Tutbury Museum & Information Centre

Village Time Capsule

In Tutbury there is a building that contains the treasure of a thousand years.

Not gold or silver jewels, but something of a rarer quality - passing thoughts, unusual stories and fading memories.

For unlike the thousands of museums packed with dusty artifacts from distant unrecognizable days, Tutbury Museum is about real, down-to-earth people.

It does delve into the dim recesses of the village's history, but above all it stresses the lives of the residents that give Tutbury its colourful past. And the keeper of this store of wonders is life-long Tutbury resident Mr. Aubrey Bailey.

Mr. Bailey built up the collection over 20 years, storing relics like a magpie.

"It goes back to the days of Reg Farmer, the Chairman of the Trustees of Tutbury Parish Charities, who loved stories," he said. "We used to swop them, sometimes talking for hours, and he said somebody ought to write them down. So I met all the old characters and took their photos and some of them said: 'I've got so-and-so at home and you might be interested'. "It all started from there."

Mr. Bailey had so many items given to him by Tutbury residents that he filled two rooms at the Charity Offices in Duke Street. He was given permission by the trustees to open up his collection as a museum and visitors are able to see it by prior appointment. Even the building tells a story. It used to house the village's soup kitchens, a regular stopping off point for tramps on their journeys from Burton to Uttoxeter.

At the heart of the collection are six volumes carefully researched and written by Mr. Bailey. One of the books details the village's history while another is a diary of important events over the last 1,000 years, covering such diverse topics as the visit of Mary, Queen of Scots and the foundation of Tutbury Allotments' Association. Another tells of the area's industries, including artificial fly tying, gypsum mining and glass making, and one has an account of local families.

The photographs alone spark off a host of Mr. Bailey's lively stories. Who has heard of Station's Eye-openers, Tutbury's high-powered tug-of-war team who won the national championship? Or does the name Roger Woolley ring a bell, the village's master fly tier?

Scores of ancient football and cricket teams peer down from the walls, and there is a selection of photos of the gypsum works which have surroundings carved with a razor from oak barrel staves. Mr. Bailey's grandfather's beer mug sits next to a noisy crow scarer while overhead hangs part of a World War I German plane and Second World War relics.

The town crier's bell and the castle curfew bell hint at a noisy past, while the village's artistic history is well represented. Paintings and drawings by Tutbury residents past and present line the walls, and there is a collection of Webb Corbett glasses from the earliest days. There are model caravans built by a resident, a fruit bowl made from a beam made from Tutbury Station, and tiles showing scenes from Shakespeare's plays. There's a sample of pillow lace and a fine collection of British birds' eggs.

The latest acquisition is Trent Valley Glassworks' own museum collection. In fact, the museum's fame is spreading far and wide with visitors from America, Australia and New Zealand. And there was one university professor who came to find out about his relative who slit his throat with a razor.

The museum is the culmination of Mr. Bailey's life-long interest.