Wiltshire museum tries to return artefacts to owners

Efforts are being made to trace the original owners of thousands of artefacts

An agricultural museum in Wiltshire which closed in 2009 is trying to trace the original owners of thousands of its artefacts.

Since it opened in 1946, more than 4,000 objects were either given or loaned to Lackham Agricultural and Countryside Museum.

Sheena Awdry, trustee secretary, said "We know the origins of several hundred items but we have many more than that."

She described the job of finding the owners as a "massive task".

Since the end of World War II the museum, based at Wiltshire College Lackham, has received "many generous donations and loans of agricultural and countryside artefacts".

Stuffed bustards

But the extensive collection, which ranges from hand tools to tractors and carts to milk churns, has been mothballed since the museum's closure due to a lack of funds three years ago.

According to a museum spokesperson, trustees are now "obliged to trace the donors and/or their families of any pieces as far as possible".

A blacksmith's kit from Semington is among the unclaimed artefacts

"Farmers don't like to throw things away and many of the artefacts just appeared at the gates of the museum overnight, so we've no idea where they came from," the spokesperson said.

Following an audit, Ms Awdry is in the process of matching up objects with museum paperwork to try to locate donors or their families.

"There's a goat cart, a dog cart, lots of ploughs, horn straighteners, wagons and a whole blacksmith's set-up which came from Semington," she said.

"We've got a funeral bier from Urchfont which was used for carrying coffins - that was donated by the parish council but we don't know where they got it from.

"And we've got a pair of stuffed great bustard birds - we've no idea where they came from and I haven't found anything yet."

Letters are due to be sent to more than 300 addresses in the next week, offering the items back to the families of the original owners.

Anyone who thinks their family or someone they know donated or loaned an artefact to the collection is being invited to contact the museum.