Behind The Scenes Blog
Almost everyday is different at Colchester + Ipswich Museums. To help showcase the variety of skills we need, our staff are revealing what they get up to…
Latest Blogs

Reflections on Roman Glass
By Lib Fox, Projects and Development Lead * Click on the photos below to visit our Collections Online database and discover more. * OK, full disclosure, I’m not an expert in Roman glass. In fact, I’m not an expert in Roman anything. My role at the museum involves...

Under Siege!
By Ben Paites, Collections + Learning Curator 2023 marks the 375th anniversary of the Siege of Colchester, a terrible part of Colchester’s long and complex history. The siege began during the Second English Civil war in 1648, a period where England was torn in two....

The Castle as a Cushion
By Liz Lee Reynolds, Colchester Museums Cushion Volunteer Since moving to Colchester, I have been enchanted by the history which seems to hide around every corner of this well-established settlement. Though sometimes easily overlooked, history feels deeply embedded in...

Rage Recycling
By Sam Gray, Duty Officer for Colchester Museums At Colchester + Ipswich Museums we try and find ways to minimise waste and recycle where possible. We already have good systems in place at Colchester Castle to manage a lot of our everyday waste, but sometimes we need...

Green Wins for Earth Day
By Lib Fox, Project Coordinator Our team are always looking for ways to be a bit greener so, with Earth Day coming up on Saturday 22nd April, we wanted to share some of the highlights from the last year. Packing up Ipswich MuseumSince Ipswich Museum closed in...

Hollytree Cushion Project update 2023
By Megan Fowler, Visitor Information Assistant It has been a short *checks calendar* eight months since my last update on the Hollytrees Cushion Project – so I thought it was about time I shared the news of our progress! Myself and a group of volunteers from Stitch...

A Wall of Names
By Karl Anthony Mercer, Curating for Change Trainee * Discover more by visiting our Wicked Spirits collection online. * A wall of names. You may have heard of a few, perhaps they were noteworthy enough to make it into chronicles, local legend or broader narratives....

The Hunt for the Oldest Mammoth DNA in Europe
Will 200,000-year-old mammoth teeth from Suffolk contain DNA?By Dr. Simon Jackson, Collections and Learning Curator, Ipswich Museums This is what we hope to find out from specimens held at Ipswich Museum. The research is being led by Centre for Palaeogenetics...

Rare Roman anchor from North Sea windfarm site comes to Ipswich Museum
By Anna Mercer, Senior Collections and Learning Curator For one day only, on Tuesday 27th September, visitors to Ipswich Museum will be able to see a rare Roman anchor, which was discovered during the construction of the East Anglia One Windfarm site off the coast of...

A Whale Tale from Red Crag Barnacles
Humpback Whales in the Ancient Seas of Suffolk?By Dr. Simon Jackson, Collections and Learning Curator, Ipswich Museums Recently we welcomed Professor Andy Gale from the University of Portsmouth who is studying the diversity of barnacles preserved in the Suffolk rocks...