A busy month!

It’s been a while since we posted last, so apologies to those of you who may have been missing your regular Museum and Archives fix – but we’ve been busy working on a number of projects, so there’s plenty to update you on!

You might remember that back in December, we told you that Brent Archives had been lucky enough to be awarded a grant from the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust towards the conservation of the North Collection, a fascinating collection, of the parish papers of Willesden St Mary. The first installment of the grant came through shortly afterwards, and last week, we took the first of the four boxes of volumes to the conservator’s studio. They will be cleaning all the documents and repairing the water damage, and rehousing each individual item in new, archive-quality preservation packaging, to ensure that their condition remains stable, and we can continue to make them accessible to you and future archives visitors for many years to come. There are over 3000 individual documents, so the work will take around 18 months; we hope to bring you further updates on the project as it continues. The work that has been done so far to better label the items has already turned up some fascinating stories….

From bills for ‘pauper coffins’ to accounts of the ale drunk by the workmen mending the highways and the purchase of flax and spinning wheels ‘for the employment of the female poor’, the parish papers record the stories of many long-forgotten local residents. The  police accounts, of payments made by the parish for police work after Willesden joined the Metropolitan Police District in 1840, include the payment for accompanying George Hinks to gaol in London for the ‘unlawful possession of a gold fish’ – although it’s unclear what law the poor man was breaking with his fishy friend! Another prisoner, John Coleman was transported from Willesden to Newgate Prison for highway robbery; looking him up in the Old Bailey proceedings online, we can see that evidence was given at his trial that he was ‘not of sound mind’, and had been coerced into the robbery. He was found not guilty.

We’ve also been working on the new exhibition about Willesden High Road which will be opening in Brent Museum’s exhibitions gallery next week – keep and eye on the blog for an update soon!

You may also be aware of the redevelopment plans for Willesden Green Library Centre, which is currently home to Brent Museum and Brent Archives. The exciting proposals for the new Willesden Green Cultural Centre include new spaces for both the Museum and the Archives, and we are working closely with the project team to ensure that these will contiue to represent Brent and its residents, and provide the best possible spaces for you to visit to find out more about the borough and its heritage. We will keep you updated on how the service is likely to change during the period of the redevelopment; in the meantime, find out more about the plans here.

Posted by Kate