It’s lovely, the way the museums in Wiltshire help one another. Our latest new cabinet at Market Lavington isn’t new at all. It was given to us by our friends at the museum in Mere. At Mere, they had called this cabinet ‘The Salisbury Cabinet’ because they, in their turn, had received it from the Salisbury museum. It came as a godsend to us, for one of our older, wooden cabinets had a dose of woodworm and had to go.
A problem provided us with the opportunity to revamp some of our displays and these are now taking shape in the entrance room downstairs.
New cabinet in the entrance area of Market Lavington Museum
The top shelf has head related items. These include a bowler hatbox and a helmet box, hatpins and hair tidy boxes. There are hairgrips and adverts for hair products.
The next shelf features school items. Prominent is the old school bell, which was once atop the Old School on Church Street, but there are other items too, including donated prize cups, books, a slate and statements of account.
The second shelf up is devoted to lighting and has oil lamps and candle lamps – both domestic and vehicular. There is also memorabilia from Market Lavington’s very own gas works.
The bottom shelf is for toys. At the moment there are a couple of Victorian home made boats and an Edwardian xylophone but more will be added to this area.
When the museum opens in May visitors will see this cabinet as they enter the building.
Market Lavington Museum 
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