Collection highlights

• The Flood Bell

  VGM 1964.31 · 1652 · River and Mill

  Bronze hand-rung bell in an oak headstock, 41 cm across the mouth, inscribed “WATCH AND RING 1652”. Hung in a frame on the Town Quay and rung by the quay master when the river rose; recorded as rung in 1795 and 1852. Taken down 1903. Conserved 2024–25, with a new headstock.

• Plaster model for the statue in the Market Square

  VGM 1971.8 · 1897 · Lilac Room

  Painted plaster, 74 cm high, by Annie Sowter, made for the statue committee and shown at the subscription meeting in October 1897. The raised arm was broken and repaired with an iron pin before it came to the museum. Given by the sculptor’s niece.

• Borough seal matrix

  LOAN 1988.2 · Seventeenth century · Market Town

  Brass, 62 mm across, with the eight-pointed star and the legend SIGILLVM BVRGI DE WENGEBERGE. The earliest surviving impression is on a lease of 1694. Lent by the town council.

• Pewter pint measure

  VGM 1966.204 · About 1700 · Market Town

  Baluster-shaped pint stamped with the star of the borough as a verification mark, used by the clerk of the market to check the measures of the inns.

• Pargeter’s Brewery sign

  VGM 1982.5 · 1889 · Market Town

  Cast-iron sign from the brewery gate on Tanners Lane, with the brewery’s mark of a wheatsheaf. The brewery closed in 1961.

• Master’s desk from the grammar school

  VGM 1964.2 · Eighteenth century · Old Schoolroom

  Oak, on a raised platform, with a lifting lid. Cut into the lid are the initials and dates of pupils from 1741 to 1907.

• Model of the Town Mill

  VGM 1990.3 · 1990 · River and Mill

  Working model at 1:24 of the mill as it was in about 1890, made by a member of the Historical Society from the millwright’s drawings.

• The Town Bridge in flood, 1795

  VGM 1985.19 · 1795 · River and Mill

  Watercolour, 28 × 41 cm, artist unknown, showing the river over the quay and up to the springing of the arches. Inscribed on the back “Feby 11th 1795”.

• Poster for the first Lilac Fair

  VGM 1899.1 · 1899 · Lilac Room

  Letterpress poster, 76 × 51 cm, for the “Lilac Fair and Procession, Thursday 18th May 1899”. The only known copy. The first fair was held on a Thursday, market day; it moved to a weekend in 1921.

• Cordial bottle

  VGM 1953.6 · 1953 · Lilac Room

  Glass bottle with a handwritten paper label, “Lilac & Gooseberry, Coronation Year”, from the first year of the cordial stall.

How the collection grows

Most of the collection has been given by people in the town. We collect objects, photographs and papers that tell the story of Vengerberg and the parishes around it, under a collections development policy reviewed by the trustees every five years. We do not buy objects except, occasionally, at local sales, and we cannot accept anything we would not have room to look after.

If you have something you think the museum should have, please bring a photograph or a description to the desk, or email curator@vengerberg.org. Please do not leave objects at the museum without speaking to the Curator.

See also the collections catalogue.