Haven't posted much about OGS Crawford for a while, so here's something from Crawford's WW1 days. He saw out the war as a PoW in Holzminden alongside the likes of James Whale, director of two of my all-time favourites "Bride of Frankenstein" and "The Old Dark House". Sadly, OGSC never mentioned...

Yesterday we welcomed a team from NHK (Japan's biggest broadcaster) interviewing @public-history.bsky.social about the amazing story of the Wiltshire Thatcher and the cover of Led Zeppelin IV (with Stairway to Heaven!). Broadcast in the New Year. More at www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk/news-article...

Two years ago today @wiltshiremuseum.bsky.social announced they had the original Wiltshire Thatcher (as seen on Led Zep 4) print. Their version is in black and white but has yellow ink on it, including fingerprints so it is probable that the famous coloured version is contemporary.

Led Zeppelin IV released on this day 1971. The Victorian photograph on the cover is of the Wiltshire Thatcher - the original is in the collection of Wiltshire Museum. @wiltshiremuseum.bsky.social

White Horse Trail Teatowel – Wiltshire Museum: https://giftshop.micro.blog/2025/11/07/white-horse-trail-teatowel-wiltshire.html

*WEBINAR* Photographing old buildings (and other things!) 7.30pm Thursday 20th November Tony Harding shares some tips and tricks gained from his experience photographing buildings for various SANHS-related and other projects. Full details: sanhs.org/event/sanhs-...

It’s William Stukeley’s birthday 🎂 His landscape views are often just as interesting as the drawings of monuments - here’s his Prospect of Kits Coty House in Oct 1722

Un/Common People: Folk Culture in Wessex is now open at Poole Museum until 18 January 2026. This is a Wessex Museums touring exhibition, co-created with our partner museums and the Museum of British Folklore. Visit the exhibition at Poole Museum: www.poolemuseum.org.uk/discover/unc...

Congratulations to Poole Museum on reopening following a major redevelopment. Six new galleries, interactive displays, and new exhibits (as well as some firm, long-term favourites, including the Iron Age Logboat) ensure that there’s something for everyone.

This #findsfriday we have a flute made from the long bone of a crane with two holes in its side.

News | Poole Museum sets reopening date after £10m regeneration 🔗 museumsandheritage.com/advisor/post...

Established today that we knew hillforts were Iron Age from the 1850s in western Britain. So then why Mortimer Wheeler thought they were as late as the 1st century AD in Wales in the 1920s, when Maud Cunnington already had them back to 500 BC in Wessex, is a bit of a mystery really.

Halloween Countdown - Day 5 🎃🧵 The Angel, Chippenham Since at least 1613 The Angel, once known as The Bull, has been an important grade II* listed coaching inn on the London to Bristol route. A lot of travellers passing through. Visitors and staff have reported strange noises and footsteps.

#inktober2025 26) Puzzling. Sticking pot sherds back together to show how the vessel once looked is a tricky puzzle. The results can be grand. We excavated this collared urn with @wessexarchaeology.bsky.social at Netheravon in 2015 www.wessexarch.co.uk/news/recordi... #archaeology #bronzeage

And it now is! 😊

And now in the British Museum - soe on display. Perhaps one day some might come on a trip back home ...

We have been quiet the last few months, but we have actually been very busy publishing some lovely new books, including this by @lrylandepton.bsky.social www.hobnobpress.co.uk/books/p/lang...

This #findsfriday we have a bronze terminal of a chair in the form of a lioness seated on a rectangular pedestal, its front paw we think is on a human head, with stamped decorations on the sides. This was found in 1910 at Newbury Water Works, Berkshire.

Looking forward to listening to this! Tom Booth is doing lots of interesting work... @boothicus.bsky.social

This week on #findsfriday we have a post medieval silver finger-ring found in Heytesbury in 2015. A simple four-petalled gilded flower covers the joint in the band, now partially damaged. The hoop has raised edges and between them is a gilded strip with a series of pellets running down through it.

⭐ The ADS Data Catalogue is Live!⭐ Explore hundreds of thousands of archaeological resources including over 100,000 reports and 5,000 archive collections. 👉To find out more and start exploring visit buff.ly/BMulYqQ

Congratulations to the winners! We were delighted to have been nominated for the Social Justice Award for work with young people at risk of offending.

Researchers from Athens say that the ones like the gold-studded Bush Barrow dagger (a later version of the one in this drawing) inspired Mycenaean gold-workers. Lots of European links in the Bronze Age - Cunnington and Colt Hoare were right!

Both in our collections. A researcher from Paris said that they didn't think the arrowhead was French, but made by someone very skilled who had seen French arrowheads.

Now in display in our Downland exhibition are items from our collections that inspired Rose Ferraby. One of the highlights is the 'White Horses' dummy of a Puffin book by Eric Ravilious. Find out more here ... www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk/news-article...

This week on #findsfriday we have an incomplete copper-alloy spoon. The majority of the bowl survives and both internally and externally it is undecorated. The handle projects from the bowl and is decorated with multiple motifs.

Get involved in sharing history...

This week on #findsfriday we have a Polished Neolithic axehead, 3500-2100 BC, probably made of greenstone, with damage at the butt end, from Luckington, Wiltshire.

Come and see him in our Iron Age gallery! More about the Marlborough bucket (including an amazing online talk by Dr Ellis-Haken at www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk/news-article...

Amesbury to Shrewton road, later the A344. Stonehenge is off camera to the right. As well as being a prize winning photograper, Clarissa was an expert dowser, and undertook experiments published by the Society for Psychical Research into thought communication over distance (ie telepathy). (2/2)

For #StandingStoneSunday, I was going to post one of Clarissa Miles' photos from Stonehenge in 1901. She was the photographer during architect Detmar Blow's operation to straighten Stone 56, and William Gowland's excavations, but instead, here's a passing shepherd and his sheep on the (1/2)

And a GWR poster for Devizes! www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk/item-record/...

✨Last call! Final days to experience the highly acclaimed ‘Elisabeth Frink: A View from Within’ exhibition✨ ⏳Exhibition ends this Sunday, 28 Sept 2025. #ElisabethFrink #ArtExhibition #ArtLovers #ThingsToDo #Wiltshire

This week on #findsfriday we have An Early Iron Age copper alloy linear-decorated socketed axehead, found in or near Oldbury Castle hillfort, Cherhill.

John Constable's watercolour of Old Sarum: an Iron Age hill fort, taken over by the Romans, before becoming the early medieval Salisbury. The site was abandoned when the city grew too big for the enclosure. #HillfortsWednesday #Constable #landscape #watercolour #medieval #Wiltshire

Opening 15 November, 'Subversive Forms' will feature artworks by some of the leading sculptors and innovators working with ceramics in the UK today. Learn more at our ceramics symposium in February. Sign up to stay up-to-date 👉 bit.ly/ChippenhamMus...

Our Curator and Museums Platform have just added another 2,000 collection records to the online database. The database is updated 3 times a year and we have approximately 130,000 records with 24,000 images. Having an online database means that you get to see all the amazing finds we have!

New research on archaeological archives in our collections featured in article on Bronze Age feasting sites in Wiltshire. www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Celebrate #NationalTeddyBearDay with @chippenhammuseum.bsky.social Alfred the Great bear. Dressed in his royal cloak and crown, this exclusive teddy is inspired by King Alfred, Chippenham’s most famous royal connection. Shop online bit.ly/AlfredTheBear or visit in-store #chippenhammuseum #TeddyBear

Lady Gaga owned the stage with Carrie Jenkinson's stunning headpieces during her 2024 Las Vegas Residency. Now, they're in the spotlight as part of 'Threads: Clothing, Memory and Identity' exhibition! ✨ 📅 Open until Saturday 1 November ⏲️ Monday-Saturday, 10am-4pm 🎟️ Free entry

What visitors have been saying about their visit to the Museum - 'great museum', 'amazing museum' 'magic as ever', 'incredible find' and 'best place ever'. Open Saturday 10-5 and Bank Holiday Monday 11-3! See our special exhibition - Un/Common People: Folk Culture in Wiltshire and Dorset.

More isotope analysis - cattle from Wales at Stonehenge. Rather an overblown headline, but interesting new research. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

We are saddened to hear that Robert Hunt-Grubbe had passed away. Together with the Wiltshire Historic Buildings Trust, he provided the vital funding to purchase the Assize Court, making it possible to bring it back to life. www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk/news-article...

The Tale of the Axe: How the Neolithic revolution transformed Britian by David Miles – Wiltshire Museum: https://giftshop.micro.blog/2025/08/16/the-tale-of-the-axe.html

Wiltshire Museum is thrilled and honoured to announce that Her Majesty Queen Camilla has graciously agreed to be the Museum’s first Royal Patron. Her Majesty has long standing connections to Wiltshire and has a keen interest in the County and its history. www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk/news-article...

Heritage At Risk in Wiltshire from the Historic England Register www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/2537618...

Today is #internationalcatday so for this #findsfriday we would like to share something on display in our Roman Gallery here at Wiltshire Museum. This ceramic floor tile is from Atworth Roman Villa, Atworth, Wiltshire and appears to have been stepped on by a cat!

#FolkloreThursday is here again! Today we are sharing a new set of folk objects recently added to our collection. These well worn leather shoes were found built into the stonework of a chimney inside a 17th century cottage in Avebury.

Romano-British, eh? Well…I’ll be the judge of that, in about 6 months time.