| The Leatherhead
Museum of Local History is in Hampton
Cottage, a timbered 17th Century house at 64 Church Street, Leatherhead
KT22 8DP. The building was
purchased by the Leatherhead Museum and Local Heritage
Trust in 1976 and after extensive restoration, it was
opened as the Museum in 1980. It is the Leatherhead
& District Local History Society’s HQ as well as
its showcase for many items of local interest. The
Museum's 25th Anniversary year was
in 2005. In 2010 the Trust merged with the Leatherhead
& District Local History Society as a single charity.
Access is free. We are open to
visitors on Thursdays and Fridays
from 1 pm to 4 pm and Saturdays from 10
am to 4 pm. Although there is step-free access to the
ground floor, the construction of this old cottage means
that there is no access to the upper floor other than by
stairs. We are now closed
until April 2012 for our Winter/Spring break.
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| This year we were very pleased to
accept an item once to be seen throughout the
district - a milk churn with a local dairy’s
name embossed on it. The photograph shows it
temporarily standing in the garden at the rear of
the building with the stone swan from the old Swan
Hotel in the background. The churn is in
need of some TLC to prevent it deteriorating
further.
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The World Wars
display which includes artefacts, and pictures taken from
the Leatherhead at War films [DVD available in
the shop] continues to be of interest. This is the
upstairs front room, with the old telephone exchange from
Leatherhead Hospital.
Other cabinets
give a glimpse into the extensive range of
products made by now defunct manufacturers that
were once were the biggest employers in the town.
These include Ronson who
although probably best known for cigarette
lighters and perhaps hairdryers, made many other
items that could be operated by gas, including
candles!
Another manufacturer, whose site
is now occupied by Esso UK's HQ, was BVC - better
known as Goblin.
Displays show how they first started out vacuum
cleaning customers' premises from a van parked
outside with hoses through the windows. We have
two hand operated hand operated machines with
bellows (one is shown on the right) and several
rather old electric cylinder machines. We also
show various examples of other Goblin products
including, clocks, radios and heaters and the Teasmade
machines. Of particular interest is the Magneta
pendulum master clock which came from a telephone
exchange.
Partly under our staircase you'll
find a range of old kitchen equipment. Alongside
we have the bucket, washing dolly, hard soap and
the mangle - the forerunners of the washing
machine and spin dryer.
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There are also small collections
and displays of local Roman and Anglo Saxon
finds, Ashtead Pottery and many other items. This
is just a taste of the items of interest to both
adults and children crammed into Hampton Cottage
which is perhaps the best exhibit of all with its
attractive garden with a well and the stone swan
from the old Swan Hotel - the one above the
entrance to the Travel Lodge in the High Street
is a copy.
In 2009, with the help of a generous grant
from Surrey County Council towards the cost, we
were pleased to provide step-free access from the
adjacent footpath to enable visitors with
mobility difficulties to enter the garden and the
ground floor of Hampton Cottage.
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We have a small shop in
the Museum run by the Friends of Leatherhead Museum
selling souvenirs and the quite extensive range of books
published by the Society and others on local and other
historical subjects, including the latest by Peter
Tarplee, Railways Around Leatherhead & Dorking
priced at £10.
There is no charge for entry to this
privately owned and funded Museum, which is fully
accredited (MLA no.409), but donations are always welcome
towards our running costs. Visitors with recollections of
the past of the area are invited to enter them in the Book
of Memories.
Photo
report of accident in which a vehicle crashed into the
Museum 6 Jan 2008
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