INSPIRATION FROM HISTORY

A bold new extension will give the museum of Barnstaple a new lease of life

Can history provide an inspiration for young people today? Alison Mills, curator of the Barnstaple Museum, believes it can.

And as she prepares for the opening in November of a striking new £1.5m extension to the museum, she hopes celebrating the town’s manufacturing heritage will enthuse young people in the area to explore their own creativity.

During the arts and crafts movement, in the decades before the First World War, Barnstaple companies like Brannam Pottery and furniture makers Shapland and Petter were creating beautiful and functional products to great acclaim.

The museum’s new extension pays homage to those earlier craftsmen in elements of its design. Architects Ferguson Mann incorporated copper-clad bays in a nod to some of the Shapland and Petter furniture designs. And around the top of the extension are dozens of hand-made terracotta tiles, created by artist Taz Pollard from South Molton.

Curator Alison, who has been at the museum for 29 of the 30 years it has been in its current home, says: “One of our tasks at the museum is to show off the products and creativity of North Devon people, and to inspire young people now to go out into the world and create wonderful things like the pottery and furniture made at Brannam’s and Shaplands in the past.