Wardown Park Museum, formerly the Luton Museum & Art Gallery in Luton

Luton

Luton is a large town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000....

, is housed in a large Victorian mansion in Wardown Park

Wardown Park

Wardown Park is situated on the River Lea in Luton. The park has various sporting facilities, is home to the Luton Museum & Art Gallery and contains formal gardens. The park is located between Old Bedford Road and the A6, New Bedford Road and is within walking distance of the town centre.At the...

 on the outskirts of the town centre. The museum collection focusses on the traditional crafts of Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....

, notably lace-making and hat

Hat

A hat is a head covering. It can be worn for protection against the elements, for ceremonial or religious reasons, for safety, or as a fashion accessory. In the past, hats were an indicator of social status...

-making. There are samples of local lace

Lace

Lace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft. True lace was...

 from as early as the 17th century.

The Museum has been earmarked for closure by April 2012.

Overview

The Women's Hat Industry collection features over 600 hats in an extensive collection (the hats are in storage and can be viewed by prior arrangements with the museum). There are also extensive displays of decorative arts, including Saxon jewellery.

There are also exhibits of costumes, straw-plaiting, fine arts, and several Victorian

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

 room settings, as well as medieval guild books.

The first floor galleries were refurbished and opened as the Luton Life displays in February 2003. This was partly funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund

Heritage Lottery Fund

The Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...

. The museum displays explore stories of Luton people over the past 150 years. The galleries contain several listening posts where visitors are able to listen to local people telling their stories and describing key events. Additionally there are also several interactive displays as well as computer screens with historic photographs of Luton.

The ground floor displays include the Living Landscape gallery which displays local archaeology and natural history, including the Shillington

Shillington, Bedfordshire

Shillington is an English village and civil parish located in the county of Bedfordshire. In the south of the parish, the hamlet of Pegsdon is almost encircled by Hertfordshire, and since 1985 the parish has included the village of Higham Gobion to the west...

 Roman coin hoard and an Iron Age

Iron Age

The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...

 mirror, finds from Waulud's Bank

Waulud's Bank

Waulud's Bank is a possible Neolithic henge in Leagrave, Bedfordshire dating from 3,000BC.The Waulud's Bank earthworks lies on the western edge of the Marsh Farm Estate in Leagrave, Luton. The River Lea forms the western side, its source located within the vicinity of the surrounding marsh...

 are also on display.

The Lace Gallery displays some of the museum’s extensive collection of locally produced lace work.

The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment

Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment

The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment was the final title of an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army originally formed in 1688...

 gallery, produced by the Imperial War Museum

Imperial War Museum

Imperial War Museum is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. The museum was founded during the First World War in 1917 and intended as a record of the war effort and sacrifice of Britain and her Empire...

, explains the history of the local regiment

Regiment

A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...

.

The museum holds around three to four temporary exhibitions each year in the temporary exhibition gallery on the ground floor.

The Wenlock Jug

This bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

 jug was almost sold to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art

Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...

 for £750,000 but was export-stopped in October 2005 by culture minister, David Lammy

David Lammy

David Lindon Lammy is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Tottenham since 2000.Lammy has commented on Britain's history of slavery.-Early life and Education:...

, based on a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, run by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.

Decorated with coats of arms, including the royal arms used between 1340 and 1405, the jug bears the inscription My Lord Wenlock. It is thought the jug was made for either William Wenlock, who died in 1391 and was canon of St Paul’s Cathedral, Archdeacon of Rochester and a canon of King’s Chapel, Westminster

Westminster Abbey

The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...

, or his great-nephew John, the first Lord Wenlock

John Wenlock, 1st Baron Wenlock

Sir John Wenlock KG was an English soldier, courtier and politician. He fought on the side of both the Yorkists and the Lancastrians in the Wars of the Roses...

, who was a major figure in the fifteenth century serving every king from Henry V

Henry V of England

Henry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster....

 to Edward IV

Edward IV of England

Edward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was the first Yorkist King of England...

. Both had strong connections with Luton.

“The two Wenlocks associated with the jug, William and his nephew John, both lived in Luton and the family name figures in the medieval guild register in our collection” Maggie Appleton, Luton museum.

It was bought by Luton Museums Service for 300 times its normal annual acquisitions budget to equal the offer of the Metropolitan, thanks to the overwhelming generosity of several key organisations and donations from many individuals. It is a rare example of a jug cast by the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 bronze founder and bearing his mark. Virtually unknown until its recent sale, the jug gives scholars the important opportunity to research into Medieval metalworking skills and expertise.

History

The house that became Wardown Park Museum was a farmhouse and country residence in the 1800s. The park itself started out as a private estate owned by Richard How

Richard How

Richard Alfred How was a rugby union player who represented Australia.How, a wing, was born in Armidale, New South Wales and claimed 1 international rugby cap for Australia.-References:...

. Richards son, Robert built the first property within the park, called Bramingham Shott, which is the current home to the museum.

In the early 1870s the estate was taken over by local solicitor, Frank Chapman-Scargill, he rebuilt much of the earlier house in 1879 for a total cost of £10,000. Scargill left Luton and the house and property was let to J Forder who renamed the estate Wardown.

By 1903 the current owners, (The Stewart Family, whose famous son, Sir Malcolm Stewart founded the London Brick Company

The London Brick Company

The London Brick Company is a leading British manufactuer of bricks. It is owned by Hanson plc.- History :The London Brick Company owes its origins to John Cathles Hill, a developer-architect who built houses in both London and Peterborough...

) decided to sell the house and 11 acres (44,515.5 m²) park, and placed the property up for sale with an asking price of £17,000. The property was not sold, and in 1904 local councillors Asher Hucklesby

Asher Hucklesby

Asher Hucklesby was five-times mayor of Luton, Bedfordshire between 1892 and 1906 and a major hat manufacturer in the town.From modest beginnings as the son of a grocer in Stopsley he became the owner of the largest hat business in Luton. Hucklesby began working for hat manufacturer CJ Rosson at...

 and Edwin Oakley purchased the property for £16,250, and donated the park to the people of Luton. Hucklesby went on to be Mayor of Luton.

Over the next few years extensive improvements were implemented, many new trees were planted, as well as new footpaths and bridges being constructed. The layout of the park today is very much as it was in this period. A bowling green was built in 1905, reputed to be the first in Luton.

It was Hucklesby’s dream that the house would become a museum that would be 'interesting as well as of an educational nature'. However, the house itself had been neglected over the years and suffered from dry rot

Dry rot

Dry rot refers to a type of wood decay caused by certain types of fungi, also known as True Dry Rot, that digests parts of the wood which give the wood strength and stiffness...

. Extensive repairs were needed and Luton council could not immediately afford the cost of repair. The building was left empty for several years until it became a military hospital

Military hospital

Military hospital is a hospital, which is generally located on a military base and is reserved for the use of military personnel, their dependents or other authorized users....

 during the First World War. After the war, rooms were let to council employees with a public tea room opening on the ground floor.

The museum in Wardown Park finally opened in 1930 with the exhibits being moved from the Carnegie library

Carnegie library

A Carnegie library is a library built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. 2,509 Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929, including some belonging to public and university library systems...

where it had started in 1927. Initially the exhibits were held in just two rooms, but over the years the museum has filled the whole building.

Closure

Public consultation will be undertaken in late 2011 regarding a Luton Borough Council decision to change the opening pattern of Wardown Park Museum. The proposal for consultation is for the museum to be open weekends during term time and throughout the week during school holidays. The museum would remain accesible to pre-booked school and group visits throughout the year.

The John Dony Field Centre,Turner's Knoll store and Barton Road store have also been earmarked for closure in the Council's cost cutting measures.