Carisbrooke Castle Museum
Carisbrooke Castle Museum is an independent Trust run museum, Accredited by the
Museums, Libraries & Archives Council. It operates within Carisbrooke Castle which is
run by English Heritage. The museum is engaged in collecting and interpreting material
relating to the history of the Isle of Wight, and helps provide educational activities in
partnership with the Isle of Wight Council’s Heritage Education Service.
In support of its operation the museum receives an annual fixed sum from English
Heritage for which the museum provides a number of displays relevant to the Castle. As
such the museum is not allowed to levy an admission charge, run a shop or provide
catering, which are all functions of English Heritage. The Isle of Wight Council allocate
funding towards the museum hosting the Heritage Education Service. Other income has
to be raised by the museum by a variety of fundraising means.
The Trust is managed by 12 trustees, and the museum is run by 5 part-time employees, of
whom the senior employee is the Curator. Regular help is also provided by volunteers
both front-of-house and in work on the collections. The museum is supported by a
Friends organisation with over 200 members which is a separate Charitable Trust.
The Museum was founded by HRH Princess Beatrice, Queen Victoria’s youngest
daughter in 1898, as a memorial to her late husband Prince Henry of Battenberg, and it
was originally set up in the gatehouse of the castle. The museum attracted important
exhibits into the collections in its early years, including Charles I relics from Queen
Victoria, and collections from a number of defunct island museums.
In February 1944 shortly before her death, Princess Beatrice appointed a committee of
Trustees to look after the museum which by this time had outgrown the space available in
the gatehouse. The Trustees obtained permission from George VI to relocate the museum
to the Governor’s House (our present building) and in 1951 the new displays of island
history and archaeology were opened in the new premises.
Forty years later the museum once again had to revise its approach as collections began
to outstrip the available accommodation in the Governor’s House. This led to the transfer
of the archaeology collections into the care of the Isle of Wight Council, and to a revised
display plan (with us today) in which the Lower Gallery was given over to exhibits
illustrating the medieval history of the Castle, and Upper Gallery to island history.
Our extensive collections include militaria (nb Isle of Wight Rifles); costume and
costume accessories; local lace and samplers; local crafts and industries; toys and games;
household objects; scientific material (nb Milne Collection); holiday souvenirs; clocks
and watches; coins and tokens; documents; photographs; paintings and engravings. Only
a representative selection of the material (1.8% of the collections) can be exhibited at any
one time. The collections are all catalogued on a computerised database, to which images
are presently being added. A museum library is maintained comprising useful reference
books and local history material, which can be consulted by visitors by appointment.