Towneley from A to Z
Towneley from A to Z
The Collectors Room, on the ground floor of the North wing, was set up in 2002 to display objects given to the museum in its early years that had not been on display for many years. These include objects from Ceylon given by Herbert Wright in 1902 and 1903, an Egyptology collection given by Lady O'Hagan and Prof. John Garstang between 1903 and 1905, a collection of ivories bequeathed by George Eastwood in 1906 and objects from India donated by W T Taylor in 1908.
The room is part of the extension to the North wing completed in the 1730s. It was called the steward's room or the estate office. It was opened as a display room in 1925 with the arrival of the Booth Collection when a doorway was created from the Servants' Hall. It was first used to display the Egyptology collection and then from 1931 it displayed more of the natural history collection. Finally from 1949 until 2001 the room was home to the East Lancashire Regiment Collection. The cast-iron fireplace in this room, with the arms of King George III, were originally from Burnley Barracks.