Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery

The Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery is a free museum in the centre of the town housed in a former music hall dating from 1835 but also spreads out through a 13th century mansion.

The first stop off on the ground floor is of Roman artefacts. This mirror it seems is classed as the finest found in Britain made of silver and so heavy it was probably held up by a servant while the owner gazed into it. It was discovered at an excavation in the town in the 1920s.

I then headed upstairs to explore the rest of the museum which had some interesting, and frankly in the case of this statue, unnerving items on display. This is called Bedtime Boy II and is by artist Laura Ford. It’s a bronze figure of a child with an elephant’s head – supposedly to represent a child out of bed listening to the grown up world with his big elephant ears. Make of that what you will.

I thought this model of a crater on the moon from 1851 was very interesting. It was based on the observations that Henry Blunt had made after looking through his telescope from Shrewsbury.

There were some pretty ceramics on display as well

including this rather interesting clock made by Lucinda Lovesey who was a semi-finalist on The Great Pottery Throw Down (think Bake Off but for pottery). She’s local to the area and the clock is inspired by some of her favourite pieces in the museum.

The doll here dates from 1820 and depicts a soldier from the Napoleonic Wars.

The Hartley Electromatic Tape Riter (yes, that’s how its spelt) was created by a company that moved to Shrewsbury in 1949 producing lots of different electrical products and employing many people in the town until it closed in 1993.

Finally there’s a really nice sculpture of the war poet Wilfred Owen, who was from Shropshire, made by Anthony Padgett in 2018.

It’s a very nice museum and as with all local museums of the type there is a range of artefacts from around the globe as well as more locally relating to the town. The building itself is also worth paying attention to.

There is also a very nice modern cafe down on the ground floor which you can visit without going to the museum. There I had a drink and an excellent slice of cherry Bakewell.