Museum For Watton
+44 1953 797060

The Museum will re-open on December 2nd. Opening times are Wednesdays and Saturdays 10 am to 4 pm. Adult visitors are required to wear face masks while visiting the museum.

Museum Closure. In line with Government guidelines the Museum will be closed until the present lock down ends. We are still monitoring e-mails so you can still send questions etc to us.

The Museum will be open this Wednesday (4th November) 10~4 but will then close until the government gives permission for museums to reopen.

The Museum will reopen on August 1st and will open Wednesdays and Saturdays 10am to 4pm until further notice. Visitors will be required to wear gloves and masks and we will provide these if you don't have them. Sorry but visitors who can't wear these will not be permitted to visit. In line with government requirements we will also need to take contact details of visitors. We've used the closure to update some exhibitions so even if you've been before there will be something new for you to see.

It is with great sadness that we mourn the passing of Bonnie, one of the driving forces behind Museum for Watton and someone who Watton will miss greatly as will I personally. A huge hole left in the community.

Work continues behind the scenes at Museum 4 Watton with cases being refreshed and changed so do come and see us when we are allowed to reopen!

It's Volunteers week! We miss you all and want to say a massive THANK YOU to all of our volunteers! Hope to see you all on the other side!

Struggling for ways to engage the little ones with history? There are some great free printables here! https://www.historyheroes.co.uk/fun-downloads-and-activiti/

Just in case it is of interest to any of you currently home schooling or those in the home ed world :) https://www.facebook.com/163699847011070/posts/2929990393715321/

Watton a little, blink and you miss it, Breckland town with a whole heap of history. Within a four mile radius of the town has been found some of the best early flint hand axes in the county up to 500,000 years old. Evidence of Mammouth have been found and bison. The Iceni had an important settlement and lots of other smaller ones, Boudicca is a national and local heroine!.... the Romans had a couple of forts too and some of the locals returned victorious from the sacking ...of Colchester...short lived victory but still.... Saxons gave the town its name and trade with the Vikings is evidenced by lots of detector finds. It was held by a Saxon Lady at the time of Domesday and is mentioned. (More girl power!) The market Charter was granted in 1204 by King John The peasants of Kett's rebellion gathered 2 weeks at Watton, The story of the Babes in the Wood was a local tudor folk tale with a grisly end. Cattle markets and butter making kept the town thriving during the Georgian era and the Victorian's built the building that's now the museum, brought the railway and maybe the only English Loch, the beautiful Loch Neaton.... Local lads took a stand in the Great War and WW2 saw the friendly American invasion to the airbase at least one DFC and a secret army base in a local village. The cold war saw bloodhound missiles, the RAF fly hundreds of missions and the vital RADAR station that dominated the town to the early 90s. Today the town is small but bustling it has a gallery, book store, museum, independent shops including two butchers cafes and both the loch and stunning Wayland wood reserve to wander. A town less travelled but with lots to offer for those who look. When all this is over we would love to welcome you to Museum 4 Watton. See more

We are only a couple of weeks from VE day. We can still mark the day whilst at home, Breckland Council have a wonderful ideas pack (look at their Facebook page) Whist VE day was a big celebration rationing was still in full force and many had little money to spend... Why not see if you can make decorations from old newspapers or magazines, look out some old style clothes and do some 40s hair and make up there are lots of tutorials online! Please send us some of your lockdown celebration or crafting pics, or maybe you have written a lockdown diary? We would love to see them :)

Watton in Wartime. WW2 Watton was a hub of activity in WW2, many different planes were flown both from the new airbase built in 1939 and from those in the local area. When the Americans joined the war many were stationed here and at the museum we are lucky to have the war diaries of Leslie Corey who served as a US Padre. Rationing was in full swing though being rural things like eggs would have been easier to get hold of than for people in big cities. Watton men and women we...re involved in all kinds of wartime activity, in Ashill there was even a section of the Secret Army. Unlike the home guard which was made up of those too old or too young or unfit for service.... The secret army was highly trained and designed to act as a guerilla force in case of full occupation. It was a very closely guarded secret. If you have family wartime stories of Watton or of Watton people serving in other places why not share them with us :) Make do and Mend If you are running low on things to do you could try rag rugging, you need an old sack and t-shirts/ old fabric scraps. Use a needle and thread to bind the edges of the sack then use a pencil to push a hole in the sack then having cut the t-shirts into three inch strips push one end through the hole, make another hole half a cm away and push the other end through. Repeat untill you complete your rug!

April 15th is the anniversary of the liberation of Bergen Belsen concentration camp. Some of you may remember the name your plane activity we did. This is a little similar should you wish to take part. The details are linked below.

This link gives some great details about how fashions changed. Remember that whilst wool brought money to the area most people did not have a lot. That clothes were expensive and high fashion was not practical for working so peasant garb changed a lot more slowly. Armour went from leather and maille to plate. Oxen and horses still did most of the work with horses delivering beer until the 50s in some parts! Norwich was famous for madder red wool (hence the madder market) as the middle classes started to emerge in the 1300s sumptuary laws started to force rules on cloth and decoration to stop non Noble people from wearing certain colours or decoration. https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Medieval-Fashion/

Saxons and Vikings The Saxons and Vikings still used natural fibres. And both made the change from pagan to Christianity which meant women had to start covering their hair. The saxons and Vikings both rode but the Vikings were exceptional sailors.

Clothing and transport.... Watton is an ancient town. The earliest people 500000 years ago in the Stone age wore animal skins and fur and clothing made from woven plant fibres. Think Inuit more than Fred and Wilma! They mostly walked. Fast forward to the bronze and iron age... Watton was home to the Iceni tribe. The local tribes traded across Europe and beyond. The Iceni whose strongholds were at Saham Toney and Thetford wore cloths made from wool, linen, leather and fur. Riches were worn in the form of torcs or broaches. Clothes were fastened with penanular broaches or ties. Dies were natural such as madder, weld & woad. Molly from Black Knight Historical (EDP) The Iceni were famous for their love and skill with horses... Yes heavy goods would be moved by oxcart.

At the museum we have a growing reference library. When we are open you are very welcome to come and sit and read our research books or use our computers to research from our digitised manuscripts. We look forward to seeing you all again in the future.

Hello Museum friends, today the proof that once upon a time, millions of years ago Watton was on the floor of the ocean! Do you have any fossils you would like to show me? Did you buy them or find them? Why not discover more about fossils here https://www.dkfindout.com//dinosaurs-and-prehisto/fossils/