 The Cater Museum in Billericay High Street | |
 | |
| Established | 7 May 1960 |
|---|---|
| Location | 74 High Street, Billericay, England |
| Coordinates | 51°37′31″N0°25′03″E / 51.625231°N 0.417476°E |
| Type | Local museum |
| Website | catermuseum |
The Cater Museum is a small local museum in Billericay, Essex county, England. The museum was established by Alice May Cater, in honour of her late husband William Alexander Cater, a local antiquarian. It was opened to the public on 7 May 1960. [1]
The museum is a registered charity and is located at 74 High Street, Billericay. [2] It lies within a Grade II listed, 18th-century, red-brick-fronted building, which was previously a shop and the home of a saddle and harness maker. [3] [4]
In 2002, a Victorian kitchen garden was opened at the rear of the museum [5] where a number of Elizabethan herbs were planted. [6] In 2008, the museum received £41,000 of National Lottery funding [7] to carry out renovation of the rear of the building to restore it to its original 18th-century character. While this renovation was being carried out, a number of artefacts were discovered in the garden, some dating from around the 1860s. Items included Victorian pipes, ginger beer jars and medicine bottles; many of these were added to the museum's collection. [8]
The museum's collections previously belonged to the Cater family, the museum's first curator Harry Richman, Anthony Nicholls and A. Basil Brooks. [4]
The museum stores numerous local artefacts over three floors, including information on local families and buildings. [9] Amongst the artefacts are: reports of the Zeppelin that was downed in the area during World War I; the remains of a two-headed lamb born in the area; [10] and the door of the house once owned by Christopher Martin, who was a passenger aboard the Mayflower . [11]