Dartmouth Museum

The museum entrance is at the right hand side of the picture

Dartmouth Museum is a local museum in Dartmouth, Devon, which displays and chronicles the history of the port of Dartmouth. It moved to its current location in the 1950s and is housed in a merchant's house which, in 1671, entertained Charles II and where he held court during a storm which forced him to stay in the port.^[1] The museum is run by the Dartmouth Museum Association, a registered charity.^[2]

The museum was refurbished during the winters of 2010 and 2011^[3] and has a large collection of models of sailing ships, and of ships in bottles.^[4] The latter is referred to as the Dawe Collection. The museum building itself is part of the exhibition^[5] which includes local records and photographs, and a plaster ceiling believed to be unique showing the Tree of Jesse. The museum also houses the Henley Collection, a collection of artefacts and scientific material collected by William Henley (1860-1919), all of which were previously part of a separate museum on Dartmouth's Anzac Street.^[6]

The entrance to the museum is in Dartmouth's Butterwalk, via a spiral staircase built counterclockwise around a ship's mast.

References

1. ^ "The KIngs Room, Dartmouth Museum". Dartmouth Museum. http://dartmouthmuseum.org/collections/kings-room/index.html. Retrieved 29 July 2011. "King Charles II was entertained in July 1671, when storms forced him to seek shelter in Dartmouth." 
2. ^ Dartmouth Museum, Registered Charity no. 306635 at the Charity Commission
3. ^ "Dartmouth Museum Moves Forward". By The Dart: pp. 66–67. May 2011. http://www.yudu.com/item/embedded_reader/325513/May-2011-By-The-Dart?refid=12163. Retrieved 7 May 2011. 
4. ^ Evans, Martin H; West, Janet (2011). "Maritime Museums: main alphabetical list". http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/mhe1000/museums.htm#DDD. Retrieved 5 May 2011. "Large collection of ship models, incl ships in bottles, bone PoW & glass ship models. Marine & other paintings. Large archive of local photographs. ARC. Edu BA. Museum is in a 17C merchant's house & has been refurbished." 
5. ^ "Cornucopia - Dartmouth Museum". http://www.cornucopia.org.uk/html/search/verb/ListIdentifiers/set/location/1845. Retrieved 5 May 2011. "Star objects at this location: The museum building itself; the collection of ship models; the collection of photographs." 
6. ^ "New Display at Dartmouth Museum". Dartmouth News. 13 July 2006. http://www.dartmouth.tv/News/13july.htm. Retrieved 5 May 2011. "William Henley (1860-1919) was one of the most remarkable sons of Dartmouth. He was a local ironmonger who, in a lifetime search for knowledge, became a self taught and talented artist, naturalist and botanist, and scientific microscopist. His many water-colours form a unique record of the town at the end of the nineteenth century." 

External Links

• Museum Website

Coordinates: 50°21′07″N 3°34′43″W / 50.3519°N 3.5786°W / 50.3519; -3.5786