The
Unofficial Website
Clifton Park Museum Review
Rotherham Museum re-opened 29
January 2005.
Your intrepid webmaster took up a kind invitation to join the press for a preview of the revamped museum on 27 January 2005. The preparations were not quite finished but there was
enough in place to get the general idea.
Clifton House has been restored and a very good job has been made of it. Wherever possible the house has been returned to its original Georgian form and the modern additions (except for
the lift) are largely unobtrusive. The paint work too has been matched to original samples. There are a couple of very small samples of swatches of wallpaper used but these have not
been reproduced - too expensive - but I'm sure I spotted one of the designs somewhere in a panel of glass.
The Museum staff consulted all manner of user groups including schools, local history groups, friends groups and the general public about what they wanted to see at the Museum. The result is a greatly expanded exhibition space set out in a more informative way, with storyboards and interactive elements as well as the exhibit themselves.
Some of the new exhibitions tell the story of Rotherham, both town and borough from the geological beginnings of Yorkshire itself, original human settlement in the area up to the present day. Others tell the story of Clifton House and, the people who lived there. Others details the history of the Museum and how the collections were acquired. There is the Resources Room, an archive for students of local history and a room dedicated to Rotherham Voices - a record of various histories of people from Rotherham or who have settled here. In the Rockingham Pottery exhibitions new state of the art showcases have been installed to display the works of the Swinton factory including that monstrosity, the Rhinoceros vase.
The Museum hopes to continue future development of exhibits, host travelling exhibitions from other museums, hold demonstrations and re-enactments. Clifton Park Museum will be an important and integral part of life in Twenty-first Century Rotherham.
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