 The building from the front | |
  Shown in Kent | |
| Established | 1899 Closed for refurbishment 2009−2012 |
|---|---|
| Location | 18 High Street,Canterbury,Kent CT1 2RA,England |
| Type | Museum,art gallery,library,regimental museum |
| Public transit access | Rail:Canterbury West,Canterbury East Buses:National Express,Stagecoach |
| Website | Beaney House of Art and Knowledge |
TheBeaney House of Art and Knowledge is the central museum, library and art gallery of the city ofCanterbury,Kent,England. It is housed in a Grade IIlisted building. The building, museum and art gallery are owned and managed byCanterbury City Council;Kent County Council is thelibrary authority. These authorities work in partnership withstakeholders and funders.[1]
TheTudor Revival Beaney Institute building was designed byarchitect and Citysurveyor A.H. Campbell in 1897 and opened on 11 September 1899 at a cost of £15,000, after DrJames George Beaney left £10,000 toCanterbury for the institute, andCanterbury City Council added £5,000 so that Beaney's institute could accommodate the city's existing museum and library, which was transferred to the Beaney Institute building with the added name "Royal" in 1898. That existing museum and library had originated on Guildhall Street in 1825 as the Canterbury Philosophical and Literary Institution, been bought by theCity in 1846 and was established as the Canterbury Museum and Public Library in 1858; the Guildhall Street building in Sun Yard now contains the local branch ofDebenhams and bears ablue plaque.[1][2] Beaney was a colourful character, whose professional life was beset by controversy with the Melbourne medical establishment.[3] His bequest was left for "the erection and endowment of an institute for working men" in which his own portraits were to be hung in the main hall.[2] Canterbury would have received another £60,000 from the residue of his will, however Beaney made up his differences with Melbourne and by the end of his life a codicil was added so that Melbourne received the £60,000.[3]
The public contribution to the Institute's fittings included £1,050 from Joshua Cox, and a gift from the Slater family enabled the 1934 Slater wing with art gallery to be built at the back.[4] The free library and reading rooms were on the ground floor; the museum and art gallery were on the first floor; the basement contained the natural history department, storage and workroom. Themahoganycases came from theBritish Museum, paid for by W. Oxenden Hammond and a Miss Lawrence, and adapted by Cubitts. TheVictoria and Albert Museum andRoyal Doulton lent items for display.[1][2]
From at least 1899 to 1913,Francis Bennett-Goldney (1865−1918) was the honorary curator, with Henry Thomas Mead as assistant or deputy curator and librarian and Henry Fielding as secretary.[2] Between 1913 and 2008, the library stock increased from 12,000 volumes to two million including 17th- and 18th-century texts, maps, local Media and directories. It was designed with rooms for newspapers and journals, and a magazine room as well as lending and reference libraries. The 200 Scott-Robinson books about Kent are part of thelocal history collection.[2][5] In the 1944 filmA Canterbury Tale, the Beaney Institute building was directorMichael Powell's inspiration for the Colpeper Institute.[6] TheJoseph Conradcentenary was celebrated there in 1957, with an exhibition of his books and papers.[2]
There was an exhibition ofGiles cartoons in the gallery from 20 December 2006 to 3 February 2007.[7] For a century there has been a tradition ofpavement art in front of the building. Craig Taylor was among the last in this tradition, and after his death in 2009 the public left floral tributes on the pavement.[8]
Together with the associated project to redevelop theMarlowe Theatre site, the Beaney's 2009–2012 refurbishment was intended to "transform that part of the city centre into a vibrant cultural quarter".[9] Bidding started in 2003.[10] TheHeritage Lottery Fund granted the project £6.5 million for redevelopment of building and services to provide space, facilities, displays, an extension, disabled access, a glass lift and educational spaces. Extra space would permit display of those collections previously hidden from public view.[11] The intention was also to extend the gallery and provide further galleries for exhibitions.
Plans for the library included an enlarged space for books and for a children's library andlocal studies centre, with a space for teenagers. Local people including teachers were involved with planning.[12]Canterbury City Council,Kent County Council, private sources and donations made up the project funding to £11.5 million, with theSouth East England Development Agency (SEEDA) contributing £975,000.[5][11] Planners were John Miller & Partners; architects were Sidell Gibson who oversaw restoration ofWindsor Castle after thefire;[13] interior designers are Casson Mann, who have devised a theme of "explorer points".[14]
From 30 January to 28 February 2009 the Museum held aHungry for Heritage exhibition, supported by a £24,700 grant from theHeritage Lottery Fund, in which local young people created pictures of the soon-to-be-missed exhibits. These pictures were to be displayed in Canterbury cafes while the Beaney was closed.[15] The building closed for refurbishment on 28 February 2009.[15] By 8 June 2009 the two councils had cleared out all exhibits, partitions and office material from the building, exposing the colours of early decorations in the process. They had great difficulty in removingSidney Cooper's hugeCharlie the Bull from the stairwell.[16] The project attracted some controversy.[13] Anarchaeological dig by theCanterbury Archaeological Trust started on the site of the new extension in September 2009.[17]
During refurbishment the library's lending service continued temporarily atEde's Garage, 35 Pound Lane. The stock at Pound Lane included books for adults, children and teenagers; computer facilities;DVDs,CDs,talking books and a reducedreference section.Baby Bounce and Rhyme andStory Time sessions for children continued, along with other community services. Part of thelocal studies library was accessible at theCathedral Archives until 2012.[18] On one day in May 2009 at theDane John Gardens, Kent Libraries & Archives staged aLark in the Park educational entertainment event to publicise the library's move from the Beaney to the Pound Lane location.[19] The building reopened in 2012.
The gallery is known for its collection of works by local artists includingThomas Sidney Cooper and his relatives Thomas George Cooper andWilliam Sidney Cooper.[20] It also containedOld Masters and Europeanoils from the 16th century onwards.[5] The De Zoete collection of English and Dutch artists was given by Gerard Frederick de Zoete (1850-1932) in 1906.[21][22] The museum originally had aVan Dyck painting ofJames I's daughter and aBurne-JonesWheel of Fortune inoils. It has a collection ofengravings andprints of old Canterbury, given by Dr Pugin Thornton and J. Henniker Heaton, besides the Ingram collection of engravings and drawings ofIndia, and the Godfrey collection of oldItalian engravings.[2] In the gallery's collection are paintings from theNorwich School and byAdrian Scott Stokes, besides a 16th-century portrait ofChaucer, twoJacob Epstein portrait busts and one byHenry Weekes.[20] One of the last important acquisitions wasSir Basil Dixwell byVan Dyck bought for £1 million by Canterbury on behalf of the museum in 2004.[23][24] During the refurbishment, these exhibits were either in storage, with specialist conservators for remedial work, or on short term display at theMuseum of Canterbury until 2012, where the Van Dyck could be seen.[25]
The original collections included English and Europeanceramics withorientalporcelain as well asAnglo-Saxon grave jewellery from Kent.[5] It hadmounted wildlife bequeathed by S. R. Lushington, and the Hammond bird collection bequeathed in 1903. The large, 18th century chandelier in the basement room came from thecathedral. It had geological and natural history collections, and the ethnological collection originally included threeMāoritattooed heads, which were returned toNew Zealand in the 1990s.[25] It had two fourth or fifth-centuryrunestones fromSandwich, one of which hadRaehaebul engraved on it, possibly as aheadstone; in which case these might be the oldestJutish tombstones yet found.[2][26] It hadAncient Greekbas relief tablets.[27]
Also in the original collection was St Augustine's Chair, fromStanford Bishop church inHerefordshire. This is not theChair of St Augustine but was thought to be whereSt Augustine sat when he received the British bishops atAugustine's Oak, 602-604 AD. It was rescued by James Johnston from the church during restorations and given to the museum in 1899 by his son. The chair remains part of the collection but was lent to Stanford Bishop church in 1943, and latest research suggests an 18th-century origin.[25] Beside it was a 14th-century chair said to have been taken fromNotre Dame de Paris during theFrench Revolution. One of the museum's prized possessions was the Burghmote Horn, said to have called thecorporation to assembly from the time ofHenry III until 1835. It also had themunicipalmaces of the extinct corporation ofFordwich, as well aspilgrims' tokens used as souvenirs of the shrine ofThomas Becket. In 1975 the museum was given the ancient helmet ofSt Alphege Church.[2]
Its collections ofprehistoric implements andRoman andAnglo-Saxon antiquities found in Canterbury,Thanet andEast Kent have since been shared with local museums: for example the nearly perfectAnglo-Saxon glass beaker with hollow tears found atReculver is now atHerne Bay Museum. Much of theRomano-British pottery and glass found in Canterbury is now at theRoman Museum.[2] The remaining collections are currently stored at theMuseum of Canterbury, with some objects on display.[18]
In the 1960s the archives of theBuffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) were in theWest Gate Towers Museum but they moved to the Buffs Gallery at Beaney House in 1978.[28] The Beaney included a room on the regiment's history from the 16th century to 1961, when the regiment was amalgamated with thePrincess of Wales's Royal Regiment. Ownership of the Buffs collection and archives was transferred to theNational Army Museum in London in 2000. The collection is now stored by that Museum, with some objects on display at its base in Chelsea and some in the new displays at the Beaney itself.[29] The collection includes pictures, trophies,mess silver, uniforms, weapons and medals includingVictoria Crosses telling stories of campaigns fromNorth Africa andBurma toFrance andGermany.[30] It also includes some material onEast Kent'sVolunteers andMilitia.[31]
51°16′46″N1°04′45″E / 51.27944°N 1.07917°E /51.27944; 1.07917 (Royal Museum and Art Gallery)
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