Museums Sheffield: Weston Park

History Lab is a place for budding sleuths to help us find answers to some of the intriguing questions history has thrown our way.

Just why did someone bury a hoard of coins under Fargate? Can you guess what the mystery objects dug up in Sheffield were used for? You can see the amazing Benty Grange saxon helmet here and dress up as a Victorian servant.

Suitable for

• Family friendly

Website

http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/museums/weston-park/exhibitions/current/history-lab

About Art takes a different approach to displaying art in a gallery.

You'll still find wonderful paintings from Sheffield's collection here, but you'll also discover more about where artists find their inspiration, the materials they use, and how to read things like colour and symbolism when looking at art.

Works on display in the gallery include Godfrey Kneller's Hortense Mancini, Duchess of Mazarin(1693) and L S Lowry's Meeting Point (1965).

About Art is also the home of recent addition Selkie the Seal, carved from beautiful alabaster. Don't forget to create your own artwork and hang it in the gallery before you leave.

Suitable for

• Family friendly

Website

http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/museums/weston-park/exhibitions/current/about-art

Sheffield Life & Times tells the story of the city from the point of view of the people who have lived here.

From the weird and wonderful neolithic stone carvings of the peak district, through to the troubled days of the miner's strike and Sheffield's regeneration, this gallery shows what makes this city special.

You'll discover the natural resources which helped turn Sheffield into the 'Steel City', the slums of Victorian Sheffield, the city's radical political past, and the impact of post-war planning and immigration. Alongside real life displays such as Burton's butcher's shop and relics from the Sheffield Flood of 1864 you'll find paintings of Sheffield from the city's collection and a host of interactives.

Suitable for

• Family friendly

Website

http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/museums/weston-park/exhibitions/current/sheffield-life-and-times

Before Weston Park closed for restoration, visitors were asked to vote for their favourite object. Snowy the polar bear won. Children from local schools helped design a special place in the new museum for Snowy. Arctic World is a result of their ideas. It answers the questions the children asked about life in the North American Arctic. Say hello to Snowy, meet the polar bear cubs, and have a go at building your own mini igloo.

Suitable for

• Family friendly

Website

http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/museums/weston-park/exhibitions/current/arctic-world

What on Earth! is an interactive introduction to the natural world and a showcase for Sheffield's amazing natural history collections.

In Close to Home, you can see and hear the animals that can be found living on the moors, in the woods or even in your own home. Explore the Weird and Wonderful area where you can design your own creatures, or pay a visit to the museum's very own beehive and ant colony.

Take a stroll through the ancient lands exhibit, but watch out for the hyenas, giant millipedes and sharks! In the Power of Nature section, find out how wind and water turns boulders into mud and why dung beetles are stronger than elephants.

From spring 2014 What on Earth! will be home to a new display exploring the ecosystem of Greno Wood, an ancient woodland in the north of the city. Natural Connections has been developed in partnership with Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust to explore the links between the diverse species which live in Greno Wood.

Suitable for

• Family friendly

Website

http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/museums/weston-park/exhibitions/current/what-on-earth!

In 2012 the Treasures gallery underwent a major redisplay and now showcases some of the remarkable highlights of the Sheffield's World Cultures collection, exploring their links with the city and its people.

The gallery illustrates the diversity of Sheffield’s cultural heritage, showcasing objects that have travelled many thousands of miles to the region. The exhibits on display have been developed by a group of young people who, along with local communities, have worked with Museums Sheffield to share the stories of these objects and look at how they found their way into the city’s collections.

In the Treasures gallery displays visitors can see:

• A crocodile skull bought back to the city from India in the late 1800s. Sheffield’s Fred Webster was attacked by the Crocodile, but escaped with his life when the crocodile was shot. When the contents of the crocodile’s stomach were examined, several items of jewellery were discovered suggesting a previous human victim.

• A knife made in Sheffield in 1835 by Joseph Elliot. Elliot had businesses all over Europe and the Americas and sold the knife to the Sioux people of North America, who crafted its deer hide sheath. The knife was later discovered by Sheffield collector, John Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, the 2nd Baron of Wharncliffe, who brought it back to the city.

• A set of ornate 19th century Japanese dolls given as a gift to local industrialist Sir Arthur Balfour. The conservation and display of the dolls was made possible thanks to the generosity of Museums Sheffield’s supporters.

Suitable for

• Family friendly

Website

http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/museums/weston-park/exhibitions/current/treasures

Museums Sheffield has partnered with Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust to create a new permanent display at Weston Park museum.

Using Greno Wood in north Sheffield as an example, Natural Connections explores the links between the diverse species which living teh city's green spaces. Visitors can discover who eats who in a giant food web, featuring specimens from the museum’s collections, and also have the chance to take a closer look at some of the Wood's mini-beasts through an interactive microscope. The display also feature a new animation highlighting the importance of working to protect the wood’s wildlife habitats.

Suitable for

• Family friendly

Website

http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/museums/weston-park/exhibitions/current/natural-connections

Traces of Empire: Decoration and Design in Roman Britain

• 1 December 2014 — 30 October 2015 *on now

In 43 AD, Britain was invaded and became a province of the Roman Empire. However trade, population movement and political alliances meant links had been forged before the invasion.

This new display looks at the change in decoration and style during this period using significant archaeological finds from Museums Sheffield’s collections.

Sheffield & the First World War

• 1 December 2014 — 1 March 2015 *on now

2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, a conflict which impacted on millions of people all over the world. As museums around the UK mark the Centenary, this new exhibition explores Sheffield’s experience of a global tragedy.

Sheffield and the First World War draws on the first hand experiences of Sheffield’s people, both at home and on military service, and tells their stories through objects and documents from the city’s collections. From poignant personal possessions, to mementoes brought back to Sheffield from the front, the exhibition will illustrate the very local and personal impact of the war to end all wars.

Exhibition supported by The Church Burgesses Educational Foundation and the Sheffield Town Trust.

Just 20 miles south east of Sheffield, Creswell Crags was once Europe’s northern frontier of settlement. During this period of great climate change between 50,000 and 10,000 years ago, a series of caves at Creswell provided occasional shelter to nomadic hunters in search of food.

The items these distant relatives left behind tell a story of lives lived on the edge and are the subject of this new exhibition, in partnership with Creswell Heritage Trust. From the remains of long extinct woolly rhinos and mammoths, to the tools and weapons used to hunt them, Life on the Edge will explore the close relationship between Ice Age people and their environment. It will show that despite the daily struggle to survive, our ancestors displayed a taste for creativity and decoration we can recognise today, crafting jewellery, bone carvings and cave paintings to depict the world around them.

Suitable for

• Family friendly

Website

http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/museums/weston-park/exhibitions/coming-soon/life-on-the-edge-ice-age-frontier

Feel history in your hands at our Roman archaeology handling sessions in the History Lab at Weston Park museum.

Suitable for

• Family friendly

Website

http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/whats-on/events/2015/2/roman-discovery-day-handling-session

Museums Sheffield volunteer Claire Ratcliffe gives an insight into the experiences of English nurses in France in the First World War.

In association with the exhibition Sheffield & the First World War, currently on display at Weston Park.

Website

http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/whats-on/events/2015/2/lunchtime-talk-nursing-in-the-first-world-war

Every year many thousands of archaeological objects are discovered by members of the public. Bring along your own archaeological finds to Weston Park museum for identification and recording by your local Finds Liaison Officer, Amy Downes.

Suitable for

• Family friendly

Website

http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/whats-on/events/2015/2/archaeology-finds-afternoon

The battles of the Somme and Verdun raged until November 1916, resulting in over 1.5 million casualties. Dr Merv Lewis of Sheffield Hallam University discusses the characterisation of these battles as material battles, and examines the mobilisation of Britain and Germany’s economies to meet the challenges of the Western Front in 1916.

Website

http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/whats-on/events/2015/2/lunchtime-talk-battles-of-material-verdun-and-the-somme-1916

Join us at Weston Park for our drop-in Discovery Days where Sheffield’s collections inspire the whole family to get creative.

Please note - all children must be accompanied by an adult.

Suitable for

• Family friendly

Website

http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/whats-on/events/2015/4/discovery-days-easter4

Ken Dash, a Friend of Bishops’ House recently undertook a structural survey of Bishops’ House. Join Ken to find out more about the structure and history of the house, one of Sheffield’s hidden Tudor gems.

Website

http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/whats-on/events/2015/2/lunchtime-talk-bishops-house-500-years-of-a-derbyshire-farmhouse

Join Andrew Woods, Curator of Numismatics, York Museums Trust to hear about Roman coin finds from Sheffield and the surrounding area, placing them in their Yorkshire and British context. Andrew will discuss why coins are buried and what they can tell us about life and wealth in Roman Britain.

Website

http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/whats-on/events/2015/3/lunchtime-talk-roman-money-coin-finds-from-sheffield

Dr Nicola Verdon of Sheffield Hallam University will explore the impact of the First World War on the countryside, looking at how changes to food production policy changed life and labour on the land.

Website

http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/whats-on/events/2015/3/lunchtime-talk-the-countryside-at-war-1914-1918