Categories
Research Process

Historic Buildings: In or Out of the Surveys?

In the process of compiling a list of all museums in the UK from 1960 until 2020, the Mapping Museums team have collected data from previous surveys and sources. As I discussed in previous blog posts, we found that surveys had excluded art galleries without collections, and to a large extent, unaccredited museums. Historic buildings are different in that their inclusion is uneven. They are listed in some circumstances, and not in others.

When the Standing Commission for Museum reviewed the sector in 1963 they included historic buildings that were managed by the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works (later English Heritage), but they only listed National Trust buildings if they contained a stand-alone museum. By contrast, when the Museums Association launched the massive Museums.UK Database in 1987, they included historic buildings and stated that the content of the building, and arguably the building itself, could be considered a collection: a venue did not need to have a stand-alone exhibition in order to qualify as a museum. The Museums Libraries Archives Council later reinforced this position when they clarified the 1998 definition of a museum by noting that ‘a collection is an organised assemblage of selected material evidence of human activity or the natural environment, accompanied by associated information. As well as objects … held within a museum building, a collection may include buildings or sites’.

From the early 1980s onwards there has been a broad consensus that historic buildings can be counted as museums. The difficulties or the unevenness around their inclusion in museum surveys and lists has two sources. The first is that historic buildings drop out of the data for the same reasons as small independent museums, which is that they do not always comply with the standards outlined by the accreditation scheme (I discussed this point in my previous post). Some of these venues might be owned or managed by major organisations including the National Trust, others and particularly stately homes, might be owned by individuals or families and thus do not meet the requirement that museums must be held in trust.

The second and more complex reason for the uneven data on historic buildings concerns the different organisations involved in their preservation, and the variety of process. Each of the four countries has a national development agency for museums, or in England, for the arts, this also having responsibility for museums. In addition, each nation has organisations that oversee the preservation of national heritage or environment or buildings: English Heritage Trust, Historic Environment Scotland, Cadw in Wales, and Historic Environment Division in Wales.

The four sister organisations have relatively similar holdings in that they look after a mixture of stately and historic homes and buildings, monuments, and sites. Crucially, however, each of these organisations takes a different approach to accreditation, which has an impact on which venues appear on lists of museums and thus on which sites are recognised as museums. In consequence, English Heritage runs thirty ‘museums’, Historic Environment Scotland seemingly operates three, while Cadw and the Historic Environment Division in Northern Ireland have only one museum apiece and in both cases that remains unofficial in that it does not appear in the records kept by that nation’s museums council. In each case, the organisational structures and histories of the departments responsible for historic buildings and environment result in different outcomes as to whether a historic building constitutes a museum.

There is no particular merit in a building being considered a museum or a heritage site. The issue is not whether something ought to be counted as a museum or a historic building. Rather it is the effect of that designation on how the museum sector is depicted. The different attribution potentially produces a skewed picture of which nations have more or less museums of a particular kind, and it potentially underplays the number of historic buildings that function as museums.

Again, this situation leaves the Mapping Museums research team with questions. Do we include those historic houses and buildings that are owned by the national bodies, although officially they are not designated as museums? Do we include those historic houses that remain in private hands? What do you think?

Categories
Research Process

Unknown Opening Dates – Historic Houses

The historic houses listed below are all open to the public; however, we don’t know when they opened to the public.

Can you help us? If so, do please get in touch with the project director, Professor Fiona Candlin on f.candlin@bbk.ac.uk.

Name of museum Town or City Postcode Year open? Status
ACTON COURT Bristol BS37 9TL open
ARBURY HALL Nuneaton CV10 7PT open
ARDINGTON HOUSE Wantage OX12 8PY open
ARDRESS HOUSE Portadown BT62 1SQ open
ASHRIDGE HOUSE Berkhamstead HP4 1NS open
AVINGTON PARK Winchester SO21 1DB open
BADMINTON Badminton GL9 1DD open
BALLINDALLOCH CASTLE Banffshire AB37 9AX open
BEELEIGH ABBEY Maldon CM9 6LL 1969
BELMONT HOUSE AND GARDENS Faversham ME13 0HH open
BODRHYDDAN HALL Rhuddlan LL18 5SB open
BRADWELL LODGE Bradwell-on-Sea CM0 7PL 1971
BRODIE CASTLE Forres IV36 2TE open
CADHAY Ottery St Mary EX11 1QT open
CASTERNE HALL Nr. Ashbourne DE6 2BA open
CASTLE LEOD Strathpepper IV14 9AA open
CHAMBERCOMBE MANOR Ilfracombe EX34 9RJ open
CHARNEY MANOR Wantage OX12 0EJ 1968
CHILLINGTON HALL Wolverhampton WV8 1RE open
COREHOUSE Lanark ML11 9TQ open
CORNWALL HOUSE Monmouth NP25 3EN open
CRESSELLY Kilgetty SA68 0SP open
DALMENY HOUSE South Queensferry EH30 9TQ open
DOLMYNACH HOUSE Rhayader LD6 5AG open
DUART CASTLE Isle of Mull PA64 6AP open
DUNNINALD CASTLE & GARDENS Montrose DD10 9TD open
DUNSLAND Nr. Holsworthy EX22 7YE 1967
DUNVEGAN CASTLE & CASTLE Isle of Skye IV55 8WF open
EDMONSHAM HOUSE & GARDENS Wimborne BH21 5RE open
ELTON HALL Nr. Peterborough PE8 6SH open
EUSTON HALL Thetford IP24 2QP open
FLOORS CASTLE Kelso TD5 7SF open
FORDE ABBEY & GARDENS Chard TA20 4LU open
FURSDON Cadbury EX5 5JS open
GAWTHORPE HALL Burnley BB12 8UA open
GLAMIS CASTLE by Forfar DD8 1RJ open
GLENARM CASTLE BT44 0BQ open
GLENHAM HALL & GARDENS Little Glenham IP13 0BT open
GOODWOOD HOUSE Chichester PO18 0PX open
GOSFIELD HALL Gosfield CO9 1SF 2003
GOSFORD HOUSE Longniddry EH32 0PX open
GREYFRIARS HOUSE AND GARDEN Worcester WR1 2LZ open
HANBURY HALL AND GARDENS Hanbury WR9 7EA open
HARDWICKE COURT Gloucester GL2 4RS open
HARTLAND ABBEY Nr. Bideford EX39 6DT open
HARTSHEATH Mold CH7 4HP open
HAYES BARTON Budleigh Salterton EX9 7BS 1966
HEDINGHAM CASTLE Hedingham CO9 3DJ open
HESTERCOMBE HOUSE & GARDENS Hestercombe TA2 8LG open
HEZLETT HOUSE Coleraine BT51 4TW open
HIGHCLIFFE CASTLE Christchurch BH23 4LE open
HINCHINGBROOKE HOUSE Huntingdon PE29 3BN open
HOPETOUN HOUSE South Queensferry EH30 9SL open
HOUGHTON HALL & GARDENS King’s Lynn PE31 6UE open
HOUSE OF THE BINNS Linlithgow EH49 7NA open
HUTTON-IN-THE-FOREST Penrith CA11 9TH open
INVERARAY CASTLE & GARDENS Argyll PA32 8XE open
ISEL HALL Cockermouth CA13 0QG open
KELBURN CASTLE By Lars KA29 0BE open
KENTWELL HALL & GARDENS Sudbury CO10 9BA open
KINGSTON BAGPUIZE HOUSE Abingdon OX13 5AX open
LEIGHTON HALL Carnforth LA5 9ST open
LEITH HALL Huntly AB54 4NQ open
LENNOXLOVE Haddington EH41 4NZ open
LISSAN HOUSE Cookstown BT80 9SW open
LITTLE MALVERN COURT Nr. Malvern WR14 4JN open
LLANCHAERON Aberaeron SA48 8DG open
LODGE PARK Near Cheltenham GL54 3PP open
LOWER HUXLEY HALL Chester CH3 7RQ 1964
LULWORTH CASTLE & PARK Wareham BH20 5QS open
MANDERSTON Duns TD1 3PP open
MAPPERTON Beaminster DT8 3NR open
MARKENFIELD HALL Ripon HG4 3AD open
MELLERSTAIN HOUSE Gordon TD3 6LG open
MEOLS HALL Southport PR9 7LZ open
MOGGERHANGER PARK Moggerhanger MK44 3RW open
MONZIE CASTLE Crieff PH7 4HD open
MUNCASTER CASTLE & GARDENS Ravenglass CA18 1RQ open
NEWHOUSE Salisbury SP5 2NX open
NEWLISTON Kirkliston EH29 9EB open
NORTON CONYERS Ripon HG4 5EQ open
NUNWELL HOUSE Brading PO36 0JQ open
OLDWAY MANSION Paignton TQ3 2TY 1975
OWLETTS Gravesend DA12 3AP open
PENCARROW Bodmin PL30 3AG open
PENFOUND MANOR Bude EX23 0DZ 1970
PEOVER HALL & GARDENS Knutsford WA16 9HW open
PLAS GLYN Y WEDDW Abersoch LL53 7TT open
PORT ELIOT St. Germans PL12 5ND open
POWDERHAM CASTLE Nr. Exeter EX6 8JQ open
PRIDEAUX PLACE Padstow PL28 8RP open
RAMMERSCALES Lockerbie DG11 1LD open
RESTORATION HOUSE Rochester ME1 1RF open
RIPLEY CASTLE Harrogate HG3 3AY open
RODMARTON MANOR Cirencester GL7 6PF open
ROKEBY PARK Barnard Castle DL12 9RZ open
SAMLESBURY HALL Samlesbury PR5 0UP open
SAND Sidmouth EX10 0QN open
SAUSMAREZ MANOR St. Martin GY4 6SG open
SCAMPSTON HALL & WALLED GARDENS Malton YO17 8NG open
SCAWBY HALL Brigg DN20 9LX open
SEZINCOTE HOUSE Moreton-in-Marsh GL56 9AW open
SHAW HOUSE Newbury RG7 5EN open
SHERBORNE CASTLE & GARDENS Sherborne DT9 5NR open
SHIPTON HALL Much Wenlock TF13 6JZ 2016
SKAILL HOUSE Sandwick KW16 3LR open
SLEDMERE HOUSE Driffield YO25 3XG open
SMA’ SHOT COTTAGES HERITAGE CENTRE Paisley PA1 2HZ open
SOMERLEYTON HALL Lowestoft NR32 5QQ open
SORN CASTLE KA5 6HR open
ST MARY’S HOUSE & GARDENS Bramber BN44 3WE open
ST. GILES’S HOUSE Wimborne St. Giles BH21 5NA 1971
STANSTED PARK Rowland’s Castle PO9 6DX open
STANWAY HOUSE & WATER GARDEN Cheltenham GL54 5PQ open
STOCK GAYLARD HOUSE Nr. Sturminster Newton DT10 2BG open
STOWE HOUSE Buckingham MK18 5EH open
STRADEY CASTLE Llanelli SA15 4PL open
STRATFIELD SAYE HOUSE Nr. Basingstoke RG7 2BZ open
SUDELEY CASTLE Winchcombe GL54 5JD open
SUFTON COURT Mordiford HR1 4LU open
SUTTON PARK Sutton-on-the-Forest YO61 1DP open
THE BLACKHOUSE Isle of Lewis HS2 9DB open
THE HEATH HOUSE Stoke-on-Trent ST10 4HA open
THOMAS CARLYLE’S BIRTHPLACE by Lockerbie DG11 3DG open
THRUMPTON HALL Thrumpton NG11 0AX open
TIGH IAIN DHONNCHAIDH/CLEADALE CROFTING MUSEUM Isle of Eigg PH42 4RL open
TISSINGTON HALL Ashbourne DE6 1RA open
TITSEY PLACE Oxted RH8 0SA open
TRAQUAIR HOUSE Innerleithen EH44 6PW open
TREOWEN Nr. Monmouth NP25 4DL 1945-2017
TREWITHEN Truro TR2 4DD open
TUDOR MERCHANT’S HOUSE (NT) Tenby SA70 7BX open
TURVEY HOUSE Turvey MK43 8EL open
UGBROOKE PARK Chudleigh TQ13 0AD open
WESTONBIRT HOUSE & GARDENS Tetbury GL8 8QS open
WHITMORE HALL Newcastle-under-Lyme ST5 5HW open
WHITTINGTON COURT Cheltenham GL54 4HF open
WOLFETON HOUSE Dorchester DT10 2BG open
WOODCHESTER MANSION Stonehouse GL10 3TS open
WORTHAM MANOR Lifton PL16 0ED 1967