Katherine Lady Berkeley School. When he was later living in Berkeley he
used to come back to his former home-town to carry out vaccinations for members of the local population following services at the Methodist Tabernacle. The Tabernacle also has an association with
a well-known name, that of the Rev Rowland Hill, a Methodist preacher who founded it and lived for a time in Wotton-Under-Edge. An association with another man of religion
is that with William Tyndale, who translated the Bible into English. He was born at Nibley. He was martyred and a monument to him
stands on Nibley Knoll in North Nibley, near Wotton-under-Edge. The silver trowel which was used at the
ceremony to lay the foundation stone of the monument when it was erected in 1866 is in the centre. Although Oscar Wilde did not live in the
town, he had a friend William Moore-Adey who did so. This friendship resulted in references to the
name of his home-town in two of Wilde’s novels. A character in ‘A Picture of Dorian Gray’ is
Lord Wotton and in ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ Lady Bracknell when on a train journey asks ‘How long to get to Wotton?’, this being one of the stations on her route. From fiction to fact, the town has links with
the Titanic, the trans-Atlantic liner the centenary of the sinking of which was marked in 2012. Two people from the area were on board,
one a member of the crew. The other was a passenger who had been
upgraded to a berth on the Titanic as coal on the ship from which he was due to sail had been diverted to the high-profile vessel. Sadly, neither survived. The connection continues with the ship
itself, for the son of the landlord of the Star Inn, which still stands near the museum, emigrated to Prince Edward Island in the 1670s and there he founded a timber and then a shipping business. He named this the White Star Line after the
sign on his father’s pub, and at the time of the disaster it was the owner of the Titanic. The company, via various changes of hands, later became Cunard. “One of our main aims when people come
in to see us is to point them to the many interesting aspects of our town.” says Mr Baird. “The centre is also the Tourist Information
Point, and we can offer people plenty to provide them with interest both here and in the nearby countryside where there are some fantastic walks.” It was Wotton-under-Edge Historical Society
that founded and still runs the centre. The society’s own history goes back to 1947;
it’s collections of photographs and objects grew apace and in the early days were kept in the homes of members and in a cupboard in the Town Hall, Mr Baird relates. Money was raised to provide something
more permanent, but the former cycle shed at the library which was rented from Gloucestershire County Council and which the members made more substantial was quite soon outgrown. More fundraising followed, and more
refurbishment. This was when the society was able to find
larger more suitable premises in the former fire station, no longer in use following the opening of a new building. Since the present centre there was opened in
1994 the society has continued to make use of its earlier home for storage. Mr Baird pays tribute to two members who
did much to prepare the centre for its opening. They were the late Beryl Kingham and
Mary George, who is now in her 80s. “They really did spend a lot of time
preparing it and they turned the building into a proper museum, which we are still trying to keep up,” he says. As many as 30 volunteers share in the many
aspects of running the centre, many of whom are able to do so because they are retired. An important aspect is the continuing one
of fund-raising towards the many expenses involved, and one way of doing this is by the society being one of the various organisations which take turns to serve teas and cake in the
Val Hake, Heritage Centre Chairman
Town Hall once a month. This contributes towards the £7,000 that
is needed to run the centre each year. The Historical Society also has a varied
programme of activities, including a series of lectures. Recent topics have included the life and
work of Dr Edward Jenner and the history of Bath Abbey. In many ways the society and the centre
make an important contribution to the life of the town. And they are not standing still. “We are continually being given new
items, says Mr Baird. “We have just been given another
photograph going back to the First World War, relating to service in the Belgian army.” The four 2014 exhibitions will cover each
stage of the wartime period, from the town just before the war broke out to the armistice and then the erection of war memorials. Opening times are Tuesday, Thursday
and Friday 10.30 am to 2.30 pm and 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm, Saturday 10.00 am to 1.00 pm throughout the year, with a Sunday opening from 2.00 pm on to 4.00 pm from the end of April to the end of October. The centre can be found at The
Chipping, in Wotton-under-Edge, telephone 01453 520541.
Inspiring life in the Cotswolds 43
Heritage Centre Curator, David Baird with the head of an entrenching tool from 1915
A trade recipe book from the early 1900s
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