Mapping Museums Lab goes in search of lost collections

The Mapping Museums Lab is seeking the sector’s help to track down what happened to the collections of a number of UK museums that have closed since 2000.

For the past year, the research initiative, which is based at Birkbeck, University of London and King's College London, has been working on a project exploring UK museum closures and the afterlives of their objects.

The research team has gathered information on around 90% of the approximately 525 museums that have closed since 2000 but, after exhausting all avenues of enquiry, it has been unable to find details of the remaining 10%.

The “stuck museums” include Abergynolwyn Village Museum, which closed in 2007, and Durham Miners Heritage Centre, which closed in 2012 (see full list below).

“Around 525 museums have closed in the UK since 2000 and we've been trying to find out what happened to their collections – if they went to other museums, were sold to private collectors, passed on to heritage organisations, or just scrapped,” said Fiona Candlin, director of the Mapping Museums Lab and professor of museology at Birkbeck’s School of Historical Studies.

“We've consulted archives and local newspapers, tracked down retired museum staff, and spent months googling, and we now have information on around 90% of them, but some have proved elusive.

“For instance, we tracked the Lancashire Titanic Museum from Colne to Samlesbury Hall near Preston, and then to the antiques emporium Bygone Times in Eccleston, and we’ve identified the curator, but then the trail goes dead. And we know that the Soseki Museum moved from London to Brighton, and then, again, we hit a blank.

“We're hoping that somebody, somewhere will be able to tell us more about those museums and the others left on our list.”

Information or tips can be emailed to Mark Liebenrood at m.liebenrood@bbk.ac.uk.

The Mapping Museums Lab is a research initiative focused on collecting and analysing data about museums in the UK since 1960. It uses a combination of computer science, data science, geography and museum studies to explore what this data suggests about the constitution of the museum sector, the history and purpose of museums, and the location of culture.

Previous research projects undertaken by the lab include Mapping Museums: the history and geography of the UK independent sector 1960-2020 and Museums in the Pandemic.

‘Stuck’ museums

• Abergynolwyn Village Museum, Abergynolwyn LL36 9YB. Closed 2007
• Durham Miners Heritage Centre, Nevilles Cross DH1 4PJ. Closed 2012
• Fernhill House: The People’s Museum, Belfast BT13 3PT. Closed 2008
• Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station, Helston TR12 6LQ. Closed 2010 (partial information via Connected Earth partners)
• Haxted Watermill Museum, Haxted TN8 6PU. Closed 2012
• Haywain Farm Museum, Doncaster DN9 1JZ. Closed 2016-2018
• Lancashire Titanic Museum, nr. Chorley PR7 5PB. Closed 2018
• Laundry & Mangle Museum, Coggeshall CO6 1NT. Closed 2001
• London Motor Museum, Hayes UB3 4SB. Closed 2018
• Longdale Craft Centre And Museum, Nottingham NG15 9AH. Closed 2015
• Maxwelton House, Moniavie DG3 4DX. Closed 2000
• Mullaghbawn Folk Museum, Newry BT35 0AA. Closed 2003-2017
• Musselburgh Doll Museum, Musselburgh EH21 7DX. Closed 2011
• National Museum of Gardening, Crowntown TR13 0AB. Closed 2011
• Newhouse, Salisbury SP5 2NX. Closed 2019
• Soseki Museum, London SW4 0NG. Closed 2016/2019
• The Collectors Rendezvous, The Chapel, Aberporth SA43 2HB. Closed 1987-2017
• The Hall at Abbey-cwm-Hir, nr Llandrindod Wells LD1 6PH. Closed 2020
• Welsh Transport Heritage Centre, Swansea SA4 4NY. Closed 2012