Museum of English Rural Life receives Award for heritage education

Tuesday, 22 January 2013

The Duchess of Marlborough (second left) presenting the Sandford Award to from left to right; Museum Attendant, Morryce Maddams, Curator of Collections & Engagement, Isabel Hughes and Director, Kate Arnold Forster

The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) has recently been presented with The Sandford Award at a recent ceremony at Blenheim Palace.

The independently judged award recognises the achievements of historical sites in promoting excellence in heritage education, and MERL joins a prestigious list of winners including Cardiff Castle and Edinburgh Zoo. The ceremony was hosted by fellow winner Blenheim Palace, and the award was presented by Her Grace - The Duchess of Marlborough.

The Sandford Award judge observed a year 5 school party from Redlands primary school visiting the Museum for a session on 'Victorian Life in the Palmer House', with the children becoming history detectives for the day, looking for clues regarding who built, owned and lived in the museum building.

The museum is in fact located in St Andrews hall which was initially lived in by Sir Alfred Palmer of Huntley and Palmers' biscuits, and built by the architect Alfred Waterhouse. The children also had the opportunity to see and handle artefacts from the time the house was built, which can still be found in the MERL collections.

The Sandford Award judge commented: "It was a very good session, with lots of variety and which made very good use of the museum displays, the Victorian house which forms part of the premises and an interesting selection of handling artefacts."

The museum itself was established in 1951 and houses the most comprehensive national collection of objects, books and archives relating to the history of food, farming and the countryside. The Sandford award is testament to its active programme of activities and events and is a great reflection on the University's academic excellence in agriculture.