Guest Blog Post: Malton Museum Reopens for the 2024 Season
Article written by the Malton Museum Press Office, 36 Yorkersgate, Malton, YO17 7AB.
Image credit: Malton Museum
The Malton Museum reopened with a new exhibition on Saturday 30th March 2024 - the highlight of the exhibition this year are Iron Age (800BC – 43AD) sword and spear heads from a burial in Pocklington. The display will tell the story of the warrior and his weapons and is being loaned to us by locally-based firm MAP Archaeological Practice. Malton Museum would also like to thank developer Barret-David Wilson Homes for the loan of this exciting artefact.
The find was made in Burnby Lane, Pocklington and consisted of a deep grave with the skeleton of a young adult male warrior, 18-25 years old. The iron sword in a wooden scabbard had been laid across his torso, extending upwards over the lower left arm. A group of five spear-heads had been positioned along the back, four parallel with the spine and one at the lower back at right angles. It is thought this ritual spear placement is equivalent to a modern-day gun salute.
Iron Age (800BC – 43AD) sword
The sword is 760mm (2ft 5 inches) long with a blade of just over 610mm (2 feet) and an organic hilt with a horn grip. Two ovoid washers, one close to the hilt guard and the second by the pommel, can still be seen.
This is year 2 of our three-year exhibition exploring “A Sense of Place”. It highlights objects which tell stories of the heritage of our two towns and how the towns have changed to become what we see today.
This year we plan to have more objects on display which have not been seen since moving from the old museum. New this year is a collection of jet. Whitby jet has been used for decoration over thousands of years, but it was most popular during the Roman and Victorian eras. Our Roman collection of jet has indicated that the Romans were probably manufacturing jet pieces here. A call out to the local community for examples of Victorian or modern jet brought some interesting pieces which will also be on display.
A new venture this year is a simulation of a 1930s farmhouse dairy. It shows lots of objects people will recognise from the past, but will they know how important butter was to Malton in times gone by?
We hope that this year’s exhibition will attract families to visit. There are many more activities for children to explore, including dressing up, a mini dig and an I-Spy trail. And one of our favourite exhibits – the imprint of a child’s foot from the villa at Langton – will be on display for the first time in many years.
Finally, we are linking up with the local Masonic Lodge which is also housed within the Milton Rooms. They are putting on a display in the Museum highlighting some of their interesting objects and the work that the Lodge carries out locally.
Malton Museum re-opens on Easter Saturday 30th March at 10:30 a.m. and will be open on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays until the end of October.
Find out more about the Malton Museum here: https://www.maltonmuseum.co.uk/
The Malton Museum’s popular Roman Festival will also be taking place again this year on 21st July: https://www.maltonmuseum.co.uk/roman-festival-2024/