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The Museum acquires objects for the collection to document and celebrate Reading,
its people, its environment and its surroundings, and to provide inspiration for life-long
learning and creativity.
Boar's Head pub sign
The Boar's Head was a well-known Reading landmark until the pub was demolished in October 2003. The Museum saved this famous pub sign from the Friar Street site and it has just gone on display for the first time after cleaning and conservation.
Object Number: 2003.317.1
Further Information
The head was cleaned and conserved by Louise Ashon of the City and Guilds Art School, London (pictured above). It is made of oolitic limestone and was frequently repainted when it was in place on the pub wall. It was gilded with gold or metal leaf at least three times and traces of one of these layers can be seen showing through the worn surface of the latest paint layer.
Documents suggest that there had been a public house on the Friar Street site since the late seventeenth century, but it was not known as the Boar’s Head until 1760. By the 1850s it was the terminus for local carriers, who took goods and messages to and from neighbouring villages.
The Head is currently on display on the Museum's ground floor as part of the Reading A to Z exhibition.
Huntley & Palmers tins
The Museum has recently purchased two interesting examples of Huntley & Palmers biscuit tins. These were acquired because they show stages in the development of tin design and innovation not previously represented in the collection. The older tin was made in about 1885 and is called ‘Blue Braemar’ (pictured below). It shows red deer hinds and stags in a winter Highland scene. The second example is called the ‘Plates’ tin as it was designed to look like a stack of Derby plates. This design was patented in 1906.
Object Number: 2009.50.1-2
Further Information
The Braemar tin incorporates a royal coat of arms on the lid and was intended to evoke Queen Victoria's love of the Scottish Highlands. Braemar is only a few miles from Balmoral, her Highland home where she was spending more and more time by the 1880s. The Plates tin is a good example of how improvements in tin technology meant that more elaborate and realistic shapes were possible by the 1900s, often in the form of household objects including books, lanterns and cameras.
These tins are not currently on display, but over 250 tins can be seen in the Huntley & Palmers Gallery at Reading Museum. Over 1000 tins can be viewed online at Huntley & Palmers Collection website
Simonds Brewery
The Museum recently received a group of objects from the Berkshire Brewery in Whitley that is closing this year. Scottish and Newcastle who own the site have donated the items including the original architect's watercolour of the brewery, some historic photographs and a large mock-up of a Simonds IPA beer bottle from the 1930s!
You can see the IPA bottle in our current Reading A to Z exhibition until April 2010.
Object Number: 2009.229
Further Information
This is one of the historic photographs showing the visit of the Prince of Wales to Simonds brewery on 25 June 1926. The Prince is doffing his hat to brewery draymen with their horses, and he is accompanied by the head brewer. In the background are steam powered brewery vehicles. Simonds brewery was in Bridge Street, now the site occupied by the House of Fraser Department store. It was later taken over by Courage and moved to the Berkshire Brewery in 1980.
Object numbers are unique to each item and are used for purposes of identification. Should you have a query concerning an object on the site please quote this number when contacting us.
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