Red Boxes Gallery
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Unboxing England’s Histories…
About the project
2019 marked the 120th anniversary of the Victoria County History (VCH): an ongoing project to write the history of every county in England, from the earliest times to the present day.
To celebrate, counties across England have each filled a special VCH Red Box – referencing the iconic VCH series of Red Books – with objects which tell the history of their place in quirky, surprising, and often personal ways. From musket balls to sari fabrics to a pinch of mustard, please enjoy exploring these objects and their rich and colourful stories.
Selected objects are on display at the Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, London (November 2019 – February 2020). The full Red Boxes collection is below, in a permanent virtual exhibition, with all object captions. Scroll down the page to view the full captions as PDFs.
Thank you to all who participated in this national public history project.
Thank you also to the Victoria County History Trust for funding the Red Boxes project, and to our partners, the Being Human Festival.
Cumbria
Find out more about The Victoria County History of Cumberland
What's in our red box?
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Lead ore
Iron ore
Letter from the Cumbrian artist Percy Kelly (1918-1993) to the poet Norman Nicolson (1914-1987), 18 October 1971
Coniston manor court admittance
'Herdy' sheep mouse mat
A-Z Visitors' Map of the Lake District
Sample of Herdwick wool carpet
A map of the liberty of Furness by William Brasier, 1745, copied by T. Richardson, 1772
Postcard showing 'The Giant's Thumb, Penrith' by W.G. Collingwood (1920)
Squirrel Nutkin badge
Furness Multi Cultural Community Forum message bug
Durham
Find out more about The Victoria County History of Durham
What's in our red box?
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Wool
Leather and painting
Advertising playing card
Miner carved in coal
'Geordie’ lamp
The Durham Argus butterfly
Mustard seeds/paste
Durham Cathedral commemorative tea spoon
Railways commemorative mug
Piece of galena (lead ore)
Essex
Find out more about The Victoria County History of Essex
What's in our red box?
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Roman tessera
The Prittlewell Prince
Timber-framed belfry
15th century timber-framed house
Saffron bulbs
Plume Library
A Martello Tower
Who do you think you are?
Blue Essex sky
Maldon salt
Tiptree jam
A Marconi valve
A Ford Popular
Mistley Man’s Log
Radio Caroline
Matchbox
A Mersea Native oystershell and a rock oystershell
Textile sample
Gloucestershire
Find out more about The Victoria County History of Gloucestershire
What's in our red box?
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Cider with Rosie
Tree-ring dated timber core
Photograph of a newly shorn sheep and a sample of handspun wool
Cheese packaging and a scrap of cheesecloth
Postcard of Tewkesbury Abbey and the flooded meadow
Westonbirt Arboretum
Postcard of Edward II's tomb, Gloucester cathedral
Gloucester Rugby shirt
Duck letter opener
Glosters back badge
Promotional pack of playing cards
Dowty World, January 1992
Hampshire
Find out more about The Victoria County History of Hampshire
What's in our red box?
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Hampshire hog
Langdon’s map of Mapledurwell
Civil War musket balls
Basingstoke geology map
Clay and chalk
Teasel and sheep’s wool
Basingstoke Canal token
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Gabardine sample with label
Wallis & Steevens steamroller model
Model of Mighty Antar
Fishing flies
Basingstoke Boy
Model chamois goat
Herefordshire
Find out more about The Victoria County History of Herefordshire
What's in our red box?
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Cartridge Cases
Mappa Mundi Tea Towel
Book cover ‘Observations on the River Wye' by William Gilpin
Goodrich Castle Globe
Wye Valley Beer Bottle
Apples
Leicestershire
Find out more about The Victoria County History of leicestershire
What's in our red box?
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Flint tools
Jewry Wall excavation
Potters Marston ware
Discovery of Richard III
Swithland slate
Cleave for osiers
Soot from Glenfield tunnel
Melton Mowbray pork pie
Last for a child's shoe
Griswold needles
Ladybird book
Knitted fabric swatches
Jet engine
Sari fabric
Middlesex
Find out more about The Victoria County History of Middlesex
What's in our red box?
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Butcher’s hook
Swatch of cloth
One penny piece
Stethoscope
Cap of Liberty
Miniature gavel
Cricket ball
Oyster card
Mind Your Own Middlesex
Passport to Pimlico
Kathak jewellery set
Norfolk
Find out more about The Victoria County History of Norfolk
What's in our red box?
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Rosie's plaques
Lotus car
Our Lady of Walsingham pilgrim badge, 15th century (replica)
Flint
Revelation of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich
Northamptonshire
Find out more about The Victoria County History of Northamptonshire
What's in our red box?
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Miniature lighthouse
Garden gnome
A fox
Murder in the Cathedral
Nottinghamshire
Find out more about The Victoria County History of Nottinghamshire
What's in our red box?
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A 'Robin Hood' Hat.
Boot tablet bottle
First page of the piano conductor’s copy of The Dam Busters March
Sons and Lovers
Postcard Pilgrim Country
The Dukeries
Civil War coin
The Bramley Apple window in Southwell Minster
The Trent river
Toy tractor
Festival of Britain Glass
Trent Bridge Cricket Ground ticket holder
Nottingham Lion Fridge magnet
Wollaton Hall
Nottingham Lace
Framework knitting
Coal
Gypsum ashtray
Telecommunications nameplate
Wooden Goose
Oxfordshire
Find out more about The Victoria County History of Oxfordshire
What's in our red box?
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Phial of Thames river water
Fragment of Cotswold limestone rubble
Chiltern flints
An ox
Tourist souvenir keyring, showing St George’s Tower, Oxford Castle
A (modern) quill and an Oxford University tourist badge
Wooden shuttle
Oak leaves from Wychwood Forest
Piece of Stonesfield slate (with peg hole)
Morris dancing bell pad (c.1977-83)
Victorian clay pipe bulb
Martin-Baker Aircraft Co. ‘Ejection Tie’ and ejection handle keyring
Oxfordshire tourist leaflets, August 2019
Shropshire
Find out more about The Victoria County History of Shropshire
What's in our red box?
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Unwashed flax
Shropshire fleece from Kenley
Model of the Ironbridge
A piece of Shropshire limestone
Shropshire Agricultural Show programme
The Origin of Species
Billington’s Gingerbread
Leaflets and paper bag
Somerset
Find out more about The Victoria County History of Somerset
What's in our red box?
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Watchet Alabaster
Plesiosaur Vertebra
Devil’s Toenail
Donyatt Potsherds
Starkey, Knight and Ford Beer Bottle
Wiltshire
Find out more about The Victoria County History of Wiltshire
What's in our red box?
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Kodak folding camera c.1940
Police whistle
Chalk pieces
Wool
Butter pat
Lardy Cake recipe, taken form a secondary school cookbook of the 1950s
Map - ancient
Map - modern
Model mail coach and horses
Remembrance Cross
Prehistoric flint artefacts
Plastic duck to represent the dabchick (Little Grebe)
Wiltshire flag
Weaving loom shuttle
Model toy steam train