Sandwich Guildhall Museum & Archives

09/01/2025

We may have been closed for a few weeks but we have done some important work, particularly ensuring the museum is looking especially shiny for the new year!

We're now open as normal, Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm so please do come and visit us.

01/01/2025

Happy New Year!

We're excited for what 2025 has to offer and we have various projects in the works that we can't wait to share with you!

28/12/2024

Since we’re heading into a new year, we thought we would reflect on some of our achievements of 2024:

The volunteer team welcomed even more visitors this year compared to last year.
We acquired the Roman Bowl with support from V&A/ACE PGF and MA Beecroft Bequest.
We held the first of what we hope will be our Annual Art Competition/Exhibition and our first event in partnership with the theatre students of Sir Roger Manwood's School.
Our Collections Volunteers reached 10,000 entries in the database recording the collection.
We hosted two special exhibitions in the dedicated temporary exhibition space.
We expanded our team and now have thirty two wonderful volunteers!

25/12/2024

Merry Christmas from the Sandwich Guildhall Museum team!

However you are spending the festive period, we hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

19/12/2024

A reminder that the museum closes tomorrow at 4pm for the Christmas period. It will be back open on Wednesday 8th January at 10am, in the meantime we will be getting some important work done!

📣 Christmas opening times! 📣

As December is right around the corner, we thought we should share our Christmas opening times. The museum is open everyday as normal, Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm up until Friday 20th December. The museum will then reopen on Wednesday 8th January.

30/11/2024

Another day, another interesting find! This is a page from a handwritten booklet of instructions titled Land Measuring and Dividing of Land.

28/11/2024

It's your last chance to see the Silver Oar and Speaker's Badge on display as our temporary exhibition, Sandwich: Speaker for the Cinque Ports, closes on Sunday 1st December. Visit us to read about the traditions of the Cinque Ports and see some of our collections, which are usually not on display. Find the exhibition in the special exhibition room, located at the back of our 16th century courtroom.

25/11/2024

📣 Christmas opening times! 📣

As December is right around the corner, we thought we should share our Christmas opening times. The museum is open everyday as normal, Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm up until Friday 20th December. The museum will then reopen on Wednesday 8th January.

23/11/2024

Why would a museum in Sandwich, Kent have an image of seals from Great Yarmouth in Norfolk? Great question!

Due to living on the coast many of the Cinque Port’s inhabitants were fishermen. Among the privileges granted to the Cinque Port towns was the right of “den and strong”, every year they would exercise this right by travelling to the Norfolk coast, claiming access to the sandbank on the River Yare in search of herring. The annual Herring Fair was established. Eventually, an authority was needed to impose order and justice; this task fell to the Cinque Ports. On the mouth of the River Yare, where they would stay for the duration of the fair, a settlement began to emerge, becoming known as Yarmouth.

20/11/2024

Originally known as a Brodhull, the Court of Brotherhood was an assembly of the Cinque Ports, which was held to discuss various items including how many fish the Portsmen had caught at the annual Herring Fair. By the late 1600s the meetings had become sporadic and purely ceremonial, without much discussion of fish! This photograph shows members gathered outside of the Guildhall in 1920. You can read more about the traditions of the Cinque Ports in our current exhibition Sandwich: Speaker for the Cinque Ports.

14/11/2024

Our special exhibition about the Cinque Ports is open until 1st December, so there is still time to visit!

Visitors often wonder how Sandwich is a Cinque Port when it's not on the coast. Well, it used to be! The town used to have a large port in which ships from all over the world would dock. To demonstrate this important piece of context in the story of Sandwich as a Cinque Port, on display is a document from 1765, which details the goods imported into the port that was once a very important part of the town.

10/11/2024

Today is Remembrance Sunday.

At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, an agreement was made between the Allies and Germany to stop fighting. After four terrible years, the First World War was finally coming to an end. Since then many more wars have taken place.

Today we remember the civilians who lost their lives in conflict, the families of those in the Armed Forces, and of course, the members of our Armed Forces themselves who have made and continue to make sacrifices for their country.

Lest we forget.

09/11/2024

We're recruiting Volunteer Museum Assistants to join our front of house team on an ad hoc basis. You can join a fantastic team of volunteers, without committing to the same shift every week! Our ad hoc volunteers fill in shifts as and when they are able to, which helps us to ensure we are at full capacity so we can carry on sharing the history of Sandwich.

If you are interested in joining the team, please contact us for more details by emailing [email protected]

09/11/2024

Admiral Sir George Zambellas was recently installed as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. As our Mayor is the Speaker this year, we have currently have a special exhibition which explores the traditions of the Cinque Ports, including the history of the role of the Lord Warden. On display is this wonderful photograph, which shows the installation of Churchill has Lord Warden in 1946.

01/11/2024

The Confederation of Cinque Port’s Silver Oar is back on display after it was removed for the installation of the new Lord Warden. Our special exhibition, Sandwich: Speaker for the Cinque Ports, is on until the beginning of December so there’s still time to see it!

Visit White Cliffs Country - Dover, Deal and Sandwich

24/10/2024

Did you know the mayors of the Cinque Ports get invited to coronations? Our current temporary exhibition, Sandwich: Speaker for the Cinque Ports, includes the history of this tradition. On display is a beautiful example of the invitation for King Charles III and Queen Camilla's coronation, kindly loaned to us by Cllr Franklin who was lucky enough to attend last year!

Visit White Cliffs Country - Dover, Deal and Sandwich

19/10/2024

The main hall’s stage lights made it look suitably dramatic for the performances of the Legend of William ‘Wing’ Farley! We were so glad to welcome people to our beautiful building in support of the wonderful theatre students from Sir Roger Manwood’s School. The students have been working hard to develop their story and script inspired by the story of William Farley and finally, this week they performed it to three small, but sold out audiences!

12/10/2024

It's your last chance to get tickets to this event, which is taking place on Tuesday next week! We still have a few tickets available for the 19.30 and 20.15 performance. It's free to come along and we would love to see as many people there as possible to support the students!