Cater Museum

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Cater Museum
Cater Museum Billericay.jpg
The Cater Museum in Billericay High Street
Established7 May 1960 (1960-05-07)
Location74 High Street, Billericay, England
Coordinates51°37′31″N 0°25′03″E / 51.625231°N 0.417476°E / 51.625231; 0.417476Coordinates: 51°37′31″N 0°25′03″E / 51.625231°N 0.417476°E / 51.625231; 0.417476
TypeLocal museum
Websitecatermuseum.co.uk

The Cater Museum is a small local museum in Billericay, in the English county of Essex.

The museum was established by Alice May Cater, in honour of her late husband William Alexander Cater who was a local antiquarian. It was opened to the public on 7 May 1960.[1] The museum is a registered charity and is located at 74 High Street, Billericay.[2] It lies within a Grade II listed, 18th Century, red-brick-fronted building.[3]

The museum stores numerous local artefacts over three floors, including information on local families and buildings.[4] Amongst the artefacts are: reports of the Zeppelin that was downed in the area during World War I; the remains of a three-headed lamb born in the area;[5] and the door of the house once owned by Christopher Martin, who was a passenger aboard the Mayflower.[6]

In 2002, a Victorian kitchen garden was opened at the rear of the museum[7] where a number of Elizabethan herbs were planted.[8] In 2008, the museum received £41,000 of Nationsl Lottery funding [9] to carry out renovation of the rear of the building to restore it to its original 18th century character. While this renovation was being carried out, a number of artefacts were discovered in the garden, some dating from around the 1860s. Items included Victorian pipes, ginger beer jars and medicine bottles; many of these were added to the museum's collection.[10]

References[]

  1. ^ "Cater Museum" (PDF). Billericay Town Crier. Billericay Town Council. April 2010. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 October 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  2. ^ The Cater Museum. "Charity overview". apps.charitycommission.gov.uk. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  3. ^ England, Historic. "74A, 74 AND 74B, HIGH STREET, Billericay - 1338384 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  4. ^ Wade, Liz (26 March 2010). "The Cater Museum, Billericay". Yellow Advertiser. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  5. ^ Newsdesk. "What makes Billericay so great? | The Enquirer Newspaper". Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  6. ^ "The fiery merchant of the Mayflower". Echo. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  7. ^ "Billericay: Museum's insight into bygone era of town". Evening Echo. 25 September 2002. Retrieved 13 December 2018 – via NewsBank.
  8. ^ Miners, Mike (1 November 2006). "Mourners bid farewell to friend of museum". Billericay Weekly News. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  9. ^ "Development for the Return of the Cater Museum to its Historic Rear Aspect | Heritage Lottery Fund". www.hlf.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2018-11-04. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  10. ^ Kershaw, James (9 July 2008). "Museum dig unearths Victorian treasures". Evening Echo. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
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