Art and collections
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Curiosities and inventions in our collections
- Expert curated
The National Trust cares for one of the most significant collections of fine art and heritage objects in the world. Hidden within these collections are little-known but remarkable curiosities and inventions that puzzle, intrigue and enchant visitors, volunteers and staff alike. Take a look at some of the items that featured in the book 100 Curiosities and Inventions from the Collections of the National Trust.
Home comforts
Charles Paget Wade's wooden cat
Charles Paget Wade filled Snowshill Manor in Gloucestershire with his collection, preferring to live in a small cottage in the courtyard. His friend Professor Albert Richardson felt that Wade needed company, but didn’t think his friend was responsible enough to look after a real pet. Instead, he presented Wade with this life-sized wooden cat, which stood on a rug next to the fire. Despite his friend’s doubts, Wade looked after his wooden pet well, replacing its whiskers every year.
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Human touch
A prosthetic lower arm
This prosthetic arm displayed at Cotehele in Cornwall is a remarkable invention. Terrible injuries were inflicted on the battlefields of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, leading surgeons and armourers to collaborate and produce pioneering prostheses. This mechanically functioning hand and lower arm prosthesis has moveable fingers that can be individually locked into place with tiny buttons, allowing a soldier to grip his reins or sword.
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Claim to fame
Sir Winston Churchill's golden winkle shell
In 1900, a group of local fishermen founded the Winkle Club of Hastings. To this day, every member (or ‘Winkler’) is obliged to carry a winkle shell with them. After his retirement in 1955, Sir Winston Churchill was offered countless honours from organisations around the world, many of which he declined. But when his invitation from the Winkle Club arrived, he accepted straight away, saying: ‘This is one thing I want to do.’ He was presented with a golden winkle shell, now kept at Chartwell in Kent.
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Tools of the trade
A message in a bottle
In 2017, archaeology volunteers at Knole in Kent spotted this Perrier bottle under the floorboards. It contained a note, written on Knole paper: ‘Sept 26th 1906. This bottle was dropted [sic] here in the year AD 1906 by S.G. Doggett when these Radiators were put in, also the Hot Water Service.’ The author was identified as Sidney George Doggett, born at Knole and a carpenter there for 62 years. Later, his family generously donated his original toolbox with more than 100 of his tools to the National Trust.
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Understanding the world
A 1900 Benz 'Comfortable'
With leather upholstery and a 3.5 horsepower engine, this Benz was cutting-edge technology for its time. Steam-powered road vehicles had been used since the 1700s, but in 1886 Karl Benz patented the internal combustion engine – changing transport for ever. This Benz was bought in the early 1900s by Maurice Egerton, 4th Baron Egerton of Tatton, who gave it the first registration number in Cheshire: ‘M1’. In 2005 the right to use this registration was sold to support conservation at Tatton Park.
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Feeling playful
The necklace from How the Alphabet Was Made
How the Alphabet Was Made is one of the Just So Stories written by Rudyard Kipling in 1902. It’s the story of how a girl named Taffy and her father Tegumai created the first alphabet, which Tegumai then made into a magic necklace. Sir Percy Bates commissioned a jeweller to create a necklace based on Kipling’s original illustration. In 1928 he gifted the finished necklace to Kipling, who called it ‘absolutely the prettiest and cleverest bit of work I’ve ever seen’.
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A Dalek from Doctor Who
It isn’t every day you see the Time Lord’s greatest enemy in a National Trust house. In 2018, a full-size Dalek glided into the collection at the Children’s Country House at Sudbury in Derbyshire as an example of the impact of television on childhood experiences. Daleks first appeared on screen in 1963 and were an instant hit. Over the years, these extra-terrestrial menaces made regular appearances in the BBC science-fiction television series Doctor Who, becoming a familiar feature of many childhoods.
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Discover more curiosities and inventions hidden within the collections in our care in our new book, 100 Curiosities and Inventions from the Collections of the National Trust by Assistant Curator Katie Knowles.
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