The lively market town and sailing hub of Lymington is fortunate to have a wonderful museum, art gallery and community venue just off the High Street in New Street. Celebrating the history and culture of
The lively market town and sailing hub of Lymington is fortunate to have a wonderful museum, art gallery and community venue just off the High Street in New Street.
Celebrating the history and culture of Lymington and the new Forest coast area, the St Barbe hosts exhibitions, diverse events and has a popular shop and the busy Old School Café. With a museum collection approaching 30,000 artefacts the St Barbe covers the areas od Lymington, New Milton, Boldre, Hordle, Milford on Sea and Sway.
Open from 10am – 4pm Mondays to Saturdays and some summer Sundays, the St Barbe can also be accessed online and across social media. A registered charity, the venue also has the McCarthy room, which can be hired out.
Why is it called the St Barbe? Back in 1834 local banker’s wife and philanthropist, Ann St Barbe gave funds to open Lymington’s first free school and when the building was no oner used for a school by the mid-1990s, it was chosen as the venue for the town’s museum. A committed and knowledgeable committee had worked tirelessly to gather artefacts and lobby for a museum. Starting with an exhibition in 1966, a friend’s group was set up led by Ted Marsh from 1988 and a feasibility study undertaken by the local and county councils in 1990, which culminated in a successful bid to lease the old school building. Opened initially as the “Museum in a Room” the St Barbe officially opened as the museum in 1999. Dr Joanna Close-brooks and historian Jude James had already amassed and catalogued many artefacts, which gave the new facility a sound base.
Funding from various sources and a main grant of £1.78m from the Heritage Lottery, a complete refurbishment was completed in July 2017. With Director, Maria Ragan at the head of a small expert team and a vast number of volunteers, the St Barbe now offers a renowned and exciting programme of events and exhibitions. Supporting the marketing, sales, learning and education and front of house team (primarily all voluntary roles), there are patrons and trustees engaged in the governance and future direction of the St Barbe. The volunteer team are vital to the success of the organisation and their interest and local knowledge greatly enhances the services offered to the local community and tourists. They are involved as trustees, staffing the front of house and tourist information, assisting with collections and research and in exhibitions and events as well as managing the membership of the almost 900 friends.
Volunteers are also active in contributing to the many groups held at the St Barbe, such as the numerous educational sessions and special interest groups alongside support for those with dementia. They have an access group to ensure all activities are accessible and other teams including the Environmental Responsibility team supporting a more sustainable future for the St Barbe. The St Barbe is a leading provider locally of the HAF programme in school holidays – Hampshire Activity and Food days for 300 local children in receipt of free school meals and offers many free creative sessions in local parks and community centres for children. Freelance staff are used to provide additional sessions such as St Bees for under-fives, the Access Art group for those with neurodiverse challenges to overcome, a group to engage and support Ukrainian refugees and regular events such as Tea and Memories both in the museum and in villages – valuing the records and reminiscences of older people across the area is an important resource and informs the collections.
The Kings Research room is open mornings during the week for anyone to come in and undertake research or peruse the vast collections, most of which is also now online and includes an extensive photographic archive. Resources can be borrowed to inform local history events and for those working with people with dementia. In total over 20 local groups use the St Barbe throughout the year.
Young People aged from 11-16 are part of the Young Curators group held on Mondays and 2024 will see the launch of a National Saturday Club for teenagers to gain crafting skills – this will be held weekly from 10am to 1pm and will lead to work being exhibited nationally later in the year.
The St Barbe’s mission is to “collect, interpret, and make accessible the cultural heritage of the area”, to hold world-class exhibitions and provide a diverse and innovative cultural programme of groups and special events. Each September an open weekend of free activities is put on as part of the Inspire Weekend, aiming to attract even more visitors and participants. Exhibitions in the gallery change every 8 weeks and 2022 saw the beginning of a Five-Year Plan to create a flexible future in which more people are encouraged to participate in the life of the St Barbe. 150,000 visitors came through the doors in 2022-3 and the intention is to further increase this as part of the stated aims for Creative People and Cultural Communities. Training opportunities are a new priority with the first apprenticeship already under way.
The Arts Council awarded St Barbe one of their most prestigious grants making this small museum one of the National Portfolio Organisations for the period 2023-6 with a grant of £150,000 to develop and expand its remit and have a wider community-wide impact.
In 2024 there will be more outreach activities and wider engagement with local schools and groups. Forthcoming exhibitions include Planting Ideas, Steve Poole photography and Mechanics Alive in the summer. In its 25th year the St Barbe will be central to the Lymington Afloat festival in September 2024.