Ludlow museum marks first birthday
One year and thousands of visitors after it opened a town museum is celebrating its birthday.
Ludlow's Museum at the Buttercross opened a year ago this weekend, with all new displays and features, following a renovation of the historic building at the top of Broad Street.
It was a major undertaking for Ludlow Town Council, which was involved with the project along with Shropshire Council after the county authority closed its previous museum space in Ludlow Assembly Rooms in 2014.
It was two years before the town had a museum again after work that involved refurbishing the empty upper floor of 18th century Buttercross, installing a disabled lift into the ancient building, acquiring new display items and creating new interpretation boards, displays and leaflets.
The result is a museum that shows the story of the area from ancient fossils and geological samples that the region is internationally famous for, to prehistoric, Bronze Age and Anglo Saxon artefacts.
The displays then go on to show the development of the town from medieval times, through the English Civil War-era Bitterley Hoard, to the Victorian era and the First and Second World War.
Mayor of Ludlow, Councillor Tim Gill, said: ‘‘Ludlow Museum at the Buttercross reached the milestone of its first anniversary on Saturday.
"During the first year, we have welcomed nearly 5,000 visitors, hosted two popular temporary exhibitions and three well received evening lectures.
"The museum is going from strength to strength, the grade I listed Buttercross has recently won a local heritage conservation award, and the public response to the Buttercross’ new role has been very positive.’
‘‘The town council is pleased to have the support of Friends of Ludlow Museum and Shropshire Council. Encouraging tourism is important for our town and councillors and staff are passionate about developing the potential of the Buttercross.’’
There has been a museum in Ludlow since 1833, when it was started by Ludlow Natural History Society in a room over some outbuildings at Dinham House, near Ludlow Castle.
Since then the museum has occupied six different locations around Ludlow, and was based at the Buttercross between 1955 and 1990, when it moved to the ground floor of Ludlow Assembly Rooms.
At the current museum one case is used for a rolling programme of temporary exhibitions, with a display celebrating local finds as part of the of the Portable Antiquities Scheme 20th Anniversary running until August 20.
On August 25 a temporary exhibition of everyday Georgian objects and ephemera from a local private collection opens and runs until the end of December 2017.
The Buttercross has also hosted multiple lectures on archaeology, landscape and geology with a talk by Philip Hume ‘On the Trail of the Mortimers’ at 6:30pm on September 7.
Ludlow Museum at the Buttercross is open every week from 10am to 4pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays except Christmas and New Year.
