SeaCity Museum

15/08/2020

The latest After Dark post from Southampton Stories!

In this week’s Southampton After Dark post we discover how people in Southampton celebrated the 1945 Japanese surrender after the sun went down!

Local man Daniel Cox, who kept up a diary almost every day of his life from the 1920s until the 1960s, records being woken up in the early hours of 15th August by ships hooting their horns. He writes:

"I lay for a minute or two, in a dazed state, and then saw, through a window, a rocket shoot into the air, so I got up and switched on the radio. There was a religious service being broadcast, and it was twenty minutes past midnight. By this time, all the sirens and hooters in the docks were in full blast, so I concluded that Japan must have surrendered".

Late as it was, he roused the family and walked down Peartree Avenue, where celebrating people ‘in their pyjamas and nightdresses’ were wandering the streets, and impromptu bonfires were being lit, including one on Peartree Green on the foundations of an old army hut.

Celebrations continued on the evening of 15th August, with more bonfires and fireworks (Daniel even lit an old lifeboat flare). Around 10pm Daniel and his wife Elsie took a bus into town:

"At the Civic Centre there was a solid mass of people milling all over the place. We walked up to the Junction. Fires were burning on every piece of waste ground. In the Civic forecourt groups of people were attempting to dance, to music coming through a loud speaker. When we got back to the cross roads the crowd was so thick that traffic could not move and from what I could see, the crowds were rocking cars to and fro, and trying to overturn them. Presently the crowd parted and six or seven Commandos came thrashing out, all fighting. The crowd surged with them toward the Parks… The Civic Centre road was a bit clearer by this time, so we walked back to the fountain, where a couple of Petty Officers were in the water splashing each other, and trying to duck one another, to the great amusement of the throng there assembled… Downtown the crowds were thinner, but there was a fire blazing in front of the Bargate, with a crowd of people singing and dancing round it."

The couple caught the 11.30pm Floating Bridge, passing more bonfires on the walk home, including one on the corner of Oakbank Road, where ‘a crowd of soldiers and sailors were stripping wood from the wrecked Supermarine Buildings to feed it’. Daniel finally got home at about 1.30am, where he had ‘some tea, and a bite of supper, before bed’.

#SotonAfterDark #VJDay #VJDay75 #Southampton

15/08/2020

Wampum: Stories from the Shells of Native America is now open at SeaCity Museum.

This important story is part of Southampton’s Mayflower 400 programme which also relaunches today, 15 August 2020, the day that marks 400 years since the sailing of the Mayflower ship from Southampton.

Discover more here: www.mayflower400southampton.co.uk

To visit Wampum: Stories from the Shells of Native America, you must pre-book a ticket online - https://bit.ly/2WG3kVl

14/08/2020

Discover Titanic - LIVE Family Session

We can't wait for our first family session on Zoom- Discover Titanic LIVE! The session will be on Monday 17th August at 10.30am. You'll be joining our Titanic experts Bea and Andy and will get a chance to explore some fantastic objects, discover amazing stories and take part in some great fun games! And all from the comfort of your own home! Further details and tickets are available here: https://www.wegottickets.com/event/503268

Join SeaCity learning team members Andy and Bea to delve into the incredible story of the most infamous ship of all time- the RMS Titanic. This hour-long online session using Zoom will combine stories, objects and games to help families discover more about this remarkable tale. The session is design...

13/08/2020

SeaCity Shorts - Boneshaker Bicycle

Its that SeaCity Shorts time of the week again!

This week Bea investigates a very uncomfortable way to get around 🚲

12/08/2020

Lady in a Caravan

Join us on Zoom on Wednesday 19th August at 7pm for a one-woman show 'Lady in a Caravan', performed by the actress and historian Jane Glennie. “Lady In A Caravan” Travel back in time to the 1950s with Mrs Cox, who is embarking on a holiday in the New Forest in her Winchester Caravan. Hear tales of folklore and of other Caravan dwellers, the “Gentleman Gypsy”, the Suffragettes and the lady who lived with the New Forest Gypsies collecting their stories. Tickets can be bought for only £3.50. You can find out more details and book your tickets here: https://www.wegottickets.com/event/503857

11/08/2020

We're not letting Covid get us down! We've put together a fantastic programme of tours and online talks and workshops for you to enjoy this summer holiday!
From local history lectures, to art appreciation talks, with some hands-on children's workshops thrown in for good measure.

Visit https://www.wegottickets.com/SouthamptonCulture to find out what's on offer from Tudor House & Garden, Southampton City Art Gallery and Seacity Museum this summer.

Our summer programme of talks, tours and workshops are now online! From local history lectures, to art appreciation talks, with some hands-on children's workshops thrown in for good measure.

Visit https://www.wegottickets.com/SouthamptonCulture to find out what's on offer from Tudor House & Garden, Southampton City Art Gallery and Seacity Museum this summer.

Can't find what you're looking for? We're constantly updating our programme. Follow us on Facebook for updates!

11/08/2020

It's time for the next round of our Objects World Cup! Every Tuesday we're pitting two objects against each other and you have to pick which one you think is best. By the end of the competition an ultimate champion object will be chosen!
This week's objects are very different! The first is a Bronze Age rapier that seems to have been intentionally thrown into the River Itchen, perhaps for religious reasons. The second is a beautiful modek of the Mayflower, a ship that 400 years-ago sailed from Southampton bound for the New World. Both objects are fantastic, but which one is your favourite?

10/08/2020

Tudor House and Garden

Our friends at Tudor House and Garden share a short video every week. Here's their most recent offering, an incredible flagon in the shape of a woman!

In this week's Tudor House Shorts Andy takes a close look at a very striking bit of Tudor tableware

08/08/2020

Time for another #AfterHours post from our friends at Southampton Stories with a Harry Potter (sort of) theme!

"Southampton Friary and the Quest for the Philosopher's Stone" - archives edition!

In our archives strongroom is a bound parchment manuscript, which gives edited highlights the instructions and failures from George Ripley’s poem “The Treatise Upon the Philosopher’s Stone.”

An inscription tells us the manuscript was inspected in 1922 by Professor H M Margoliouth of University of Southampton, who suggests the manuscript could have once belonged to the Southampton’s Friary. This is a real probability as other Friaries and Monastic Houses of this period are recorded as practicing alchemy.

Alchemy is a fundamental principle that any metal can be changed or ‘transmuted’ into another metal by adjusting the proportions of the elements. This change could only be bought about by a very particular special catalyst. The ultimate goal was to turn lead into gold! Quite a prize for a Friary if you could just get the recipe for the Philosophers Stone right!

Today we consider alchemy and magic as one and the same, but to the Medieval and Tudor minds it was a science and viewed as a valued way for examining a mysterious world. Even Elizabeth I was actively interested in it with John Dee astronomer, astrologer, teacher, and alchemist enjoying patronage at her court.

If you are ever in the area of Southampton’s Friary in Gloucester Square after dark and encounter ‘with odours, smokes and watching up by night’ it could be the ghosts of the monks of the Friary experimenting, looking for the elusive Philosophers Stone.

If you find it, please do feel free to share the secret with us here at #SotonAfterDark!

08/08/2020

Southampton City Art Gallery

Here's the latest Art Gallery Short! This week our learning officer Kate has been looking at this remarkable sculpture!

Discover the hidden history of Rodin's iconic sculpture, currently on display here at the gallery.

#Southampton #CultureinRecovery

07/08/2020

We're looking forward to our next Zoom talk on Wednesday 19th August at 7pm. “Lady In A Caravan” is a theatrical talk by actress and historian Jane Glennie set in the 1950s. Mrs Cox is embarking on a holiday in the New Forest in her Winchester Caravan. Hear tales of folklore and of other Caravan dwellers, the “Gentleman Gypsy”, the Suffragettes and the lady who lived with the New Forest Gypsies collecting their stories. We want everyone to be able to enjoy this talk, so tickets can be bought for just £3.50! You can get your ticket here: https://www.wegottickets.com/event/503857

07/08/2020

It is not uncommon to recover these jugs from long occupied locations. They are made from a salt glazed stoneware that is very robust and so even after many years in the ground, the jugs still look good. This type of pottery was produced in western Germany and one of its uses was to be filled with beer from a barrel so you see why such a hard wearing material is useful! This one comes from the site that was occupied by St Michael’s House. They are commonly called Bartmann or Bellarmine jugs. Bartmann comes from the German for ‘bearded man; the face at the base of neck makes it easy to see why they were called this, but Bellarmine is perhaps even more amusing as it is said to be an ironic nod to the Cardinal Robert Bellarmine who was a fierce opponent of Protestantism and very anti-alcohol. Another use of these jugs in the 17th century was as witches’ bottles where they were filled with a variety of items to either benefit their owner or bring bad luck to an enemy. The more grotesque the face on the jug the better. #FindsFriday

06/08/2020

SeaCity Shorts - Ocean Terminal

It's time for another SeaCity Short!

This week Bea takes a look at a building which was once iconic in the city

06/08/2020

As part of Mayflower 400 we are excited to be the first venue showcasing "Wampum: Stories from the Shells of Native America".

For almost 400 years, the impact of Mayflower’s arrival on the Wampanoag Nation has been widely marginalised in the telling of Mayflower history.

This new exhibition is presented by The Box Plymouth and grew out of a partnership with Wampanoag Advisory Committee to Plymouth 400 and the Wampanoag cultural advisors SmokeSygnals.

Told by Wampanoag voices throughout, Wampum: Stories from the Shells of Native America is the story of Wampanoag Native America.

You can visit the exhibition in our Southampton Stories gallery from 15 August – 18 October.

Please book your museum tickets online before visiting: https://bit.ly/2WG3kVl

Image: Wampum Beads courtesy of The Box, Plymouth

#Southampton #Mayflower400 #Wampum #Exhibition

06/08/2020

Art Tickets

As our 'Southampton Through Time' Zoom talk series takes a pause for a month or so, we're looking forward to our next Zoom talk on Wednesday 19th August at 7pm. “Lady In A Caravan” is a theatrical talk by actress and historian Jane Glennie set in the 1950s. Mrs Cox is embarking on a holiday in the New Forest in her Winchester Caravan. Hear tales of folklore and of other Caravan dwellers, the “Gentleman Gypsy”, the Suffragettes and the lady who lived with the New Forest Gypsies collecting their stories. We want everyone to be able to enjoy this talk, so tickets can be bought for just £3.50! You can get your ticket here: https://www.wegottickets.com/event/503857

04/08/2020

In the absence of the football European Championships and the Olympics, we thought we'd create our own knock-out competion- the SeaCity Objects World Cup! Every Tuesday we'll be pitting two objects against each other and you have to pick which one you think is best. By the end of the competition an ultimate champion object will be chosen!
For this inaugural round, your choice is between two very different objects: a Roman statue to the goddess Ancasta and a late sixteenth or early seventeenth century bottle with the face of a bearded man. The altar contains the only known reference to Ancasta anywhere in the world and the bottle is the type used to ward of evil. But which is your favourite?

03/08/2020

It's Maritime Monday!

Here's a barometer from the Imperator, which is now part of our Maritime and Local collection.

Barometers are used to measure air pressure which can forecast short term changes in the weather - very useful when traveling by sea!

For more maritime marvels follow our Southampton Stories account.

#Southampton #Barometer #Imperator #MaritimeMonday

This barometer from our museum collection was from the German ocean liner Imperator.

Imperator was Hamburg America Line’s response to the giant liners built by Cunard and White Star Line. She was launched in 1912, just 5 weeks after the sinking of Titanic.

With almost 4600 she carried more passengers than any other liner. After the First World War Imperator was taken over by Cunard and renamed Berengaria.

#MaritimeMonday

31/07/2020

Here's a lovely Saxon find from our colleagues at Southampton Stories!

A dress pin that was discovered during the excavation of 69-72 St Mary's Street in 2011 - read more about it below!

This charming carved bone or antler pin was recovered during excavations at 69-72, St Mary Street in 2011.

It is one of a number of objects that came from a pit that had been filled with rubbish. It doesn’t mean the pin was thrown away, it might have just fallen in. It is not unknown for archaeologists to find objects amongst the waste.

It has a plain shaft but the head, described as discoidal, is decorated using disc shapes. Looking down onto the pin head directly from above, the head itself finishes in a small flat disc but it also has four protruding lugs with disc shaped ends at right angles to the head and ninety degrees from each other, looking rather like an equal arm cross.

This is the more elaborate form of these style of pins, they are English in origin and a number of examples come from Hamwic.

#Southampton #FindsFriday #Hamwic

30/07/2020

SeaCity Shorts - Ocean Liners

In this week's SeaCity Short Andy explores what it might have been like to be on board an ocean liner during their golden age.

29/07/2020

That owl’s hiding again!

Can you spot him this week?

#cultureinquarantine

28/07/2020

This week our colleagues at Southampton Stories are sharing photographs and objects about the Royal Pier, from our city's collection.

Why not give them a follow, and find out more about the history of the pier? From it's grand opening in 1833 by the Duchess of Kent and her daughter Princess (later Queen) Victoria, to it's closure in 1980.

#Southampton #RoyalPier

It's day two for our posts about the Royal Pier!

In 1871, the pier was widened and train tracks were added for a horse-drawn train. From 1876, permission was given for a steam train to pull the carriages along the pier to the new station at the pier head. The train was not used during the First World War and the track was removed after the war.

The first photograph shows the pier with the new train tracks running up the left side.

Several improvements were made to the pier during the 1800s, and in 1892, the pier was rebuilt and a new entrance was opened.

The last three images show the new entrance, the invitation to its opening and the toasts made at the opening.

#Southampton #RoyalPier #Victorian

28/07/2020

Discover Titanic - LIVE Family Session

We're very excited about our upcoming Discover Titanic LIVE session! This online family session, using Zoom, will explore the incredible story of the world's most infamous ship the RMS Titanic. Join our learning officers Andy and Bea for games, stories, objects and more! The session is aimed at children aged 7 and over and will be on Monday 17th August at 10.30am. You can buy your ticket here: https://www.wegottickets.com/event/503268

Join SeaCity learning team members Andy and Bea to delve into the incredible story of the most infamous ship of all time- the RMS Titanic. This hour-long online session using Zoom will combine stories, objects and games to help families discover more about this remarkable tale. The session is design...

27/07/2020

We'll be continuing our online Southampton Through Time talks on Wednesday 5th August at 7pm with Medieval Hamtun: 1338 and All That. Our learning officer Andy Skinner will be exploring the town during the Middle Ages, with a focus on the devastating raid that befell the town during the Hundred Years War. We want to make sure everybody who wants to can attend the talk, so tickets start at only £3.50! You can get your ticket here: https://www.wegottickets.com/event/502499