Special Exhibitions 2024
Mammoths to Modern: the unfolding story of Wallingford’s Landscape.
This special exhibition presents the exciting emerging evidence of what lies beneath our feet in the vicinity of Wallingford. The gradual development of the town has given opportunities for archaeology to reveal the fascinating story of the people who have lived here over thousands of years before us.
The exhibits take us on an illustrated timeline from the mammoth bones and stone axes left by earliest settlers some 10,000 years ago, through Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman remains, to the coming of the Saxons who eventually built our present town defences just over 1,100 years ago!
It also traces how the town itself has changed over 11 centuries, with evidence from archaeology, documents and numerous aerial photographs.
So whether you have lived here all your life, have only just moved into the area, or if you are just passing through, you are part of this story and this exhibition is a must for you and your family - with plenty to interest young and old!
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2.
Axe-heads to Agatha: a history of metal-casting in Wallingford
Examples of cast metal items can be seen all over Wallingford – from the iron drain covers
in our streets, to the cast-iron roof supports of the Corn Exchange, and from the Bronze Age
weapons in the museum to the new bronze statue of Agatha Christie in the Kinecroft.
This exhibition traces evidence of local metal-working through the centuries, from coin-
making and medieval blacksmithing, to modern foundries. IIt features especially a superb
collection of photographs of the working Walter Wilder iron foundry in Crowmarsh shortly before it closed in 1992.
Wallingford Fire Station Centenary
100 Years of Firefighting in Wallingford.