How Ottery happened to have a museum

Phyllis Baxter had a dream to write a book and launch a website about Ottery (Image: Phyllis Baxter)

After the successful re-opening of the Heritage Museum in Ottery on Saturday August 6, the Action Group would like to thank all those involved for their efforts to provide Ottery with a Heritage Centre and a Museum that celebrates the rich social and cultural history of Ottery and its surrounding area going back 2000 years.

A museum for Ottery has been a key factor behind the founding of the Ottery Heritage Society in 1999 and at this special occasion we would like to say a big thank you to Robert Neal, chairman of the Heritage Society for twenty years, and now life president.

His role in the creation of the original museum was supported by a team of many committed contributors seeking a permanent place for it in Ottery.

This was crucial in achieving the results we all had the opportunity to enjoy last Saturday.

It has been a long and sometimes difficult process for the Heritage Society and its former chairman, spending over two decades trying to open a museum in the town and for four years running a museum facility within the old Salston Manor Hotel until it closed in 2007 after which Ottery’s history was boxed up.

In February 2009 Robert and the society launched a fund-raising campaign to raise the cash to purchase and refurbish a building in the grounds of the old convent after it was put for sale by a developer.

In April of the same year, in spite of all the efforts from Ottery Town Council to help the society out it was decided it was not a 'financially viable option'.

To add to the previous disappointment, in August torrential rain in the area leaked through one of the containers housing exhibition equipment, together with their valuable collections, producing considerable damage.

Fortunately 2016 came with renewed hopes and the idea for the museum to finally find a place in town started to take form.

The town council announced its plan of converting the former Nat West bank into a multi-use community centre including a new library, public toilets and tourist information centre, thus making the Old Town Hall, home of the former library, available as a potential site for the Museum.

It took two years of numerous negotiations that culminated with the announcement from Robert Neal of the takeover of the former library in Silver Street after a petition of 700 signatures supporting its plan was presented and a £300.000 bequest from the will of Betty Williams, a former trustee, whose wish was to secure a premises for the museum.

August 2018 brought the much awaited news of the official opening of the museum to the public although for a short summer season.

Unfortunately the 2019 pandemic forced the closure of the museum but in a true Heritage Society spirit, the time was used to do a lot of work in the building, including new electric wiring and fire safety systems both being brought up to modern standards and to create new displays and facilities.

An idea that started in 1999, using Robert Neal’s words at the opening in 2018: "It is an embryo museum, simply because we have more history that’s not on display than is on display. It’s only scratching the surface at the moment”, and also corroborated by the present Chairman Peter Shrubsall: “A museum is never truly finished and the society plans to bring in more exhibits, introduce some interactive displays and enhance the visitor experience over time.”

Finally, the museum has a home in a building originally built in 1859 and given to the town with a clause in the transfer indicating that it had to be retained for community use.

The site itself represents the history kept within its walls.

Isn’t this the ideal place for a Heritage Museum? Robert Neal and Ottery Heritage Society over two decades ago believed in having a museum in Ottery, they worked hard to get it.

Now it is up to us to keep it that way and join the many towns in England proud to have a museum.