Our Collections

Smuggler

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The museum's collection comprises artefacts relating to the Borough of Ashford and its people.

The collection is represented by a number of displays including:

• A pre-historic collection starting with a 200 million year old dinosaur leg bone found in 2001 at Washford farm.
• Artefacts from the Neolithic, Romano- Briton and Anglo-Saxon periods.
• The First World War having a central feature of ‘Life in the Trenches‘, and photos of some who never returned.
• World War Two including information on the Prisoner of War camps within the Borough.
• An excellent display on the lost businesses of Ashford showing items and photos of those firms.

• Medical instruments from the old Ashford and cottage hospitals.
• Railway memorabilia including artefacts from the railway and works, photographs and two model railways to recall the important role that railways played in the towns history.
• Ashford Market, one of the oldest in the country, started in the 13^th century by Royal charter.
• The military history of the town.
• Smuggling and the lives and demise of the ‘Aldington Gang’.

Our touch screen media unit has information about our first floor exhibits (the first floor is currently closed to visitors), the stories behind some other exhibits and some clips from the recordings of interviews taken during research for the "All Change for Ashford" performance.