Next week: join us for our next online talk: Niamh Lawlor, 'How Early Twentieth-Century Modernity Gave Avebury Its Folklore'. Tuesday 10 February, 19:00-20:30 GMT on Zoom. Tickets £6.00 (£4 for members with promo code) www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-early-...

The latest issue of British Archaeology is out now 📖🏺 From new discoveries at Lancaster’s Castle Hill, to Wiltshire’s chalk horses and the questions they raise about care and responsibility. Plus Casefiles, news, and more! Read the new issue today 👉 tinyurl.com/yhhhfm35

Fun fact - the amber disc was polished on a lathe / wheel. Is there earlier evidence of the knowledge of rotary motion in England?

This #findsfriday we have a gold mounted amber pendant. It consists of a flat central disc of amber framed by a wide round border of thin gold. Found with a primary cremation in Bell Barrow Wilsford G8 and excavated by William Cunnington.

Do you think that Devizes should be the Town of Culture? We are listed in this Guardian article. Thanks to Pam Thomas for the nomination. www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...

Wiltshire Museum is delighted to announce that Garfield Weston Foundation has awarded us £300,000 towards creating a new home for the museum in the Devizes Assize Court.

✨ Opening in just 4 days… Step into the world of Un/Common People: Folk Culture in Wessex. From historic folk art to contemporary voices, discover 100+ objects, stories, songs and films that reimagine what it means to be a “commoner” — and how folk culture continues to shape Wessex today.

Discover the post-war book designs of Stephen Russ at Chippenham Museum. Coming soon, this exhibition celebrates his work, from Graham Greene first editions to Penguin covers and the famous 'Lady Chatterley’s Lover' phoenix, as well as his 30-year teaching career at the Bath Academy of Art, Corsham.

A Stonehenge centenary of sorts this week - the re-emergence of this 1730 painting of Stonehenge, reported in the ILN on 30 Jan 1926. Henry Bates of Salisbury wrote that he'd "just purchased it from a Wiltshire village. There is no painting of the stones of an earlier date." Now in Salisbury Museum.

This weeks on #findsfriday we have an incomplete Roman figurine, depicting the head and neck of a man, possibly Apollo, c. 43-410 AD. Found near Etchilhampton, Wiltshire. See more of our collections here at: www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk/search-the-c...

It wasn’t a very successful experiment. Tasty though

Is it about time that someone told @wiltshiremuseum.bsky.social that their "Tourmaline stone axe" is actually made of cheese?

Last week we had the honour of HM The Queen visiting Wiltshire Museum to celebrate the success of the Assizes for Devizes Project. The exciting project has been made possible by the award of an £8.5m grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Other Stonehenge rocks (and stories) also available. www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk/news-article...

Tiny little Stonehenge @wiltshiremuseum.bsky.social

Some favourite things from our collections

See if you can guess which one we are buying for our collections!

BBC on the latest Treasure Report with "spectacular early medieval finds from Wiltshire ... Included a silver, gold and garnet bird's-head terminal with elephant ivory inlays, possibly from a drinking-horn." A follow-up excavation planned. months.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2yerrqel7o

At the British Museum for the unveiling of this spectacular Saxon gold and garnet eagle found in West Wiltshire. We hope to acquire through Treasure process.

Today is #brewmonday ! Help @samaritans.bsky.social by checking in with your people and staying connected over a good cup of tea! This tea cup from our collections shows the Market Cross in Devizes. Show us your favourite Cups and Mugs!

The Cherhill Mosaic from @wiltshiremuseum.bsky.social #MosaicMonday

Just found this most beautiful stone by a hedgerow next to the De La Warr Pavilion and it immediately made me think of Rose Ferraby’s beautiful, Silbury, which is now available to see in the Downland exhibition @wiltshiremuseum.bsky.social Until January 24th 🙂

Security on the door of The Wiltshire Museum are not to be messed with @durotrigesdig.bsky.social @theduncanmackay.bsky.social @drtobydriver.bsky.social

Hopefully you all know how I love the mixture of archaeology and art. Today I visited the @wiltshiremuseum.bsky.social & saw the spellbinding collection of Rose Ferraby work. Of so many things precious to me - landscapes, sites, artefacts. One week left - go and see it! #archaeology #art #wiltshire

This #findsfriday we have a gold pendant in the shape of two horns, made from thin gold over a bronze core and pierced in the centre for suspension. This grave was richly furnished, with a number of gold pendants included.It has been suggested that the pendant might resemble cow's horns.

Today is #Heritagetreasuresday. With thanks to #NationalLottery players, we are going to be able to transform the derelict Assize Court building into a spectacular new home for the Museum, supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund Learn more at www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk/assizes/

It's easy to forget that hillforts had a life after the Iron Age Here's a fine recreation of significant later activity © Peter Dunn / Historic England It's Aug 1086 and William I has has brought the landowners of England to Old Sarum #Wiltshire to swear allegiance to him #HillfortsWednesday

We can't wait! Three years of detailed preparation by Heather our Exhibitions Officer. After dealing with the logistics of this, anything else is simple.

Big Bellied Oak sits on the side of the road passing through Savernake Forest, Wiltshire. It has been there for around 1000 years, since the time of William the Conqueror. Run around it 7 times at midnight and you will summon the Devil. 👹And watch out for ghostly monks that sit beneath the tree. 🌳

Join the Chippenham Museum Creative Writing Group for a series of linked workshops celebrating the 400th anniversary of the birth of local antiquarian and inventor of the biography, John Aubrey. Visit our website for more information 👇 bit.ly/ChippenhamMuseumWhatsOn

🌿 Mini Mondays – Land Art Fun 🌿 This Monday, tiny hands and big imaginations take over! Inspired by our Landscape exhibition, children will create Land Art using natural materials, try eco-graffiti, and make beautiful leaf prints.

This #findsfriday we have a Roman gold ring with a red oval garnet setting. The bezel is decorated with crescent shaped markings down the sides.

Are you an enthusiastic Community Curator to deliver and develop community engagement in underserved audiences? A 3-day per week role to cover maternity leave. For more details and to apply, see www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk/work-with-us/

NEW #Neolithic axe-heads from the Ness of Brodgar, Orkney. One of the most iconic tools of Europe's first farmers, macroscopic wear analysis reveals they were treated in diverse ways, used for cutting wood, chiselling stone, scraping hides and more. 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy... 🏺 #Archaeology

This #findsfriday, we are sharing with you one of three leather shoes that were found in Avebury in 2025, concealed in a wall of a house. Wiltshire Council's Conservation & Museums Advisory Service then worked to conserve the shoes for our collection, creating bespoke mounts to stabilise the shoes.

We are open Friday 2 and Sat 3 Jan! Just a few weeks left to see Rose Ferraby's 'Downland' exhibition. Hear more about Philip Crocker and his watercolours from Rose in this new 'short' video. youtube.com/shorts/D3KKZ...

Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year. This Barge Ware teapot has a plaque reading WILLIAM & ELIZ BENNETT / CHRISTMAS 1893. Elizabeth Bennett owned one of the first antique shops in Devizes. www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk/item-record/...

"Christmas" (1929) Robin Tanner (1904–1988) British Etcher, draughtsman, painter in watercolour, teacher and writer, born in Bristol, but spent most of his life in northwest Wiltshire, which was the main subject of his work. Chippenham Museum #Art

Join us for our Twelfth Night celebration! With re-enactors, we’ll explore Chippenham’s Royal Saxon past and Alfred’s story. Discover the Twelfth Night cake secret, who the Lord of Misrule was, and learn Jane Austen’s favorite party game. 📅 Saturday 10 January ⏰ 10.30am - 3.30pm 🎟️ Free, drop-in

Stonehenge by John Piper. One of the inspirations for Rose Ferraby, artist and archaeologist in her Downland exhibition on now. www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk/item-record/...

Glad that you enjoyed the talk - Amanda is the 'go to' person on such things. To find out a bit more about Maud - see this 2-part blog by Maddie Watson + references. generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk/history/2024...

This #findsfriday we have a miniature copper alloy axe head fitted into a red deer antler handle for use as a hand tool. Found in Snail Down (XXII), Wiltshire You can search more of our collections here at: www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk/search-the-c...

For #HillfortsWednesday a stormy view of the ramparts of the Iron Age hillfort of Barbury Castle in Wiltshire courtesy of Anguskirk.

And some people say that the museum on the end of your journey isn't too shabby ...

A BlueSky welcome to Oxfordshire Museums Service!

GWR Cap – STEAM – Museum of the Great Western Railway: https://giftshop.micro.blog/2025/12/14/gwr-cap-steam-museum-of.html

...technically, the site has been known for many more than 100 years, and it didn't become Woodhenge until some time after Insall first saw it 4 days before the photo whose centenary it was the other day, which wasn't the one showing the internal posts.. (5/5) #StandingStoneSunday #PedantSunday

One of the many archaeologists who visited the site before Insall was OGS Crawford. Here's the border of his copy of the Ordnance Survey map sheet for the area (in @wiltshiremuseum.bsky.social ) stating that it was 88 paces across on 13 September 1923. The name change was noted later. So... (4/5)