Museums and Collections: NAM and Delapre

A couple of visits worthy of mention over the last few months …

Just before Christmas I was down at the National Army Museum in Chelsea – worthy of a blog entry in itself.

It’s a mixture of traditional exhibits from almost anywhere and anytime with more up-to-date and politically correct meditations on the nature and impact of conflict.

And a timeline of the British Army, of course …

Whilst I was there, in addition to the permanent collection, there was an fascinating exhibition of military art … tracking the history and themes through time.  Very much what I have been doing though much of it more modern than my current topics.

Here’s a look at the detail in this massive and meticulous scene from the Raj …

… and a classic example of lost commander pathos …

These are scenes intended to convey the meaning and emotion of the event – not to be taken as a ‘photographic’ record of the event.

Waterloo Uncovered

For the toy soldier enthusiast, of course, one of the prime exhibits will always be Siborne’s Waterloo.

… and, indeed, Waterloo was the purpose of my visit: TV’s Dr Tony Pollard (2 Men in a Trench; Nazi Megastructures etc.) is closely involved in Waterloo Uncovered – the archaeological project for combat veterans (follow the link) and had organised a meeting to launch/trial an idea for a massive wargame.

Here’s me. the Perrys and a few others from the team trying out a conventionally sized wargame.

… with obvious exceptions, most were not wargamers, so this was to see if reconstructing the battle with model soldiers would actually work for them as well as to kick off Tony’s dream of an impossibly big version.

You may well have read about this in WSS, but the plan is to recreate the battle as a Guinness Book of Records attempt at Glasgow University on the anniversary next year …

Delapre Abbey

(a scene from the opening festivities at Delapre Abbey)

Finally a brief word on the progress at Delapre Abbey in Northampton.   It is mostly out of the P.B.Eye-Candy period but will go nicely with my Museums thread and is now open to the public.

It is an immaculately refurbished country house on the original site of the nunnery beside which the battle of Northampton was fought – and features Battlefield Rooms in which I and colleagues at Northampton Battlefields Society were able to make an input.

Although there will inevitably be disappointments, a new battlefield interpretation facility is something to praise to the rafters – so here’s a brief look …

The best book on the battle remains Mike’s volume published by the battlefields society.  You can get it from us at an event or at Amazon (perversely not from the Museum shop – which is a whole other story) …

Apologies if WordPress mailed out the link before I completed the revisions – that happens sometimes.

Links:

The National Army Museum

Waterloo Uncovered

Delapre Abbey

Northampton Battlefields Society