Located at the Junction of Frenchay Park Road and Begbrook Park, in a former lodge of Frenchay Park dating to 1910, the Frenchay Village Museum tells the story of Frenchay and its residents, including a mountain explorer, a Hollywood film star, a chocolate manufacturer and an assistant to Brunel.
"We've been going since April 2000, when a lot of voluntary help and some financial help from the local parish council completely refurbished West Lodge," said Hugh, a volunteer at the museum. "It's the old gateway to the big house, which is at the end of the Lime Tree Avenue.
"Our background is that we are a registered charity called the Frenchay Tuckett Society, and that's because the Tuckett family and other relations, such as the Foxes, the Howards and others were all large Quaker families in Frenchay.
"Our main themes at the museum are people, industry and hospital, plus an occasional visiting exhibition. We're an accredited museum, so we look after our own collection and anyone who loans us anything. Recently we've had some donations as well and they're all properly recorded, and we're going through our catalogue at the moment.
"We have a lot of history going back over several centuries, but we have been focusing on the 19th and 20th century with the Tuckett family and all their various endeavours, and then in the 20th century, the history of the hospital, which closed ten years ago. This year is going to be marking the tenth anniversary of the closure of a much-loved hospital, Frenchay, plus it's the 80th anniversary of the Allies landing in northern France, known as D-Day, and the Americans were here using the hospital during the Second World War."
The museum is free and is open Saturday to Sunday from 2pm to 5pm and Wednesday from 1pm to 4pm.
We were lucky to get a very informative tour of the museum from Hugh, who gave us a summarised and detailed history of the exhibitions.
Overall, the small building is packed with a lot of history around every corner and is fully run by volunteers who will go out of their way to make your visit as memorable as possible.
Here are 63 photos from our visit and what we learnt:
1. Frenchay Village Museum
The museum is located in a former Lodge of Frenchay Park dating to 1910, is free to enter and is open Saturday to Sunday from 2pm to 5pm and Wednesday from 1pm to 4pm.
2. Frederick Tuckett
"In 1994 the local vicar, rector, received an inquiry from New Zealand, from Dunedin, because Tuckett, who is one of our big family names, had gone out to New Zealand and arranged to buy some land and founded Dunedin. In 1994, we had this letter and that is what started all the historical interest and bringing all the Tuckett memorabilia together," Hugh explained. The information board at the museum includes information on Tuckett's journeys around Europe and the USA. He was also given responsibility by Brunel to oversee the construction of part of the Great Western Railway until 1841 when Frederick was appointed Principal Surveyor by the New Zealand Company.
3. Press Cuttings
Press cuttings from the Otago Daily Times from July and August 1994, when Dunedin was marking the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Otago Purchase that had given the settlers title to the land to build the city.
4. Francis and Mariana Tuckett
The portraits of Francis and Marianna Tuckett were restored thanks to the generosity of their great-grandsons, Anthony and Michael Howard.