Conservation Management Plan - Tamworth Borough Council

1.2.6 The Castle Collections
The Castle was purchased by Tamworth Borough Council in 1897 without any contents. This means that although
the records of the appearance of historic room interiors exist as either historic photos, sketches, paintings and
inventories, there is no original furniture or other personal items to ‘dress’ them. The lack of furniture and other
effects belonging to the families who lived in Tamworth Castle, is presumably because these effects were sold
off in a succession of house sales. This to some extent diminishes the significance of the historic interiors, but also
provides more flexibility in the way they are displayed. It is clear from consultation that the majority of visitors to
the castle assume that the furniture and other items within the room sets they gaze at are original to the castle.
The collections have been acquired since 1897 through gift, bequest, long term loan from other museums, and
through purchases. A significant section of the collection comprises items that were acquired around 1897 to
provide the castle with display items. This included a natural history collection from the Tamworth Natural History
Society, a collection of arms and armour and a collection of Saxon coins from the Tamworth mint.
Items were acquired with little rationale until the 1960s because there was no professional curator until the 1960s
and no formal collections policy until the 1980s.
Some rationalisation took place in the 1980s when three collections were transferred to Birmingham Museums and
Art Gallery which had the resources to care for them. These were the Egyptology, Ethnography and Natural History
Collections which formed part of the Allsopp collection, a private collection formed over a lifetime by Councillor
Frederick Allsopp in 1952.
Cases of stuffed birds were formerly displayed in the Norman Tower and in the drawing room in the south range.
During the consultation for this Conservation Management Plan many older residents spoke fondly of the stuffed
polar bear that was formerly displayed in the Great Hall. This was disposed of in the 1960s and sadly there don’t
appear to be any photos of this iconic exhibit.
Since 2002 active collecting has slowed, with an average of 40 items per year being accepted. Objects have been
specifically collected for the handling collection, and some reserve collection pieces have been de-accessioned into
the handling collection.
Given the lack of rationale the collections of Tamworth Castle are diverse and vary in quality, size and significance.
Some of the collections have come into existence through the collecting activities of local philanthropists during
the nineteenth century and accordingly reflect their tastes; others through local archaeological excavations,
probably the most significant of which is the excavation of the site of the Saxon Watermill in Bolebridge street. The
large structural timbers from this excavation remain buried within a water treatment plant along Lichfield Street,
but are part of the castle collection. Other items within the collection include replicas commissioned and acquired
by Tamworth Castle and as donations from private individuals.
Due to the documentation backlog it is only possible to estimate the number of items within Tamworth Castle’s
collections. Estimates in the 1980s put the figure between 5000-8000 items, although more recent estimates have
suggested around 1200 items.
The reserve collections are known to consist of the following:
Archaeology; Art; Coins and Medals; Allsopp collection(weapons, armour, books); Edith Gater Collection (designs
and examples of tube lined ceramics); Gibbs and Canning Collection (mainly architectural terracotta and company
records); Skeys pottery collection; Mac Gregor Collection (Egyptology); Peel Collection; General social history
and costume; documentary archive; photographic archive and Tamworth Trade records and a fossil and mineral
collection donated by Tamworth’s natural history society in the 1890s.
The handling collection
The handling collection makes social history objects available to schools and other groups available for handling in
a series of boxes, based on the following themes, influenced by the need of the National Curriculum:
Britain since 1948; holidays at the seaside; Victoriana; Victorian childhood; Victorian housework; Victorian working
life; Edwardian leisure time; toys from the past; Britain since the 1930s, domestic life; Britain since the 1930s, Saturday
night out.
Tamworth Castle Conservation Management Plan www.marionblockley.co.uk
Part 1
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