North Devon museum gets funding boost for exciting new gallery

The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon is to begin work on a new silver gallery after securing £103,000 from the joint DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund.

The grant, awarded to North Devon Council which runs the museum, comes from a £4 million national pot designed to help local and regional museums improve displays, enhance collections care and make exhibitions more accessible to visitors.

The new gallery will put some of the finest surviving examples of local silversmithing on public display, including spoons made by Barnstaple craftsmen Thomas Mathew and Peter Quick, alongside chalices from North Devon churches.

Alison Mills, Director of the Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon, said the grant would allow the museum to tell a largely unknown chapter of the town's commercial history.

“During the 16th and 17th centuries, Barnstaple was a very prosperous town as its merchants became wealthy trading with Europe and the new world. Among the ways they spent their money was on beautiful silver spoons, which would be purchased to show the wealth of the family and as an investment. A community of silversmiths grew up in the town, and we are delighted to be able to showcase their work alongside some of the most beautiful silver we have in our collection.”

The funding comes from a scheme run jointly by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Wolfson Foundation, which have worked together for more than 20 years to support museums across England. 

More than 440 projects have benefitted from over £50 million in funding during that time.