its-rich-past-town-heritage-shopping-herefordshire-18133/|archive-date=13 January 2013}} Lady Llangattock, wife of the local landowner and town benefactor, John Rolls, 1st Baron Llangattock, and mother of Charles Rolls, had amassed a collection of Admiral Horatio Nelson memorabilia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The collection includes Nelson's naval officers fighting sword (and those of the surrendered French and Spanish naval commanders at Trafalgar); letters from Nelson both to his wife{{cite book|last=Nelson|first=Horatio|title=Nelson's letters to his wife: and other documents, 1785-1831|year=1958|publisher=Taylor & Francis|pages=630|display-authors=etal}} and to Lady Hamilton; and various items commemorating Nelson's victories, his Royal Navy career and his visit with the Hamiltons to Monmouth town, The Kymin, and South Wales. Also on display are commemorative silverware, prints, paintings, glassware, pottery and models of the Battle of Trafalgar. Among the items from Nelson's visit is the table used when he dined at the Kymin Round House.{{cite book |title=Follies & Grottoes |last=Jones |first=Barbara |year=1974 |publisher=Constable & Co |isbn=0-09-459350-7 |page=414}}
The collection also comprises some Nelson fakes, including a glass eye purported to be his, even though he had lost his sight, not the eyeball itself; it is a surgeon's teaching model. The museum also holds items relating to Monmouth town's history and archaeology, and an archive relating to Charles Rolls and his family. One notable example of this is the only known example of an original Monmouth Cap, dating from the 16th century.
=Sites=
The museum has been located at three separate sites within the town. In 1891 Lady Llangattock established a gymnasium in Glendower Street.{{cite web|title=The Nelson Rooms, Glendower Street, No. 2, Monmouth|url=http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/404433/details/THE+NELSON+ROOMS,+GLENDOWER+STREET,+NO.+2,+MONMOUTH/|work=coflein.gov.uk|publisher=Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales|access-date=31 May 2012}} The building was a gift to the town to mark the coming of age of John Maclean Rolls.{{cite news|last=Helme|first=Andrew|title=Nelson Museum|newspaper=Monnow Voice|date=July 2009| issue=3| page=6}} After Lady Llangattock's death in 1923, the gymnasium reopened as the Nelson Museum in 1924.{{cite web |title=Nelson Manuscripts at Monmouth Museum |url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/download/GB1355%20NELSON |access-date=31 May 2012 |work=nationalarchives.gov.uk |publisher=The National Archives - Nelson Museum and Local History Centre}} When the museum moved to new premises in 1969, the Glendower Street site was renamed the Nelson Rooms.{{cite web|title=Attractions - Monmouth Museum|url=http://www.monmouthshire.gov.uk/info/100009/leisure_and_culture/474/attractions/5|work=monmouthshire.gov.uk|publisher=Monmouthshire County Council|access-date=31 May 2012}}{{dead link|date=February 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
In 1969 the museum moved to a new location in the Market Hall on Priory Street. Following a major fire in 1963 which destroyed the upper floor and cupola of the Market Hall, the site was refurbished and redesigned.{{Cite web | url=http://www.gtj.org.uk/en/large/item/GTJ02004/ | title=The New Market Hall fire, Monmouth, 1963 | publisher=Gathering the Jewels | access-date=2012-03-20 }}{{dead link|date=February 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The museum re-opened at the Market Hall and was termed The Nelson Museum and Local History Centre.{{cite web|title=Monmouth Town Guide|url=http://www.visitwyevalley.com/download/downloads/id/67/monmouth_town_guide_20112012|publisher=Monmouth Town Council|access-date=10 December 2011}}{{dead link|date=February 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
In June 2021, while the museum was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, Monmouthshire County Council announced that the museum would not reopen in its Market Hall location and that the collections would be relocated to the Shire Hall in Agincourt Square.{{Cite web |last=Gill |first=Emily |date=10 June 2021 |title=Monmouth Museum is moving from Market Hall - where its new location will be |url=https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/19361267.monmouth-museum-will-not-reopen-market-hall/ |access-date=26 March 2023|publisher=South Wales Argus}} The five-year project, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, will see a new museum open at the Shire Hall by 2027.{{Cite web|url=https://www.monlife.co.uk/heritage/the-shire-hall/,%20https://www.monlife.co.uk/heritage/the-shire-hall/|title=Shire Hall Museum|publisher=MonLife: Monmouthshire County Council|access-date=2 March 2024}} The Market Hall site will be let as commercial premises.{{Cite web|url=https://www.monmouthshire.gov.uk/vacant-units-at-monmouth-market-hall-priory-street-monmouth-np25-3xa/|title=Vacant units at Market Hall, Priory Street, Monmouth, NP25 3XA|publisher=Monmouthshire County Council|date=2 February 2024|access-date=2 March 2024}}
Museum Collection
File:HMS Victory model at Monmouth Museum, Wales.JPG|A model of HMS Victory
File:Horatio Nelson's fighting sword, Monmouth Museum.JPG|Horatio Nelson's fighting sword
File:The cabinet of Admiral Nelson fakes and forgeries at Monmouth Museum.JPG|Cabinet of Admiral Nelson fakes and forgeries
File:The only known example of an original 'Monmouth Cap',dating from the 16th century.jpg|The only known example of an original Monmouth cap, dating from the 16th century on display at the museum
File:Monmouth Museum.jpg|Keith Kissack with Charles III, then Prince of Wales, at the museum in its Priory Street location in 1975
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080504221920/http://www.gtj.org.uk/search/searchRepository.php?lang=en&r=312 Gathering the Jewels artifact list]
{{Monmouth Museums}}
{{Museums and art galleries in Wales}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Military and war museums in Wales
Category:Museums in Monmouthshire
Category:Biographical museums in Wales
Category:Local museums in Wales
Category:Buildings and structures in Monmouth, Wales