Treasure Troves: Cheddar Brooch

Court House Retirement Home, Cheddar

As part of the wider Trust’s work surrounding the Cheddar Brooch, we felt it was important to hear from local people about their own precious objects. We facilitated several sessions at Court House Retirement Home where we showed participants objects from our stores at the Somerset Heritage Centre and encouraged conversations about their memories. 

Later, we took the Cheddar Brooch to Court House Retirement Home to give residents the opportunity to see the Brooch in person and to ask the finder, Iain Sansome, questions about the story of his amazing discovery. Residents enjoyed this experience and allowed us to take photographs and record stories about their own precious objects. 

During these sessions we collected a number of photographs and stories from residents about their precious objects, including their own brooches. Browse some of the photographs below, followed by an audio piece.

Close up photograph of a woman's hand holding a tiny, old photograph of a couple.
A woman holding a World War 2 soldiers book to the camera with both hands.
An elderly woman holding a small photograph of a group of women from her younger days to the camera.
A woman holding an old photograph of some soldiers stood in a line.
A man holding a large family portrait up to the camera.
A man holding an old letter/document up to the camera.
An elderly woman's hand holding a tiny heart shaped locket, showing a photograph of each of her parents.
Someone holding an old photograph, showing some children and adults sat around a desk.
Court House recordings transcriptDownload

Cheddar Brooch Discovery Day, The Arts Quarter, Cheddar

We also facilitated a Cheddar Brooch Discovery Day with the help of the Cheddar Arts Quarter and other local artists. This aimed to engage families and people of all ages in creative activities themed around the Brooch, providing an opportunity for residents of Cheddar to see the Brooch in person and hear about Mr Sansome’s experience.

  • Discovering the Brooch – Finder Iain Sansome gave a talk to participants describing his experience with finding the Cheddar Brooch and his time as a detectorist.
  • Mythical Creatures – In this activity, artist Julia McKenzie facilitated a print making session, creating images of Wyverns using different textures and materials. Wyverns are one of the animals featured in the design of the Cheddar Brooch.
  • Axbridge C of E First School Academy displayed the gilded brooches they made as part of a previous project.
  • INK JAM, local artist duo, facilitated a print making activity themes around the Brooch, where participants were able to decorate their own pencil cases.
  • Mosaic Me – In this activity, participants could take a selfie and have it transformed into a mosaic. Although mosaics are not native to the Anglo-Saxons, we know that they encountered many as they settled in Britain. The discovery of mosaics and other Roman artwork, likely influenced the way Saxon artists expressed themselves in their work. We can see this through the incorporation of mosaic-like patterns in Saxon manuscripts, metalwork, and jewellery (including in the Cheddar Brooch).
A mosaic style image of a man with grey hair and a pink t-shirt.
Mosaic style image of a little boy with brown hair and a stripey top.
A mosaic style image of a woman with curly hair and glasses.
A mosaic style image of a baby in his mother's arms, wearing a patchwork outfit.
A mosaic style image of a girl with brown hair and a yellow top.
A mosaic style image of a black and white dog in a yellow jacket.