Wednesday 22 January 2014

"Gold in the Time of Stonehenge" a talk at Devizes Museum.

The leaflet to the left, (not a good photo, as it got a bit wet and crumpled in my pocket,)  gives information about the lovely new gallery at Devizes Museum devoted to finds from the Stonehenge area, in particular the many gold finds.   With the opening of the new visitor centre at Stonehenge, Devizes Museum has become a "must see" place, with its many interesting artifacts.  This  part of Wiltshire, with more places of prehistoric interest than almost any other part of England, is a big attraction for visitors from home and abroad.   The old huts that formed the previous visitor centre have been replaced by  a brand new, state of the art, child friendly history and archeology centre, , with a cafe and all mod con!  Electric vehicles take visitors from the centre to the stone circle, and now that a nearby road has been closed and grassed over, the stones stand it a more isolated setting.   

The entrance fee at £14.50 seems rather expensive to most of us, but I'm sure visitors from far away will be happy to pay it.   There have already been issues with the visitors numbers, with too many people arriving at weekends and swamping the facilities.  Soon a timed ticket system will be in place, and hopefully the centre's teething troubles will be ironed out.

Stonehenge | English Heritage

www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/stonehenge/

 The lecture room, soon to become too small for the many visitors to the twice monthly talks.

The photo shows the screen and projector, just out of sight in front of the gentleman standing beneath the screen.     The talk was fascinating, with  David Dawson, the museum's director showing us photographs of the gold finds, and information about their possible uses.  The gold was as bright as the day on which it was mined and worked into personal objects of decoration.

The main entrance in Long Street.

The museum was opened in  1873,  in  buildings that were once the old grammar school.

Wiltshire Museum Home Page

www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk/



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