Cater Museum

The Cater Museum is a small local museum in Billericay, in the English county of Essex.

Cater Museum
The Cater Museum in Billericay High Street
Established7 May 1960 (1960-05-07)
Location74 High Street, Billericay, England
Coordinates51.625231°N 0.417476°E / 51.625231; 0.417476
TypeLocal museum
Websitecatermuseum.co.uk

The museum was established by Alice May Cater, in honour of her late husband William Alexander Cater who was a local antiquarian. It was opened to the public on 7 May 1960.[1] The museum is a registered charity and is located at 74 High Street, Billericay.[2] It lies within a Grade II listed, 18th Century, red-brick-fronted building.[3]

The museum stores numerous local artefacts over three floors, including information on local families and buildings.[4] Amongst the artefacts are: reports of the Zeppelin that was downed in the area during World War I; the remains of a three-headed lamb born in the area;[5] and the door of the house once owned by Christopher Martin, who was a passenger aboard the Mayflower.[6]

In 2002, a Victorian kitchen garden was opened at the rear of the museum[7] where a number of Elizabethan herbs were planted.[8] In 2008, the museum received £41,000 of Nationsl Lottery funding [9] to carry out renovation of the rear of the building to restore it to its original 18th century character. While this renovation was being carried out, a number of artefacts were discovered in the garden, some dating from around the 1860s. Items included Victorian pipes, ginger beer jars and medicine bottles; many of these were added to the museum's collection.[10]

References
  1. "Cater Museum" (PDF). Billericay Town Crier. Billericay Town Council. April 2010. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 October 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  2. The Cater Museum. "Charity overview". apps.charitycommission.gov.uk. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  3. England, Historic. "74A, 74 AND 74B, HIGH STREET, Billericay - 1338384 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  4. Wade, Liz (26 March 2010). "The Cater Museum, Billericay". Yellow Advertiser. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  5. Newsdesk. "What makes Billericay so great? | The Enquirer Newspaper". Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  6. "The fiery merchant of the Mayflower". Echo. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  7. "Billericay: Museum's insight into bygone era of town". Evening Echo. 25 September 2002. Retrieved 13 December 2018 – via NewsBank.
  8. Miners, Mike (1 November 2006). "Mourners bid farewell to friend of museum". Billericay Weekly News. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  9. "Development for the Return of the Cater Museum to its Historic Rear Aspect | Heritage Lottery Fund". www.hlf.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2018-11-04. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  10. Kershaw, James (9 July 2008). "Museum dig unearths Victorian treasures". Evening Echo. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
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