The Museum
The Museum is a showcase for the history of Castleton and the surrounding area. It is an accredited museum housed at Castleton Visitor Centre and managed by Castleton Historical Society.
A major refurbishment of the Visitor Centre, carried out in 2017, brought about a transformation of the Museum with a revised layout, new display cases, interpretation boards and a brand-new look.
Many aspects of Castleton’s past are featured among the displays, including its archaeology, geology, industry, inhabitants and its significance as a Norman fortified town. One of the most eye-catching displays traces the story of its famous annual Garland Ceremony. The three costumes shown below, which were worn during the ceremony by the Garland King, span the period from early 1800s, possibly as early as 1790, to 2000, the earliest being a coachman’s coat, turned inside out and decorated with ribbons and rosettes.
Scroll across photos to view captions.
Follow this link for more information about the Castleton Garland ceremony.
Medieval finds from the Museum’s archives.
Left
Carved head dating from 1,000 BC and believed to represent a god worshipped by Iron Age people such as the Brigantes.
Right
Farming tools on display
in the Centre’s Blueberry Café.
History of the Museum
In the mid 1980s Castleton Museum was originally housed in the Methodist Church and was moved to a more spacious and accessible location in the newly built Visitor Centre in the early 2000s. Some of the displays on view before the recent refurbishment are shown below.
TEMPORARY DISPLAYS
The museum’s collection of artefacts, photographs and documents provide a rich resource for displays created by CHS members to commemorate special events and highlight the Museum’s collection. A few of these are illustrated below.
November 2018: The People of Castleton during the War
This display of photos and information demonstrated how the war impacted the lives of many families in the Village and attracted much interest from visitors, in particular on Remembrance Sunday when a manned display offered the opportunity to handle a variety of artefacts such as cigarette boxes, engraved with a message from the Parish Council, given to local service men. Photos below.
World War 1 Exhibition 2014
The CHS Exhibition featuring the memories & photos of the people of Castleton during World War 1 was opened on August 1st by Mary Bagley of PDNPA & Peter Harrison of the CHS. This project was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and gathered together a varied collection of material about the village during the war.
Anyone who was not able to see the exhibition or would like to see it again can browse through the posters via this link Castleton’s Men at War.
The children of Castleton Primary School made a contribution to the exhibition with their own work, shown below, inspired by the theme of ‘Poppies’.
Castleton Historical Society 