Our Collections
Under the Spotlight
Dr Herbert Bolton FRSE FGS
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Dr Herbert Bolton FRSE FGS -
Our new exhibition will showcase the stories, artefacts, and collections of notable Bacup residents and their associations from the past.
Herbert, the second son of James, a cotton warper, and Hannah Bolton, was born in Bacup in 1863. He began his career as a doffer and later became a weaver. Along with his older brother Levi, he was one of the earliest members of the Bacup Natural History Society. Herbert was a former student of the science classes at the Bacup Mechanics Institute night school, where he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Science, South Kensington. He studied there with H.G. Wells and Arthur Morley Davies. Later on, he went to Owen’s College, Manchester, and studied under Professor William Boyd Dawkins, earning an M.Sc. Professor Dawkins was the same person who, on 5th October 1889, officially opened the new premises of the Bacup Natural History Society at 6 St James Street.
Dr Herbert Bolton FRSE FGS
Herbert Bolton published his first book, "The Geology of Rossendale," in December 1889. A year later, he was appointed as an assistant keeper in the Manchester Museum. In 1898, he became the Director of the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, a position he held until his retirement in 1930. Herbert was known for his expertise in fossil insects and authored several books, including "Monograph of the Fossil Insects of the British Coal Measures" in two volumes in 1922. He received the Murchison Fund in 1922 from the Geological Society and served as president of the Museum Association in 1924. Herbert passed away at the age of 72 on January 18th, 1931, at his home in Reading.
During his tenure as Director of the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Herbert donated a collection of fossils to the NAT, and a collection of his written works signed by him is also on display. In one of the written works, he inscribed "To the Bacup Natural History Society, from an old member Herbert Bolton." The NAT also showcases a selection of fossils found in Bacup coal mines, pamphlets by Herbert, and his diploma.
Flints, Fossils & Minerals Collection
The Bacup Museum houses a geological staircase that showcases the history of fossils from 550 million years ago up until the Stone Age and the largest collection of flints on display in this region.
The staircase is divided into three wall frames that are a masterpiece of miniaturisation and unique to this museum. The frames represent the three stages of early life, middle life, and recent life. At the top of the staircase, there's a geological cross-section of the Greens Clough layers, located north of Bacup. This area is significant to the museum as it provided an opportunity for the Nat geologists to explore the simple structures and horizontal layers, which are an open book of the rock layers and coal seams, important for Bacup's development. During the Victorian era, Sunday afternoon rambles were a popular pastime, and members of the early 'NAT' were encouraged to bring in natural history, fossil and flint specimens collected during their rambles. Many of the fossils and flints collected during those rambles are still available to view today.
Military Collection
Bacup is a town with a rich social and military history, which is reflected in our collections. We have a permanent display of weapons, tools, and flints from the stone age, bronze age, and iron age.
Our collections also include entomology, botany, and some of the oldest natural history specimens. In addition, we have Dr. Worrall's cabinet, a Victorian collector's cabinet of curiosities. Our mining and industrial collections provide a glimpse of a working way of life in Bacup that is long gone. You can view a lamp carried on the last passenger train out of Bacup to Rochdale on June 16th, 1947, in our transport display. Our military collections feature over 50 medals awarded to men from Bacup and Stacksteads who participated in WW1 and WW2. Among them are those awarded to A.B. Norman Clegg, who, in 1943, continued to lift 50lb pans of ammunition to the gun despite having his arm fractured in two places by shell splinters. Other artefacts in our collections include an American Civil War cap worn by Bacup man Henry Redmond, sand and shrapnel from the beaches of Normandy, and a piece of bomb shrapnel from a bomb that landed on the Thorn Estate during the early hours of Monday, October 21st, 1940.
Domestic Collection
Over the years, the museum has shifted its focus to local history.
In the museum, you can find a beautiful christening gown, which serves as a backdrop to our Victorian school, police and fire displays. Opposite these displays, we exhibit the history of Bacup Camera Club, which was founded by Nat member John Cook in 1920. Next, we have a section dedicated to science, fun, laughter, childhood, music, and dance. After that, we showcase our numismatics collections, which includes money and tokens that were once used in the shops and on transport in and around Bacup.
