A charity shop find from several years ago was this little pottery piece, made in Suffolk by Mudlen End Pottery in Felsham - no longer in existence. The pottery did all sorts of village houses and churches.
And this is the actual building which has been standing in Bury St Edmunds town centre for over 800 years
I hadn't been in there for years so decided to pop in for a look round. Unfortunately I picked a time when they are between special exhibitions, so only their regular stuff was open to see but that meant the entrance cost was halved.
The Clock Room. These clocks and time pieces and many, many more once had a whole museum to themselves in Bury St Edmunds after being left to the town by Frederic Greshom Parkington many years ago. It closed several years ago and the clocks came here to Moyse's Hall but they don't have room for all of them to be on display.
Everything below is in their Witchcraft and Crime and Punishment galleries which I'd seen before, many years ago. The Murder in the Red Barn items are the most famous and very gruesome.
William Corder murdered his lover Maria Marten in the Red Barn Polstead in 1827. Weirdly it was a well known story right into the 1960s
Below is the famous book with cover made from the skin and the scalp of William Corder
And another gruesome story in the museum.
Below is the only book from the Abbey to remain in a collection readily available for people to see. ( I went and saw some of the other books in the Cathedral when they had them on display two years ago)
And some big lumps of carved stone from the abbey.
Back Tomorrow
Sue
how utterly gruesome! what on earth were our ancestors thinking?
ReplyDeleteThe pottery replica is rather lovely.
They certainly had different ideas of life and death back then
DeleteVery interesting and what a history of gruesome punishments!
ReplyDeletevery violent ways of death then
DeleteInspiration for (history) crime writers !
ReplyDeleteMaguy
Could be!
DeleteFascinating, but I need to make myself a large coffee before I read any more detail! Who would have thought that a little pottery piece would lead onto discovering so much of the darker side of our past.
ReplyDeleteI use to work in Bury St Edmunds so knew the museum well, it's always had all the gruesome stuff!
DeleteIt is an interesting museum, but does have a lot of artefacts relating to murders. But Bury St Edmunds itself takes its name from a murdered saint. On the other hand that little piece of pottery is a charming discovery
ReplyDeleteI knew what the pottery building was as soon as I saw it , used to walk by every day when I worked in Bury
DeleteThere is something to be said for living in the 21st century. Wretched deaths for the convicted but what a fascinating museum.
ReplyDeleteThey have lots of special exhibitions too - the last one was about Space
DeleteWhat an interesting, if gruesome, place to visit. I love the little piece of pottery. Catriona
ReplyDeleteIt's always had all the artefacts of local murders!
DeleteLove your pottery. I have visited Bury St Edmunds many times but never visited Moyes Museum. I shall, on my next visit. I like Bury, the place has an interesting vibe and the market is very lively, or it was when i last went!
ReplyDeleteNot to many empty shops in Bury although it's very different to how it was in the 70's when I worked there.
DeleteOur local learning group had a talk on the Red Barn Murder. The speaker was very keen on Moyse's Museum and suggested a visit would be worthwhile. The Red Barn Murder was quite fascinating and rumours lingered for years about motive/perpetrator. It makes quite a story of love and intrigue and claims and counter-claims.
ReplyDeleteI seem to have always known about the Red Barn Murder - must have still been a topic of conversation a century later
DeleteThe pottery is quite a faithful reproduction of Moyses' Hall - a nice piece to have.
ReplyDeleteThe book of human 'skin' is fascinating but awful.
They did some strange things back then for sure
DeleteWhat an interesting museum. I especially loved the Norman? carvings at the end, and of course, knew of the Red Barn Murder but don't remember his scalp and skin being used to make that book. Gruesome. Jhn and Nathan Nichols sounded like psychopaths! Got their just desserts anyway. The little pottery piece is a good likeness for the museum.
ReplyDeleteI guess the stones are from the old abbey. Hadn't been to the museum for about 30 years
DeleteI have always enjoyed my visits to Moyse's Hall - such interesting displays, sometimes quite gruesome, as you say. xx
ReplyDeleteIt was a shame that I picked a time between special exhibitions - lots of empty spaces
DeleteCreepy...really creepy!
ReplyDeleteSome very strange exhibits!
DeleteAll very interesting but I like the Grandfather clocks best ☺️
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
Love the grandfather clocks and the book from the abbey. I really kind of enjoyed reading about the crimes, though they were pretty gruesome.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
The museum has done a nice job preserving history. Brutality and gruesome acts were fairly common and the museum has documented them well. The collection of clocks is outstanding. The piece of pottery was a very good find.
ReplyDeleteI collect those little houses! Love them! Don’t have that one though!
ReplyDeleteWell, you sent me off on a ghoulish internet search this morning, Sue! I thought I knew what a gibbet was, but I imagined it more as just a cage. Can you imagine children walking past that ghoulish scene for weeks and weeks?
ReplyDeleteIt's such an interesting building. I love visiting Bury St. Edmunds. There is some good history there.
ReplyDeleteThe Murder at The Red Barn was made into a popular melodrama. I saw a local amateur production of it, in my hometown, complete with villains twirling their moustaches, great overacting.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting, Sue. And I really love the little pottery house, too.
ReplyDelete