Introducing our Collections
This site offers just a sample of our large collection of over 20,000 objects, with most connected to Henfield and its surrounding parishes. If you are researching local history or have a specialist interest in photos, costume, paintings, maps, ephemera, oral histories etc., please contact us to enquire as to what we hold, or to arrange a viewing.
For more detailed information on our main collections, view the drop-down menu above under Collections.
For more detailed information on our main collections, view the drop-down menu above under Collections.
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Miscellaneous Collections
We have a wide variety of objects in our collections, ranging from a natural history cabinet of early fossils, Mesolithic and Neolithic flint implements, via items from the Roman, Medieval and Tudor eras, to the Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian periods. Household and some more exotic objects from these times recall the reality of life for the people of Henfield. Reflecting the main occupation of the village until the last century, we have a large collection of vintage farming tools on display with a horse-drawn plough and mid-Victorian pump greeting visitors outside. Railway relics and an accurate model of Henfield's station remind us of the Horsham to Shoreham Railway, closed in 1966 and now in use by the village as the Downs Link cycle path. Wartime costume and an air raid siren tell of the days when the Battle of Britain raged in the skies above. The two century old school bell may ring if you're lucky and violet products tell of the once famous Allen-Brown Violet Nurseries and the guestbook of a famous actress, writer and suffrage campaigner tells the tale of high profile visitors of the past. In Pride of Place One of our most eccentric items is a working change eight bell set completed in 1850 by local carpenter and character, Bob Ward (of 'Cat House' fame). It is also hard to miss the penny farthing bicycle made in 1887 by Mr. W. A. Powell, who later displayed it above his bicycle workshop in the High Street. Nearby is a one man ambulance purchased by the Parish Council in 1908 and in use until the 1930s (find the photo of it on this site!). Photographs and Paintings The Museum holds an extensive collection of local paintings and photographs from the mid Victorian era until the late 20th century showing the village, churches, farmhouses, country houses, cottages and rural lanes - as well as the people and events which gave them life. We are also lucky to hold the extensive Marjorie Baker Collection of negatives and photographs, primarily comprising her painstaking portrait work from the 1930s to 1990s. Costume We hold an extensive costume collection, with a wide variety of primarily 19th to mid 20th century dresses, with other items ranging from the later 1770s to 1970s! The bright Victorian uniforms of the Sussex Rifle Volunteers, made by Longley's of Henfield are on permanent display. |
Objects in FocusSussex Rifle Volunteers Uniform
Uniforms of the Sussex Rifle Volunteers Regiment (the Territorials of their era) were made by the long established Longley Bros. outfitters, close to the museum in Henfield High Street
Change 8 Bell Set
Our 1849 Change 8 Bell Set, made as a novelty by carpenter Robert 'Bob' Ward of the Cat House. Two years' evening working in the making, it replicates the sound of church bells. Featured in the 'Heritage of Horsham District in 100 Objects' & registered in the virtual collection of the Royal College of Music. Click here to hear it come alive
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Toys and Childhood
Say 'Hello!' to our collection of dolls, figurines and children's toys, primarily dating from the 19th - early 20th centuries. Many are on permanent display in our toy case.
Meet Diana, a premium china doll of 1910. She has a quivering tongue and fluttering eyes which will have seen much over the past century and more. Hair and clothing are replacements in the original style.
She sits upon a chair a decade or so younger and from Henfield's (John) Eardley Hall Memorial Institute working men's club - named after its founding Chairman from Barrow Hill. It is dedicated to the memory and good efforts of the later Chairman and eager bell ringer William Markwell (whose portrait also resides in the museum). The Institute lasted from 1901 until 1962, while the chair and Diana are still going strong today!
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Our Victorian museum monkey (who has a hidden secret within him) poses on Henfield early 20th century stretcher ambulance, with a photograph of museum founder Lucie Bishop posing with the same. Behind Monkey, a Sussex shepherd's smock is on display
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Prehistoric Collections
Our earliest objects range from a small collection of locally found fossils, to stone tools of the Mesolithic and Neolithic eras, in addition to a Bronze Age Metalworker's Hoard found by a local metal detectorist in 2017.
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Neolithic Laurel Leaf spearhead
A fine example of the type, found in a garden on Henfield’s southern ridgeline in the early 1990s. Such objects were versatile and could be used for general cutting of game or other materials, in addition to attachment to a shaft and use as a spear. |
pXRF Analysis of a Bronze Age Metalworker's Hoard
Report by Micah Farenik (University of Exeter, 2024). 
In 2023, the axe and majority of the hoard was dispatched to Exeter University, as one of the first object sets to be scanned and analysed at their ground-breaking new SHArD 3D lab. In addition to the 3D scan, X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) analysis cast some interesting light on the potentially unusual elemental composition of the axe and some of the hoard. | ||