Moving the Pollington Sarcophagus
Discovered in 1949 by quarry workers, this enigmatic burial of a woman has featured prominently in Doncaster Museum over the years. Our Human History curator, Peter Robinson, uncovers what went into the complex operation to move it to its new home in the Danum Gallery, Library and Museum due to open later this summer. The […]
No. 251 Locomotive Returns to Doncaster
By Kim Drabyk, Heritage Doncaster Manager On a cold Sunday morning in January, and at an early hour, the Great Northern Railway Atlantic locomotive No.251 made the 90 mile journey from Shildon, south down the A1, to its new home. Following years of planning by Heritage Doncaster and partners, colleagues from our team waited with […]
Doncaster Storytelling Festival 2021
Doncaster turns a page with brand new storytelling festival 1 February – 4 March Nine cultural organisations have joined forces to create Doncaster’s first ever storytelling festival to celebrate diversity and different cultures and languages. Hosted by Doncaster Cultural Education Partnership together with local literacy campaign Doncaster Stories, the festival is bookended by National Storytelling […]
A Brief History of Corsets from 1750 to 1950
1750-1800 A boned and laced undergarment in the eighteenth century was known as a pair of stays. These garments generally had a long torso and were usually fitted with shoulder straps. The primary purpose of the stays was to shape the torso into the fashionable long conical shape, while lifting and supressing the bust, rather […]
Television, History and Museums
One of our curators, Peter, has been inspired by some of our favourite TV shows and has been digging through the collections to learn more. The Crown The Crown is a biographical costume drama, covering the life of our current reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. Produced by Netflix and first aired in 2016 it has […]
Look up at the moon and stars
By Mina Hayati, Community Engagement Officer In this blog article, we provide a brief history of the telescope, amateur astronomy, and the moon landing. We explore astronomy ideas for beginners and consider how we all might benefit from a bit of stargazing or even just remembering to look up and appreciating the wonderful natural world. […]
Military Monday Episode 3 – A Wartime Romance
By Lynsey Slater, Museums Officer for Military History During the First World War, many country houses were transformed into hospitals for wounded soldiers. Among them was Hooton Pagnell Hall, in North-West Doncaster. The hospital was overseen by Julia Warde-Aldam, who owned the hall, and was the hospital’s commandant, matron and administrator. The Warde family connection […]
History, Health and Happiness Blog
By Victoria Ryves, NPO Programme Manager In this blog we share updates from our History, Health and Happiness programme, which aims to tackle isolation and improve wellbeing in four key areas of Doncaster, using museum collections as the basis for outreach and community engagement activities. October 2019 This October the History, Health and Happiness team have been getting spooky […]
Heritage Doncaster #Archaeocake bakeoff!
Heritage Doncaster recently took part in this year’s Festival of Archaeology (organised by Archaeoogy UK) and their #Archaeocake competition. Staff have dusted of their mixing bowls and wooden spoons, put their icing skills to the test, and presented their bakes ready to be judged by the public! Some baked reproductions of artefacts from Heritage Doncaster’s collection […]
Doncaster’s Inspirational Women
Doncaster has been home to many inspirational, courageous and strong women throughout its history. On International Women’s Day we explore the stories of just some of them. CARTIMANDUA – QUEEN AND FIGHTER Cartimandua was fierce and has been described as a strong and influential leader. She was Queen of the Brigantes from 43 to 69 […]