News
The Digitisation Project
The main news from Kington Museum over the past year has been the digitisation project which is now nearing completion. The project has placed all the paper records into a museum standard collection management database, photographed nearly all the objects, undertaken a near complete audit of the collection and created this website in which you can learn more about Kington’s heritage and explore the museum’s online collections. The project was funded by grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Herefordshire Heritage Services, and helps the museum meet its commitment to preserve, conserve, promote and inform about the heritage of Kington and the surrounding area.
The project has enabled a fresh look at the collections and reminded us of the real gems that we curate – from the key to Kington’s iceworks and the puzzles made by Prisoners of War, to archives of notable Kington figures, artefacts from long gone businesses and the growing photographic archive which provides us with a visual record of Kington life over the past 150 years.
Kington Camp Exhibition
Kington Museum has also worked closely with the Kington Camp Project, a local community heritage project about the military and later civilian use of the site 2 miles west of Kington on the Brilley Road. This area was first used as a re-grouping point for Dunkirk survivors in 1940 and then as a training camp for British troops until 1942. In 1943 two large US hospitals were built on the site which catered for about 15,000 wounded between June 1944 and May of 1945. In the Summer of 1945 they were a billet for Guards regiments and in 1946 an 1947 them were home for about 1500 members of the Polish Resettlement Corps. After the war, the buildings took on a new life as a temporary residential area for a vibrant community requiring homes in the post-war housing shortage.
Virtual Reality Ward
As part of the museum’s partnership with the Kington Camp Project we host an exhibition of signboards and artefacts and an installation which replicates the corner of a doctor’s office at the camp. A computer embedded in this installation lets you explore a virtual reality ward as well as access our Talking Tactile Tablet.
The virtual reality ward has been developed by Southampton University and is based on a detailed building survey undertaken of one of the surviving wards in 2006 and the memories of those who worked, visited and were treated at the hospitals over 60 years ago. You can access the ward HERE.
The Talking Tactile Tablet and Improved Access for the Visually Impaired
The TTT helps visually impaired users to learn more about Kington Camp and access all the audio material that has been recorded about the site. The tablet uses textured overlays that, when pressed, access relevant audio information. Two overlays are available to explore: one which introduces you to the history of Kington Camp (Topics overlay), and one which provides a guide to the hospitals (Hospital Overlay).
