If you were asked to name a seaside resort in Devon, Teignmouth may not be the first to spring to mind. But this modest town has a rich history, which has been revealed in an impressive makeover of the Teignmouth & Shaldon Museum.
The old museum was housed in an 18th-century building a few blocks back from the seafront. The building was rundown and the collections were starting to suffer.
The curator and the local historical society, who first explored the idea of refurbishment and expansion some 10 years ago, certainly had vision. Now, an area of ground to one side of the museum accommodates a gleaming-white extension.
The front facade faces the main ring-road and station, creating a new landmark for the town. Linking the old building to the new is a spiral staircase, expressed externally in the abstract form of a lighthouse.
On the top floor, above a multipurpose space for museum and community events, is an open-air seating area with views over the rooftops towards the sea. Approaching the museum, visitors get their first inkling of the event-filled history of the area.
It’s explained that Teignmouth has the dubious honour of being the last place in England to be raided by a foreign power. In 1690 1,000 French troops came ashore, burning and looting as they went.
Cannon balls wedged into the museum’s outside wall are captioned Banksy-style with a stencilled extract from the townspeople’s appeal to the king for funds to rebuild their homes.
Turning the corner, the airy entrance hall is large enough to accommodate a restored Victorian bathing machine, reflecting Teignmouth’s heyday as a fashionable holiday destination. Visitors can walk through it and try on bathing gear while listening to the sounds of the sea.
Hornblower inspiration
An introductory map and timeline chart the area’s fortunes since its early days as a 14th-century port and shipbuilding centre. The two exhibition galleries in the old building are then accessed seamlessly from the new extension. They are divided by theme: maritime history in the Sea gallery and town history in the Shore gallery, one floor up.
The centrepiece of the Sea gallery is the extraordinary story of how in 1975 a local schoolboy discovered a 16th-century shipwreck while diving off the beach. First thought to be an Elizabethan warship, research now indicates that it was a Venetian merchantman.
Many finds from the wreck are on show, including an ornate bronze gun and a copper cooking pot containing animal bones, possibly the remains of the last meal cooked on board.
Another local boy’s story featured is that of Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, the inspiration for CS Forester’s Hornblower character, who joined the Royal Navy at the age of 13. A flag from his successful bombardment of Algiers in 1816 hangs in the gallery, alongside a large portrait in oil.
The Shore gallery chronicles the history of the town. Displays show how tourism was given an extra boost when the railway reached the area in 1846.
Thanks to the work of civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, passengers still enjoy a dramatic journey along the edge of the coast within yards of the sea. Flip cards reveal that for an impressive number of notable people, Teignmouth was indeed the place to come.
JMW Turner and Beatrix Potter both visited to sketch, and Jane Austen was said to have courted a sailor during her stay in 1802. Charles Babbage, the “father of the computer”, had his family home here.
The poet John Keats took lodgings in 1818, but seems to have been less than enamoured with Devon as a whole, which he described as a “splashy, rainy, misty, snowy, foggy, haily, floody, slipshod county”.
Axe heroes, past and present
Other exhibits tell of more recent visitors. The Royal Hotel’s register records the night in 1967 when the Beatles stayed while filming their Magical Mystery Tour. A guitar hanging on a wall was lent following a triumphant return to their home town by Muse, a rock band formed by three Teignmouth college friends.
Many objects are on open display, revealing an encouraging trust in the visitors but also giving a welcoming feel to the place.
Other items are protected in simple Perspex cases. They range from a bronze axehead dating from 2000BC, dug up by local workmen, to a roll of bathing cabin tickets with an enemy bullet still lodged in it from a wartime German air raid on the town.
The eclectic mix of objects could easily become a visual jumble, but deft exhibition design has brought them under control.
Backgrounds are uniformly white, with the galleries differentiated by use of colour on the floors. A low-level plinth shelf round the walls supports showcases, objects and interactive elements, as well as providing seating. Crisp graphics panels contain well-written information enlivened by quotations. Object captions are clear and legible.
The colours used throughout match the museum’s new logo and branding. They are inspired by local geography: blue for the sea, ochre for sand, and a muted red reflecting the sandstone cliffs of the area.
There are other good touches, too, including an imaginative solution to the problem of where and how to credit donors. Small stainless steel discs engraved with individual names and messages are fixed at intervals under the spiral staircase handrail, forming a decorative, but effective means of saying “thank you”.
The project was largely funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment’s Sea Change programme.
The overall cost was a surprisingly low £1.1m, showing that such schemes are not always about huge budgets. Thoughtfully-considered external and internal design, a sound curatorial hand and good storytelling are all more important.
Teignmouth & Shaldon Museum has also managed to create natural, uncontrived links between past and present through objects, film footage and oral history.
These draw in casual visitors but, equally importantly, give the town’s present generation a sense that they are part of a continuing thread of history.
Penny Ritchie Calder is a museum consultant
The old museum was housed in an 18th-century building a few blocks back from the seafront. The building was rundown and the collections were starting to suffer.
The curator and the local historical society, who first explored the idea of refurbishment and expansion some 10 years ago, certainly had vision. Now, an area of ground to one side of the museum accommodates a gleaming-white extension.
The front facade faces the main ring-road and station, creating a new landmark for the town. Linking the old building to the new is a spiral staircase, expressed externally in the abstract form of a lighthouse.
On the top floor, above a multipurpose space for museum and community events, is an open-air seating area with views over the rooftops towards the sea. Approaching the museum, visitors get their first inkling of the event-filled history of the area.
It’s explained that Teignmouth has the dubious honour of being the last place in England to be raided by a foreign power. In 1690 1,000 French troops came ashore, burning and looting as they went.
Cannon balls wedged into the museum’s outside wall are captioned Banksy-style with a stencilled extract from the townspeople’s appeal to the king for funds to rebuild their homes.
Turning the corner, the airy entrance hall is large enough to accommodate a restored Victorian bathing machine, reflecting Teignmouth’s heyday as a fashionable holiday destination. Visitors can walk through it and try on bathing gear while listening to the sounds of the sea.
Hornblower inspiration
An introductory map and timeline chart the area’s fortunes since its early days as a 14th-century port and shipbuilding centre. The two exhibition galleries in the old building are then accessed seamlessly from the new extension. They are divided by theme: maritime history in the Sea gallery and town history in the Shore gallery, one floor up.
The centrepiece of the Sea gallery is the extraordinary story of how in 1975 a local schoolboy discovered a 16th-century shipwreck while diving off the beach. First thought to be an Elizabethan warship, research now indicates that it was a Venetian merchantman.
Many finds from the wreck are on show, including an ornate bronze gun and a copper cooking pot containing animal bones, possibly the remains of the last meal cooked on board.
Another local boy’s story featured is that of Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, the inspiration for CS Forester’s Hornblower character, who joined the Royal Navy at the age of 13. A flag from his successful bombardment of Algiers in 1816 hangs in the gallery, alongside a large portrait in oil.
The Shore gallery chronicles the history of the town. Displays show how tourism was given an extra boost when the railway reached the area in 1846.
Thanks to the work of civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, passengers still enjoy a dramatic journey along the edge of the coast within yards of the sea. Flip cards reveal that for an impressive number of notable people, Teignmouth was indeed the place to come.
JMW Turner and Beatrix Potter both visited to sketch, and Jane Austen was said to have courted a sailor during her stay in 1802. Charles Babbage, the “father of the computer”, had his family home here.
The poet John Keats took lodgings in 1818, but seems to have been less than enamoured with Devon as a whole, which he described as a “splashy, rainy, misty, snowy, foggy, haily, floody, slipshod county”.
Axe heroes, past and present
Other exhibits tell of more recent visitors. The Royal Hotel’s register records the night in 1967 when the Beatles stayed while filming their Magical Mystery Tour. A guitar hanging on a wall was lent following a triumphant return to their home town by Muse, a rock band formed by three Teignmouth college friends.
Many objects are on open display, revealing an encouraging trust in the visitors but also giving a welcoming feel to the place.
Other items are protected in simple Perspex cases. They range from a bronze axehead dating from 2000BC, dug up by local workmen, to a roll of bathing cabin tickets with an enemy bullet still lodged in it from a wartime German air raid on the town.
The eclectic mix of objects could easily become a visual jumble, but deft exhibition design has brought them under control.
Backgrounds are uniformly white, with the galleries differentiated by use of colour on the floors. A low-level plinth shelf round the walls supports showcases, objects and interactive elements, as well as providing seating. Crisp graphics panels contain well-written information enlivened by quotations. Object captions are clear and legible.
The colours used throughout match the museum’s new logo and branding. They are inspired by local geography: blue for the sea, ochre for sand, and a muted red reflecting the sandstone cliffs of the area.
There are other good touches, too, including an imaginative solution to the problem of where and how to credit donors. Small stainless steel discs engraved with individual names and messages are fixed at intervals under the spiral staircase handrail, forming a decorative, but effective means of saying “thank you”.
The project was largely funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment’s Sea Change programme.
The overall cost was a surprisingly low £1.1m, showing that such schemes are not always about huge budgets. Thoughtfully-considered external and internal design, a sound curatorial hand and good storytelling are all more important.
Teignmouth & Shaldon Museum has also managed to create natural, uncontrived links between past and present through objects, film footage and oral history.
These draw in casual visitors but, equally importantly, give the town’s present generation a sense that they are part of a continuing thread of history.
Penny Ritchie Calder is a museum consultant
Project data
- Cost £1.1m (£70,000 on exhibition design and production)
- Main funders Heritage Lottery Fund £370,000; Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, Sea Change £370,000; Foyle Foundation; Ugbrooke Environmental; English Heritage; Big Lottery Fund; Headley Trust
- Architect Harrison Sutton Partnership
- Project management Ian Blackwell
- Build ROK; Enelco
- Exhibition design Lyndsay Design
- Fit out Bell Interior Solutions
