The Dacorum Heritage Trust
 The history of Berkhamsted, Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley & Tring

Star Objects

The Museum Store has an incredibly diverse collection ranging from archaeological finds, textiles, costumes and industrial objects to oil and watercolour paintings. As a museum store to Dacorum's local history societies we are actively collecting and at present have over 65,000 objects in our care. An area in which our collection excels is our social history collection, which gives an accurate reflection of life in different times in the Borough. This includes an extensive photographic and postcard archive in addition to sale particulars from the auction house of Brown and Merry.

Beningfield Painting		Singer Machine		Golden Legend
Gordon Beningfield always had an artistic flair and started his career designing stained glass windows. He loved the countryside and was passionate about preserving its many aspects. In the early 1960s he started painting scenes from the natural world and, following his marriage to Betty, moved to a cottage in Water End. His first book, Beningfield's Butterflies, was published in 1978, followed by Beningfield's Countryside in 1980. He was commissioned by the Post Office to design two sets of stamps. In 1981 he chose butterflies and in 1985, insects. He went on to publish several more illustrated books. Sadly, he died in 1998, at a time when he was working on a new book, to be published later by Betty under the title of Beningfield's Vanishing Songbirds. In 2008, Betty very kindly donated several items to the Berkhamsted Local History and Museum Society, including two of Gordon's shepherds' crooks, sheepbells and a Victorian 'fiddle' seed broadcaster. This watercolour painting of Gordon's 'Wall Brown Lasiommata megera' butterfly was purchased by Dacorum Heritage Trust Ltd at auction. (DACHT:2664)		Large sewing machine used in the 'Mantle' factory of Corby, Palmer and Stewart Ltd situated on Lower Kings Road Berkhamsted. The Corby family lived locally and took over the factory which made ladies' coats and dresses in 1919. During the Second World War, the factory made army uniforms as well as parts for the Mosquito fighter plane. By looking at the serial number of this machine, we can find out that it was made in November 1901.(DACHT: BK 4193.1)		Since the dawn of history, man has needed to communicate ideas and to record important events. Carved in stone, pressed onto clay or wax tablets, written on animal skins or silk, records were passed on through generations. In Britain, John Tate set up the first recorded papermaking mill near Hertford in 1488 called Sele Mill. Early single sheets of paper were made by hand from rags imported from Europe. The photograph shows a page of the Golden Legend, a book produced at John Tate's Mill, dating back to 1498.(DACHT: 1489).
Shoes		Straw Hat		Aldbury Pots
These are an excellent example of a late 18th century woman's shoes. They are made from purple silk satin and have a Louis-style heel. The toes are decorated with gold coloured metal and glass beads in the shape of a butterfly. Since the shoes have been in our care, Curatorial Staff have used acid-free tissue paper to ensure that they, and other shoes, do not lose their original shape.(KISMS .97.189.01)		Straw plaiting was an important industry in Dacorum from the 17th to the 19th century. The origin of the plaiting industry is unknown, however one suggestion is that Mary Queen of Scots took straw plaiting to Scotland with her courtiers and it gradually made its way south. It is widely known that Luton was the centre of this cottage industry, however Boxmoor had a railway station 15 years earlier than Luton which increased the competition for this work. At the beginning of the 19th century straw plaiting 'schools' opened for children to be taught the necessary skills, alongside some rudimentary education if they were fortunate. Parents set a daily quota of how many scores, (20 yards), were expected of their children. An experienced plaiter could make up to 4 scores a day. Scores were sold directly to visiting hat manufacturers at the weekly plait market in Hemel Hempstead. This photo shows one of the straw hats that is cared for at the Museum Store. (KISMS 86.017)		These pots are Belgic-gaul ware, or Terra Nigra, dating from the first half of the first century AD and were either exported from Gaul, or copied by local craftsmen. In 1943, groups of school children from Aldbury School were identifying an unusual plant in their grounds when a pupil discovered fragments of Roman pottery. This led to a thorough excavation of the area, led by the curator of the Letchworth Museum. The finds, now in Dacorum Heritage Trust's own collection, consist of 6 burial pots which at one stage probably contained cremated bones. Other finds included 'accessory' vessels such as flagons, platters and drinking beakers, which contained food and drink, possibly for the afterlife or maybe as an offering to the spirits. In addition to the archaeological finds, we have an exercise book of one of the pupils, Jean Hooper, aged 13, who was involved in the discovery of the Aldbury pots. The notebook shows Jean's excitement about the pottery they had found:(DACHT: 679) "One week Mrs Harris went to Bishop's Stortford for a holiday. While she was there she attended a course of lectures and was told how history was found. Mrs Harris, knowing that Aldbury was an historical old village, told us to start to dig to see what we could find. We hoped to find Roman and ancient pottery; little did we know our hopes would be fulfilled."
Sampler		Samplers are embroidered canvases often including letters, figures, motifs and decorative borders. Young girls aged 5 -11 produced samplers to teach them needlework skills and then later used to practise their literacy and numeracy skills. This particular sampler is from the Kings Langley Local History and Museum Society collection and dates back to 1832. Early Victorian samplers, such as the one in the photograph, has threads dyed with natural dyes which is why the colours are not as vibrant as later examples when threads were chemically dyed. We are currently looking to work with the local community in producing replicas for handling sessions to allow younger audiences to fully experience and appreciate the detailed work.(KISMS 81.082)