Accreditation for Northampton museum with 3,500-year-old loincloths

Graham Lampard, from the Museum of Leathercraft, said the 1,500BC loincloths were very rare

A museum with 10,000 leather items, including a 3,500-year-old loincloth, said getting full accreditation was "recognition" of the collection.

The status, given by Arts Council England, allows museums to host touring exhibitions and access support.

Based in Northampton's Grosvenor shopping centre, the Museum of Leathercraft also has 3,000 books on the topic of leather.

Museum trustee, Chris Marrum, said the status "opens up whole new doors".

Graham Lampard, assistant curator at the museum, said Northampton had a history of leather and shoes "back to 1200s right through to the present day".

'Very few'

He said two of the most interesting objects in the collection were two pairs of Egyptian loincloths - a one-piece garment - from 1,500BC.

Mr Lampard said: "They are made from gazelle skin and they are cut in fine slits to form a net and were worn by slaves or manual workers to keep them cool.

"There are very few in the world, probably about five or six, some in America, some in Egypt and two here."

The Museum of Leathercraft has more than 10,000 leather objects many of which are on display for the first time

Mr Marrum said he became involved when he was shown a fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which was in storage in Abington Park Museum.

The scrolls contain manuscripts, mostly written in Hebrew as well as Aramaic and Greek, and are believed to date from about the 3rd Century BC.

"Here's something that is in Jerusalem, in Vatican City and in Northampton - it's amazing," Mr Marrum said.

• Star Wars exhibition opens at refurbished museum

• 'Sunny days are perfect for us'

• Museum funded by statue sale 'money well spent'

He said full accreditation was "recognition of our little museum as being valid in a national sense".

The museum was working on digitising and cataloguing the collection and looking for a permanent location.

"We're grateful to be in the Grosvenor Centre but it's not a long-term home," Mr Marrum said.

The museum has two loincloths, one which is dyed black (left) and one dyed brown (right)

The Museum of Leathercraft was founded in London in 1946 with a donation of £5,000 from British Saddlery and Leathergoods Manufacturers.

The collection transferred to the care of Northampton Borough Council in 1978 and much of it was in storage at the Abington Park Museum in Northampton.

In 2016, the museum opened in the town's main shopping centre, allowing some of the collection to be seen for the first time.