Our past exhibitions have been drawn from both the museum and other private local collections. We present a selection here...
2024
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Fire!!
June 2024 - Sept 2024 Clanging bells, screaming sirens and dashing figures in long coats and brass helmets! See this temporary exhibition marking 120 years of Henfield's fire brigade, from its foundation by the Parish Council in 1904, to its ongoing service in 2024 under the aegis of West Sussex County Council. For a taster read our 'Moments in Time' blog, Joe Gillett's Henfield Fire Brigade Helmet. |
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West Sussex on the Frontline
February - May 2024
A rare chance to see a private collection of wartime artefacts from a Henfield collector. From shrapnel, to pieces of both Allied and Axis aircraft, sirens, pamphlets, headlight dampeners - enter the world of Sussex in the Second World War.
February - May 2024
A rare chance to see a private collection of wartime artefacts from a Henfield collector. From shrapnel, to pieces of both Allied and Axis aircraft, sirens, pamphlets, headlight dampeners - enter the world of Sussex in the Second World War.
2023
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With Condiments of the Seasoning
December 2023 - January 2024 Eccentric? Yes. Eclectic? Yes. Light-heartedly festive? Absolutely! This exhibition from a private collection had visitors ruing their nondescript condiment shakers! |
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Chanctonbury Ring Morris Men: 70th Anniversary Exhibition
November 2023 A striking exhibition of this dedicated group of folk dancers, to be seen at a local pub or town square near you. Or, if you're feeling intrepid, at 7AM on May Day up on Chanctonbury Ring! |
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The Hobby of Bottle Collecting
May - October 2023 Stone bottles, standing on the wall - and if one stone bottle were to accidentally fall, it might be found a century later! View a previously unseen private collection of stone and glass bottles of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These represent ginger beer, mineral water and other non alcoholic drinks from a variety of local Sussex and other producers, in various styles and distinctive designs. If you have any found bottles of your own for viewing or sale, the owner of the collection would like to hear from you - get in touch. |
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Henfield's Environs
February - May 2023 Featuring a large selection of rarely seen photos of Wineham, Twineham, Small Dole, Woodmancote, Shermanbury and Blackstone, take a journey to the historic hamlets, businesses and houses in Henfield's surrounding parishes. Some locations remain today, while some now remain only in their photographic form. |
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2022
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A WW2 Assortment
Autumn 2022 Launched alongside the Henfield Theatre Company production of 'Pressure' (set around the planning of D-Day), a new temporary exhibition included a variety of objects from the home and battlefronts not usually on display. On show were an incendiary bomb and shrapnel, a bomb whistle, ARP torch shield, special police truncheon, a German M35 helmet, and documents and papers of the day. |
A WW2 Assortment
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Tools of the Trade - a Watchmaker's Wonderland
September 2022 - January 2023
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Did you hear the sound of the Watchmaker's Wonderland...? A glimpse at the world of jewel hole makers, watch repairers and makers in our new temporary display 'Tools of the Trade'. This was a rare chance to see the private collection of a family member of Baden Thomas Ball, who worked as a watchmaker in Coventry in the '20s and later locally in Brighton from the '30s.
The never before shown collection offered an insight into an intricate world of tiny objects, precision tools and a steady hand.
September 2022 - January 2023
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Did you hear the sound of the Watchmaker's Wonderland...? A glimpse at the world of jewel hole makers, watch repairers and makers in our new temporary display 'Tools of the Trade'. This was a rare chance to see the private collection of a family member of Baden Thomas Ball, who worked as a watchmaker in Coventry in the '20s and later locally in Brighton from the '30s.
The never before shown collection offered an insight into an intricate world of tiny objects, precision tools and a steady hand.
Queen Elizabeth II - 70 Years' Reign
June - September 2022
Featuring a selection of photographs taken in Henfield of the 1953 Coronation Carnival and the Jubilee events of 1977, 2002, and 2012.
Complementing our 2022 - 2023 costume display - 'Royal Jubilees Remembered', which included items and costumes from the era of Queen Victoria's jubilees all the way up to those of our current monarch.
June - September 2022
Featuring a selection of photographs taken in Henfield of the 1953 Coronation Carnival and the Jubilee events of 1977, 2002, and 2012.
Complementing our 2022 - 2023 costume display - 'Royal Jubilees Remembered', which included items and costumes from the era of Queen Victoria's jubilees all the way up to those of our current monarch.
Jubilee Display 2022
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Jubilee Display 2022
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Ships, Planes & Cars
November 2021 - March 2022 From a private collection Two of the most famous ships in the world sailed into Henfield Museum! The 17th century Swedish warship Vasa and Nelson's HMS Victory could be seen in incredibly intricate model form. The real life Vasa (1628) was to be the pride of King Gustavus Adolphus' fleet, but was feared top heavy. Nonetheless launched. she sunk on her maiden voyage. Recovered largely intact from the bottom in 1961 after three centuries' oblivion and two years' hard work, she is now on display in her own museum at Stockholm. After her celebrated career in battle, HMS Victory (1765) was retired from active service in 1824 and after much public lobbying was ultimately saved for the nation. Finally dry docked at Portsmouth in 192 after a century of harbour service, she is now the foremost feature of the historic dockyard. The progression in shipbuilding styles over the century and a half can be readily compared with the models completed in painstaking detail. Accompanying them, a collection of classic Dinky vehicles and aeroplanes drove and flew in, all carefully restored from battered to 'like new' status. |
HMS Victory
Vasa
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2021
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Henfield's Early History
August 2021 - November 2021 A tale from Henfield's Medieval past - that of Stretham Manor. Named for the Roman road it stood beside (now known as the Greensand Way), it was an impressive moated site, likely at the heart of local authority for the Bishops of Chichester who held these lands. The exhibition focused on the archaeological excavations undertaken by A. Barr Hamilton from 1958-82, illustrating the layout of the stone and wood built structures on the site from its 13th century peak to the final abandonment in the 15th century. A number of smaller household finds and larger masonry items from the dig were displayed in addition to the excavation map and photos from the digs. |
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The Thames Mudlark
September 2020 - July 2021 For the first post lockdown re-opening of the museum in September, the museum was pleased to host a display on mudlarking, featuring items from the collection of enthusiastic local retired mudlarker and author Graham du Heaume. A lost world of the everyday and the exotic, ranging from the Medieval to the Victorian. Knives, keys to the unknown, padlocks and horseshoes, a Georgian love token, a bearded bottle, a British Bulldog revolver, perhaps cast into the river after deeds unremembered... All were preserved, deep in the anaerobic mud - here they saw the light of the modern day. Read the story of the collection... |
'The Thames Mudlark', 2020
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2020
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The 1,250th Anniversary of the Founding of St. Peter's Church
A wooden church dedicated to St. Peter was granted a charter by the South Saxon King Osmund in 770 and subsequently ratified by King Offa after his subjugation of the Sussaxons. This exhibition of photographs and other documents celebrated the long unbroken history of St. Peter's as the centre of the village since that date. |
Ceremonial cope from St. Peter's Church, Henfield
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2019
Remembering the War in the East: the James Luto Collection
In June 2019, the museum was privileged to host a part of the collection of James Luto, a longtime collector of Japanese wartime memorabilia and medical equipment. The collection provided a rare insight into the wartime experience with the majority of objects telling the story from the Japanese perspective.
'Everyone knows that a squaddie likes a souvenir. And when you fought in the Far East you were more likely to bring home an object emblazoned with the Rising Sun as opposed to the Swastika. In this captivating exhibition, the author and historian James Luto reveals some of the artefacts that might have found their way to Britain at the end of the Second World War. From the infamous Japanese ‘meatball’ flags to saki cups, helmets to the iconic Army sword, and from medical equipment to photographs and postcards. the objects, big and small alike, along with stories of how they reached these shores, provide an insight into the war against Japan. You never know, the items might just help you identify a long-forgotten memento lurking in your attic!'
If you would like to discuss the collection or an item you see in the photo gallery below, James Luto can be contacted *here*.
'Everyone knows that a squaddie likes a souvenir. And when you fought in the Far East you were more likely to bring home an object emblazoned with the Rising Sun as opposed to the Swastika. In this captivating exhibition, the author and historian James Luto reveals some of the artefacts that might have found their way to Britain at the end of the Second World War. From the infamous Japanese ‘meatball’ flags to saki cups, helmets to the iconic Army sword, and from medical equipment to photographs and postcards. the objects, big and small alike, along with stories of how they reached these shores, provide an insight into the war against Japan. You never know, the items might just help you identify a long-forgotten memento lurking in your attic!'
If you would like to discuss the collection or an item you see in the photo gallery below, James Luto can be contacted *here*.
The Heritage of Horsham District in 100 Objects
To accompany the Horsham District Year of Culture 2019 project, in October 2019 we put on a display of some of Henfield's contributions, along with a number of ancient objects kindly loaned by Horsham Museum.
2014
Toys & Games of the 20th Century
A variety of toys, teddies, models and games came to the museum, many being prized friends loaned by local residents. Their age ranged from the Edwardian era until the 1960s.
WW1 in Postcards
To mark the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War, we put on a display of contemporary postcards. Being the primary means of communication for many at the time (along with letters), most had an overtly propagandistic or patriotic flavour. A British Brodie helmet and German leather Pickelhaube (spiked helmet) were also loaned for the display from a local collection.
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