Burford Tolsey Museum

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Burford Tolsey Museum
Tolsey Museum, Burford (geograph 5658361).jpg
Burford Tolsey Museum
LocationHigh Street, Burford
Coordinates 51°48′26″N1°38′13″W / 51.8073°N 1.6370°W / 51.8073; -1.6370
Built1520
Architectural style(s) Tudor style
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameThe Tolsey
Designated12 September 1955
Reference no.1224632
Oxfordshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Shown in Oxfordshire

The Burford Tolsey Museum is a local museum in the town of Burford, west Oxfordshire, England. [1] [2] [3] It is located in a Tudor style structure, known as The Tolsey, [a] and was formerly where market tolls were collected and where town meetings may have been held in the upper chamber. It is a Grade II* listed building. [5]

Contents

History

The building

The Tolsey was designed in the Tudor style, built using half-timbering techniques and was completed in 1520. [6] Surveys using dendrology have dated the timbers back to 1525 [7] although the first documented reference to the building was not until 1561. [8] The building was raised on stone pillars so that markets could be held, with an assembly room on the first floor. [9] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with two bays facing onto the High Street; the first floor was fenestrated by bay windows and surmounted by gables. The ground floor was the place for wool merchants to meet in medieval times. Tolls for the use of the market facilities and taxes were also collected on behalf of the lord of the manor. The assembly room was used as a venue for borough court hearings and also operated as the local town hall. [7] The room was furnished with a chair, a table and a chest of drawers bearing the coat of arms of Burford Corporation. [10]

View from the Tolsey View from the Tolsey.jpg
View from the Tolsey

A lock-up for petty criminals was established at the rear of the building in the late 16th century, [6] a projecting beam which supported a clock, with a bell suspended below, was installed in the right-hand gable in the 17th century, [11] and a horse-drawn fire engine was acquired for the town and stored on the ground floor in the late 18th century. [6] After Burford Corporation was disbanded in 1861, ownership of the building was transferred to trustees. [6] The building fell into a state of disrepair in the first half of the 20th century although it was extensively refurbished in 1955. [6]

Doll's House Doll's house in Burford.jpg
Doll's House

The museum

A leading Burford antique dealer, Roger Warner, who had been collecting objects with a known Burford connection since the 1930’s, [12] ranging from rope-making tools to a boxwood clarinet, donated his collection to enable the museum to open as a local history museum in 1960. [6]

Display cabinet at the Burford Tolsey Museum Trade and craft tools.jpg
Display cabinet at the Burford Tolsey Museum

The museum which was recorded as such in the BBC Domesday Project in 1986. [13]

The Museum is open 2-5pm every day from April to October, weekends only in November & December and closed January to March. Admission is free. Donations are invited. [14]

The archive

When in November 2022, the Burford Tolsey Archive was opened in an historic nearby barn in Swan Lane to collect, preserve and share Burford’s written and oral stories and images, the Registered Charity No. 309176 was renamed the Burford Tolsey Museum & Archive. [15]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Tolsey is an ancient word for a tollbooth. [4]

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References

  1. ↑ "Tolsey Museum". UK: Oxfordshire Museums Council. Archived from the original on 10 February 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  2. ↑ "Tolsey Museum". UK: Oxfordshire County Council . Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  3. ↑ "Tolsey Museum". www.oxfordshirecotswolds.org. Oxfordshire Cotswolds. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  4. ↑ Fisher, John (1861). A History of the Town of Burford, Oxfordshire. R. Edwards.
  5. ↑ Historic England. "The Tolsey (1224632)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Burford Timeline". Burford Tolsey. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  7. 1 2 Steane, John; Ayres, James (2013). Traditional Buildings in the Oxford Region, c. 1300-1840. Oxbow Books. p. 388. ISBN   978-1842174791.
  8. ↑ "The Tolsey". Heritage Gateway. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  9. ↑ "Tolsey Museum". thecotswoldgateway.co.uk. UK: The Cotswolds. Archived from the original on 15 June 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  10. ↑ Monk, William John (1891). History of Burford (PDF). C. W. Swatman. p. 158.
  11. ↑ Moody, Raymond (2010). Burford Through Time. Amberley Publishing. ISBN   978-1445627205.
  12. ↑ "About Us". Burford Tolsey. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  13. ↑ "The Tolsey Museum at Burford". Domesday Reloaded. UK: BBC. Archived from the original on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  14. ↑ "Local History Museum | Burford Tolsey | United Kingdom". Burford Tolsey. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  15. ↑ "Burford's heritage on display – The Wychwood Magazine" . Retrieved 3 June 2024.
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