Cardiff Castle is the perfect setting for a museum telling the story of the Welsh soldier.
Dovetailing neatly with the castle’s own story of warfare and defence, Firing Line: Cardiff Castle Museum of the Welsh Soldier, tells the history of two regiments, the Royal Welsh and 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards. It covers more than 300 years of military history and includes many famous campaigns.
The history of these two regiments (one infantry, the other cavalry) is complex, with various regiments merging along the way, but the museum’s introductory board explains this clearly by using timelines. Similar timelines appear throughout the museum in the introduction to each section.
These also include other non-military historical events, such as Newton publishing his work on gravity in 1687, which help to root the military events firmly within popular history. It also makes the military history more palatable to the non-expert.
Also in the museum’s introductory area is an interactive table entitled “Where in the world?”, which has a map of the world and a series of questions such as: “Our cavalry once captured an elephant in battle. Where?” The button next to this question lights up the answer and also points to the place on the world map.
This interactive is useful in showing the global nature of the Welsh regiments’ work and also in introducing the six main display sections. As visitors enter and exit through the same door, this table is also useful as revision, or simply a fun way to check what you have learned before you leave.
Orientation in the gallery is clear, with sections arranged chronologically. When I was there, a guide was greeting visitors and advising them on the best route through the gallery.
Specialist terminology
The text was mostly clear and easy to read, apart from the numbers next to items in the display cases. These are colour coded (a dark green background for the Welsh infantry, dark blue for the cavalry), but the lighting meant that in many of the cases, these two backgrounds looked the same.
The story that the museum is trying to tell is fairly complex with many facts and (to most visitors) unfamiliar regimental names and military terms. On the whole, the museum deals with this well by including layman’s terms where possible.
When talking about a battle where the king’s colours were captured, there is an explanation of what this is (“a distinctive regimental flag”). There is also a useful glossary board near the start of the exhibition entitled “1st things 1st”, which explains military terms used in the text such as regiment, battalion, terrain, etc.
Sometimes, however, the museum’s curators assume that the visitor has more substantial background knowledge. In the section on the battle of Waterloo, the facts of the battle are not immediately obvious. Visitors have to search for them in the general body of the text.
It would have been useful to have had some clearer background information here. I found myself wondering where the battle had taken place (where exactly is Waterloo?) and how many soldiers had fought in it.
Overall, the museum succeeds in keeping visitors’ attention, partly by using layers of interpretation. I enjoyed the “Did you know?” and “It’s a fact” sections highlighted in red boxes and in red text. These showed interesting and memorable facts in bite-size chunks.
The medals case was also a particular success. They are in a large case on the side wall and make a stunning display. Along the bottom of the medals there is good basic interpretation, including sections headed “What is a medal?” and “Clasps or Bars?”.
Mounted on the wall next to the case is all the detailed information about each individual medal (who was awarded it, when and why). Visitors can access whichever level of detail they are interested in.
The museum is also good at presenting information in different ways. There are some lift-the-flap sections, making the experience more interactive.
In the “Distant Waters” section, flaps on an 18th-century ship are lifted to reveal typical orders that might be given to a marine: “Fix bayonets! We’re going in! Form a boarding party. When the ship’s touch, leap across!”
Firepower
In the second world war section, there is an interactive game, where visitors choose from four military tasks and “roll” dice fixed to the wall to choose which tanks and other vehicles to use.
In the section on the battle of Waterloo, a Brown Bess musket is fixed to the display board to allow visitors to feel its weight. Next to it is a piece of metal with large holes in it, an illustration of the damage that the musket would do if fired.
Coming away from the museum, it is the information gleaned from these interactive experiences that we tend to remember for longer.
Children clearly enjoy all of these interactive elements, but particularly the section where they can try on uniforms, hats and equipment. The museum provides a spacious area to allow this and there are many items to try.
I would have liked the uniforms to be labelled in some way indicating date and which bits of uniform and equipment would have been worn together.
I enjoyed the museum, particularly the many personal stories. Sections entitled “Outstanding Courage” introducing individual soldiers and their personal and military histories are dotted throughout the displays. In the first world war section, we are shown the journal of a Welsh private, mounted book-like on hinged display panels.
However, I was disappointed that the museum did not include any audio accounts of soldiers’ experiences, particularly from the more modern conflicts in which Welsh soldiers have fought, such in Afghanistan and Iraq.
There was one video entitled “What is a regiment?” featuring modern Welsh soldiers, but this was more about the family feel of work in a regiment and did not include much of the raw personal experience I was looking for. This is one way in which the museum could develop in the future.
Julia Edge is a former collections manager at the Horniman Museum, London, and a volunteer at Storrington and District Museum, West Sussex
Cost £1.1m
Main funders Royal Welsh, 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards (£500,000 each), Cardiff Council
Design Furneaux Stewart
Project management ProjectSmart
Exhibition build Paragon Creative
Lighting design DHA Design
Audiovisuals Pollen Studio
Mount making Colin Lindley
Dovetailing neatly with the castle’s own story of warfare and defence, Firing Line: Cardiff Castle Museum of the Welsh Soldier, tells the history of two regiments, the Royal Welsh and 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards. It covers more than 300 years of military history and includes many famous campaigns.
The history of these two regiments (one infantry, the other cavalry) is complex, with various regiments merging along the way, but the museum’s introductory board explains this clearly by using timelines. Similar timelines appear throughout the museum in the introduction to each section.
These also include other non-military historical events, such as Newton publishing his work on gravity in 1687, which help to root the military events firmly within popular history. It also makes the military history more palatable to the non-expert.
Also in the museum’s introductory area is an interactive table entitled “Where in the world?”, which has a map of the world and a series of questions such as: “Our cavalry once captured an elephant in battle. Where?” The button next to this question lights up the answer and also points to the place on the world map.
This interactive is useful in showing the global nature of the Welsh regiments’ work and also in introducing the six main display sections. As visitors enter and exit through the same door, this table is also useful as revision, or simply a fun way to check what you have learned before you leave.
Orientation in the gallery is clear, with sections arranged chronologically. When I was there, a guide was greeting visitors and advising them on the best route through the gallery.
Specialist terminology
The text was mostly clear and easy to read, apart from the numbers next to items in the display cases. These are colour coded (a dark green background for the Welsh infantry, dark blue for the cavalry), but the lighting meant that in many of the cases, these two backgrounds looked the same.
The story that the museum is trying to tell is fairly complex with many facts and (to most visitors) unfamiliar regimental names and military terms. On the whole, the museum deals with this well by including layman’s terms where possible.
When talking about a battle where the king’s colours were captured, there is an explanation of what this is (“a distinctive regimental flag”). There is also a useful glossary board near the start of the exhibition entitled “1st things 1st”, which explains military terms used in the text such as regiment, battalion, terrain, etc.
Sometimes, however, the museum’s curators assume that the visitor has more substantial background knowledge. In the section on the battle of Waterloo, the facts of the battle are not immediately obvious. Visitors have to search for them in the general body of the text.
It would have been useful to have had some clearer background information here. I found myself wondering where the battle had taken place (where exactly is Waterloo?) and how many soldiers had fought in it.
Overall, the museum succeeds in keeping visitors’ attention, partly by using layers of interpretation. I enjoyed the “Did you know?” and “It’s a fact” sections highlighted in red boxes and in red text. These showed interesting and memorable facts in bite-size chunks.
The medals case was also a particular success. They are in a large case on the side wall and make a stunning display. Along the bottom of the medals there is good basic interpretation, including sections headed “What is a medal?” and “Clasps or Bars?”.
Mounted on the wall next to the case is all the detailed information about each individual medal (who was awarded it, when and why). Visitors can access whichever level of detail they are interested in.
The museum is also good at presenting information in different ways. There are some lift-the-flap sections, making the experience more interactive.
In the “Distant Waters” section, flaps on an 18th-century ship are lifted to reveal typical orders that might be given to a marine: “Fix bayonets! We’re going in! Form a boarding party. When the ship’s touch, leap across!”
Firepower
In the second world war section, there is an interactive game, where visitors choose from four military tasks and “roll” dice fixed to the wall to choose which tanks and other vehicles to use.
In the section on the battle of Waterloo, a Brown Bess musket is fixed to the display board to allow visitors to feel its weight. Next to it is a piece of metal with large holes in it, an illustration of the damage that the musket would do if fired.
Coming away from the museum, it is the information gleaned from these interactive experiences that we tend to remember for longer.
Children clearly enjoy all of these interactive elements, but particularly the section where they can try on uniforms, hats and equipment. The museum provides a spacious area to allow this and there are many items to try.
I would have liked the uniforms to be labelled in some way indicating date and which bits of uniform and equipment would have been worn together.
I enjoyed the museum, particularly the many personal stories. Sections entitled “Outstanding Courage” introducing individual soldiers and their personal and military histories are dotted throughout the displays. In the first world war section, we are shown the journal of a Welsh private, mounted book-like on hinged display panels.
However, I was disappointed that the museum did not include any audio accounts of soldiers’ experiences, particularly from the more modern conflicts in which Welsh soldiers have fought, such in Afghanistan and Iraq.
There was one video entitled “What is a regiment?” featuring modern Welsh soldiers, but this was more about the family feel of work in a regiment and did not include much of the raw personal experience I was looking for. This is one way in which the museum could develop in the future.
Julia Edge is a former collections manager at the Horniman Museum, London, and a volunteer at Storrington and District Museum, West Sussex
Project data
Cost £1.1m
Main funders Royal Welsh, 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards (£500,000 each), Cardiff Council
Design Furneaux Stewart
Project management ProjectSmart
Exhibition build Paragon Creative
Lighting design DHA Design
Audiovisuals Pollen Studio
Mount making Colin Lindley
