Sharing the grounds

One of the best things about the museum is its position in the castle grounds. Not only are there the picturesque ruins of the 13th century castle and the Victorian garden maintained by volunteers from the Local History Society, but also the surrounding scenery and the wildlife that shares it.

On a good day one may see buzzards, kestrels and one of the pair of red kites. Sand martins nest in the banks of the Usk and thrushes and blackbirds nest in the ruins. The grounds also play host to a thriving gang of moles whose hills stud the grass, making life difficult for the mowers, but we forgive them for it, basically, for being small and furry.

The squirrels are more obvious and much more bold. They are free booting bandits, as happy raiding the litter bins as gutting the pine cones and they love to sun bathe on the roof of the old part of the museum. We can see them from the upper floors of the keep. Squirrels have startlingly white stomachs when exposed to the noon sun!

Brilliant weather today and the castle grounds have a stunning view along the Usk valley up into mid-Wales and down to the coast.

This morning Gwyll Plant - a schools organisation to promote national folk dancing - will be performing in the Castle grounds from 10 to 12. The grounds and museum will be open as normal.

Now it’s summer, the weather isn’t bad* and we have a new exhibition so what better time to start a museum blog?

Abergavenny Museum got its start in the 1950s when townsfolk realised that the building work going on at the time was likely to rob the town of many fine old historical buildings. After a time with the collection housed in the town centre, the present site was rented in 1959 and the museum has been here ever since.

Like the majority of musems, the items you’ll see on display are just the tip of the iceberg. We’ve got less that 10% of our collection on show at any one time, and many of our items will probably never be displayed. Much of the collection is kept for posterity’s sake and to help future researchers. Approximately 18,000 photographs and negatives, and a similar number of documents are kept in controlled conditions and are almost impossible to display in any comfortable to view manner. One day everything will be scanned and available at the click of a mouse but until then they are safely stored away.

Meantime have a recipe for rhubarb wine found in a farmer’s ledger:

Rhubarb Wine

5lbs of rhubarb, well bruised, to one gallon of cold water with one lemon. Put to stand 8 days. Strain it off and put in a cask with 4lbs of brown sugar and 1/4 oz isinglass. Make it in June and bottle in October. When it has finished working put in 2 wine glasses full of brandy.

Disclaimer - I have no idea whether the recipe works or not, But you are welcome to try it out. Let me know how you got on - I’ll look forward to hearing from you in October.

* The weather wasn't bad when I started typing but now it's raining. Oh the joys of the British summer time!