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koshkha, 12.03.2007] I live in a part of the country that could fairly be described as 'quaint' or 'quiet' or even 'pretty'. It should therefore come as no surprise that its also - at times - a bit dull. In fact, I'd go as far as to suggest that Northamptonshire and the southern end of the neighbouring county of Leicestershire are actually pretty much closed during the winter months. In the summer we are bursting with stately homes a-plenty but nothing opens before Easter. The gentry of the area are clearly in hibernation - probably tucked up with their fox hounds and saving on their heating bills.
The weekend before last I had a visitor - a young lady you might have spotted on this site by the name of Lilbubze. Lauren is visiting the UK from Colorado. Her father 1krispy1 is someone I've known for a few years. We met when we were both working for a company that subsequently made both of us redundant , so its a friendship forged in adversity. So when I heard that Lauren was coming to the UK, I invited her to take a weekend away from the noise and grime of London and head out to the green rolling countryside of the East Midlands.
Lauren duly arrived laden down with a large amount of dirty laundry and I started to panic about what to do with a 20 year old on a March Saturday. We kicked off the day with a very twee coffee morning at my neighbours' house where everyone I asked recommended that Market Harborough was THE place to go, and one old dear told us about the Harborough museum and its fascinating collection of corsets. How could we resist?
So after filling up on home made cake and buying a few raffle tickets and unnecessary nick-nacks (all in a good cause) we set off the small town of Market Harborough. It's not much of an expedition for me as its my standard shopping venue. However I had never been to the museum in fact, I hadnt even realised there was one.
The Museum
The museum is tucked behind the library and the local council offices in a converted factory building - a corset factory no less - on the delightfully named Adam and Eve Street. Entering through a large arch, the museum is on the left-hand side and there's parking to the right. The museum is accessed up a flight of stairs so if you are in a wheelchair or can't manage stairs, you'll need to enter through the council offices back on the main street where there's a lift available. If you are planning to visit on a Sunday and can't manage the stairs you should call ahead to make sure you can get access to the lift.
First impressions
The museum is about the size of a small library. It's all on one floor and easy to see everything in about 30-45 minutes. It focuses on the history of Market Harborough and the surrounding areas and has a distinctly eclectic set of exhibits.
On first entering we ploughed straight into an exhibition on the womens Land Army during the second world war then on past a display of hats (including a big basket of assorted head gear for kids to play with).
There was a display about being in domestic service in the early 20th Century with an interactive assessment tool to determine what sort of domestic job you could have expected to get based on such criteria as whether you were from a good family; in good health; strong and a hard worker? Even with all that going for you, you'd most likely end up as a general servant. There were examples of old domestic equipment such as an early washing machine, old-style water closets and so on. By this stage you should be feeling pretty pleased about being born too late to get dragged into such delights.
Local Industry
A lot of the displays relate to local industry. Like its southern neighbour, Northampton, Market Harborough had a shoe making industry. The museum has a replica of a shoemakers workshop complete with all the equipment and the wooden shoe lasts. Theres also a small display of shoes and boots through the ages - some of which I'd be more than happy to have taken home with me if only I had the dainty paws of a bygone age.
For me the highlight of the collection was the display of corsetry in the Symington collection. There were children's vests and liberty bodices alongside old advertising statues. The ladies' under-garments ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous via the positively torturous and tracked the changes in the desired body shape through time. From the tiny waists of the pre-first world war era, through to the bust flattening fashions of the post war flappers, on to the parachute silk undies of the 'make-do-and-mend' generation during the second world war fabric rationing. There were contraptions I remember my mother wearing - did anyone else spend their childhood fascinated by the 18-hour Girdle, I wonder - and some very jazzy 1970s psychedelic big pants. Decade by decade waists went in, hips went out and boobs went every which way.
I sucked in my tummy and thanked my lucky stars to have missed out on the body fascism of the past that had kept women in their place just as much as any employment legislation or absence of the right to vote. Anyone who thinks today's debates on skinny models are something new should take a trip round the corset display at Harborough museum.
The museum has a set of brass Swedish maidens. These headless, limbless torso moulds with their tight waists and oddly asymmetric forms were used to steam the starched corsets to create the ideal body shape of their time. There are also samples of the machinery used and the highly uncomfortable machinists sewing stools from the Symington factory.
Its not all work and no play though - there's a small display of children's street toys from an era when a hoop, a stick and a spinning top could still captivate a child's imagination as fully as any playstation game would today. I believe most of them came from the confiscation cupboard at St Dionysius Church, just down the road. Its also not all 20th Century history - there is a display of Roman mosaic flooring thats suffered centuries of rather slap-dash maintenance.
Other facilities
Theres a small shop with post cards and nick-nacks, a visitors' book, lots of pamphlets about local issues like composting (!) and an information desk.
Would I Recommend?
To be entirely honest, its not the sort of museum thats going to set the world alight. I'm actually more of a fan of the Northampton Museum and its enormous shoe collection than I am of the tiny Haborough museum BUT if you are passing, if it's the 'down' season for all the stately homes, if its raining and all the cutesy tea shops are full to bursting, you could do a lot worse than a quick half hour in the museum. Its free, its central and its a pleasant diversion when youve run out of other things to do.
Other Recommendations
Pop into St Dionysius Church just down the road - its rather a nice one. We found a lady who insisted on showing us round, pointing out all the best things to see and telling us lots about the history of the place. Other than that, have a nice afternoon tea, tuck into a good cake and try not to think about the corsets!
The Details:
Address:
Council Offices, Adam & Eve Street,
Market Harborough LE16 7AG
Telephone: 01858 821085
Admission Free!
Opening hours
10 am to 4.30 pm Monday to Saturday
2 pm to 5 pm on Sundays.
The Museum is closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Years Day, Good Friday and the last full week of January.
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