To the Wivenhoe Museum!… on Saturday lunchtime. Yep it was one of those kind of days. The pissing Estuary Wilds was getting right on my nuts. This was a kind of day for a five minute dash out somewhere within a local radius, and then be within safe distance to head back to base if need be.
Trouble is there’s not a great deal of options within a five minute radius of my house. The Wivenhoe Chapel Museum, to give it its full name, is the only option other than a trip to the shops. Needs must.
We’ve been meaning to go to the museum for a number of years now. It opened around a decade ago in an old chapel in the public cemetery. Each time we go past we joke we should pop in. We’re normally setting out on a bicycle ride and so stopping off is only a passing thought.
That all changed today. We were welcomed as we arrived by a couple of familiar and very friendly faces. We were offered the choice of either a guided tour, or just to ramble around and do our own thing. Being a loner in life, we opted for our own thing.
It is a pokey little place but full of many hidden surprises. I get kind of turned on by local history, but not in a massive BONER kind of way.
I did enjoy looking at the completest set of the Wiv miniature models. There was also some cracking map action taking place. Map makers from years gone by had little sense of scale - or even reality.
The 3D model from the bottom of the town dating back to 1959 was interesting. It showed the extent of the valley where some of the houses by the railway line peer up above from. There was even a replica model of an oak tree. Best not go trying to chop that one down, Comrades.
We were then kindly offered the opportunity to explore the magical software that J at the museum has put together as part of the Wivenhoe History Group. This is a unique package which takes in hundreds of old documents and allows you to merge them together.
In a very, very clever way we were able to see an early map of our road and house, and then overlay this with subsequent maps that followed.
We even ventured into the census to find out some names of past occupants. We knew our house was there but it didn’t appear on any census records. We have some more digging to do back at base with the deeds that were bundled up as part of the house sale.
I’m pleased we finally managed to pop into the Wivenhoe Chapel Museum. It brings an end to the running gag of: Hey! We should pop in there.
Been there, done that. We must do it again.
