Curtis Museum

Curtis Museum, Alton

The Curtis Museum in Alton, is a local history museum in Hampshire, England.

The museum was founded by Dr William Curtis (1803–1881) in 1865. It is managed by the Museum & Arts Service of Hampshire County Council and is near the Allen Gallery.

Displays

It contains a wide range of artefacts and displays including:

• Prehistoric tools
• Roman bowls and other material, including a cup found at Selborne
• The Anglo-Saxon Alton buckle
• Artefacts from the Battle of Alton (1643), a battle in the English Civil War
• The "Jane Austen Trail"
• The tale of Sweet Fanny Adams, who was murdered locally in 1867
• Hop picking and brewing

Closure threat

In 2010, both the Curtis Museum and the Allen Gallery were under threat of closure, following their receipt of an email to that effect from the Museum & Arts Service. The Museum and Gallery were taken over by the Hampshire Museums and Galleries Trust, which ran both buildings with the help of volunteers, on behalf of Hampshire County Council. As of May 2014, management was transferred back to Hampshire County Council.

External links

• Curtis Museum
• Allen Gallery