Curtis Museum Explained

The Curtis Museum in Alton, is a local history museum in Hampshire, England.

The museum was founded in 1865 by Dr William Curtis (1803–1881).

In 2014, ownership of the museum was transferred to the Hampshire Cultural Trust as part of a larger transfer of museums from Hampshire County Council and Winchester City Council.^[1]

Displays

It contains a wide range of artefacts and displays including:

• Prehistoric tools
  • Roman bowls and other material, including a cup found at Selborne The Anglo-Saxon Alton buckle^[2]
  • Artefacts from the Battle of Alton (1643), a battle in the English Civil War The "Jane Austen Trail"
• The tale of Sweet Fanny Adams, who was murdered locally in 1867
• Hop picking and brewing

Closure threat

In 2010, both the Curtis Museum and the Allen Gallery were under threat of closure, following their receipt of an email to that effect from the Museum & Arts Service.^[3] The Museum and Gallery were taken over by the Hampshire Museums and Galleries Trust, which ran both buildings with the help of volunteers, on behalf of Hampshire County Council. As of May 2014, management was transferred back to Hampshire County Council.

External links

• Curtis Museum
• Allen Gallery

Notes and References

1. News: . Hampshire and Winchester museums and art leased to trust . BBC News . 1 November 2014 . 2014-11-04.
2. https://www.hampshireculturaltrust.org.uk/content/alton-buckle "The Alton Buckle"
3. http://www.chawton.info/Latest/save-the-alton-museums.html "Save The Alton Museums"