St Edmundsbury Borough Council voted last month to close Bury St Edmunds’ Manor House Museum and put the building on the market, despite protests by staff.
The closure, planned for April this year, would result in a number of redundancies and the redisplay of parts of the horological and textile collections at Moyse’s Hall Museum, also in Bury St Edmunds, with the rest of the collections going into storage.
According to the council’s Heritage Services Review, which was published last November, David Thompson, an expert in horological collections at the British Museum, said that the clock collection is of ‘major importance at national level’ and ‘of primary importance in regard to the collection of locally made material’.
When staff at the Manor House Museum were given a chance to air their views on the proposed closure at a public session of the borough’s Policy and Development Committee, they raised a number of concerns.
It is hard to see how access to the collections would be increased, they said, when the majority of the fine art and decorative art collections, including the horology and textiles, will be in store seven miles from Bury St Edmunds.
Staff also warned that including parts of the horological display at Moyse’s Hall would destroy the museum as a coherent visitor experience, reducing it to a random assortment of unrelated objects.
Councillor Nigel Aitkens, the cabinet member leading the review of the heritage services, said: ‘There is no doubt that the clock collection and the Manor House Museum fit in terms of the display and the building, but the sheer cost to the local authority is not sustainable.
‘The storage of the collections will be a short-term measure, and we will display the bulk of the clock collection at Moyse’s Hall. The clocks of less value that can be displayed elsewhere will be.’
Aitkens blamed central government for the financial pressures underlying the council’s decision, which he said came from the fact that the council had taken on ‘statutory responsibilities for which we are not being fully funded, meaning that we are looking to what we’ve got to do rather than what we wish to do’.
According to figures published by the Audit Commission, the council says that it is the 25th highest spender per capita on culture and heritage out of 238 districts. The local authority is hoping that the proposals will save it some £212,200 in 2007/08.
The Manor House building was originally bought and restored by the council in 1988 for £2m. Its current value, according to the council’s own estimate, is £885,000.
John Fairclough, a former museum education officer at Suffolk County Council, now retired, described the proposed sale as ‘an unacceptable waste of the public money spent on purchase and restoration’.
When this was put to Aitkens, he said: ‘Councillors of the day took the decision to buy the building and restore it to its former glory. The present council has got to look at the circumstances as they are today.’
Patrick Steel
The closure, planned for April this year, would result in a number of redundancies and the redisplay of parts of the horological and textile collections at Moyse’s Hall Museum, also in Bury St Edmunds, with the rest of the collections going into storage.
According to the council’s Heritage Services Review, which was published last November, David Thompson, an expert in horological collections at the British Museum, said that the clock collection is of ‘major importance at national level’ and ‘of primary importance in regard to the collection of locally made material’.
When staff at the Manor House Museum were given a chance to air their views on the proposed closure at a public session of the borough’s Policy and Development Committee, they raised a number of concerns.
It is hard to see how access to the collections would be increased, they said, when the majority of the fine art and decorative art collections, including the horology and textiles, will be in store seven miles from Bury St Edmunds.
Staff also warned that including parts of the horological display at Moyse’s Hall would destroy the museum as a coherent visitor experience, reducing it to a random assortment of unrelated objects.
Councillor Nigel Aitkens, the cabinet member leading the review of the heritage services, said: ‘There is no doubt that the clock collection and the Manor House Museum fit in terms of the display and the building, but the sheer cost to the local authority is not sustainable.
‘The storage of the collections will be a short-term measure, and we will display the bulk of the clock collection at Moyse’s Hall. The clocks of less value that can be displayed elsewhere will be.’
Aitkens blamed central government for the financial pressures underlying the council’s decision, which he said came from the fact that the council had taken on ‘statutory responsibilities for which we are not being fully funded, meaning that we are looking to what we’ve got to do rather than what we wish to do’.
According to figures published by the Audit Commission, the council says that it is the 25th highest spender per capita on culture and heritage out of 238 districts. The local authority is hoping that the proposals will save it some £212,200 in 2007/08.
The Manor House building was originally bought and restored by the council in 1988 for £2m. Its current value, according to the council’s own estimate, is £885,000.
John Fairclough, a former museum education officer at Suffolk County Council, now retired, described the proposed sale as ‘an unacceptable waste of the public money spent on purchase and restoration’.
When this was put to Aitkens, he said: ‘Councillors of the day took the decision to buy the building and restore it to its former glory. The present council has got to look at the circumstances as they are today.’
Patrick Steel
