Superstition: Strange Wonders & Curiosities
Explore folklore, witchcraft, and beliefs at Moyse's Hall Museum
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- 15th February - All day
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About this event
This Spring, Superstition: Strange Wonders and Curiosities will explore folklore, witchcraft, and beliefs from within our own collection, supported with artefacts from other institutions and private individuals.
The ghostly Black Shuck of East Anglia, 17th Century ritualistic artefacts, new ‘witchcraft’ acquisitions and donations, 19th Century oddities, ancient relics, and much more, will help us tell the story of superstition throughout the ages.
This display has been inspired by the ‘A Tryal of Witches’ production at the Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds this coming March 2025.
Book online or check in at reception on the day. Advance booking recommended.
Mysterious Scroll Added to Exhibition!
A mysterious scroll found hidden in a hole in a beam at a village on the outskirts of Bury St Edmunds will go on public display at West Suffolk Council’s Moyse’s Hall Museum for the first time this February. The scroll, found along with a broader ritual assemblage during renovation work at the same site, has been transcribed into modern language from both Medieval English and Latin by Dr Francis Young. In modern English the transcription went to a near-1000 word count. He has identified what the mysterious artefact is and it is of national note. You’ll be able to view Dr Young and the curatorial team’s work within the ‘Superstition: Strange Wonders and Curiosities’ exhibition. Elsewhere, the wider ritual deposit has seen X-Ray and CT Scans of a fabric parcel hidden within a wall for centuries, the findings startling, humbling, and led to a study that has brought in academics associated with multiple Universities in the UK. With immense thanks to Swayne and Partners Veterinary Surgeons at Bury St Edmunds for their help in exploring this artefact's history.
All involved would like to thank the wonderful family who found these significant artefacts at their home. Their eagerness to commit to the research of their findings has elucidated some mysterious items seemingly never found before.
We can’t wait to share the findings with you!
Dates: Sat 15 February 2025 – Sun 6 April 2025
Times: Monday – Saturday 10am – 5pm (last admission 3.30pm)
Sunday 12pm – 4pm (last admission 3pm)
Admission: Adults £5, Child / Student £3 (6 – 16), Senior Citizen £4.50, Under 5s FREE
Explore all things Spooky Bury St Edmunds with our online guide!
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About the Venue
This beautiful medieval museum in the heart of Bury St Edmunds houses rich and eclectic collections and changing exhibitions, and hosts events ranging from themed craft workshops for all the family to historical talks and lectures.
Steeped in history, Moyse's Hall has looked out over Bury St Edmunds market place for almost 900 years.
The landmark 12th century building rich and varied past has included serving as the town Bridewell, workhouse and police station, first opening as a museum in 1899.
Today the museum offers a fascinating view into the past with collections that document the foundation of the early town - from the creation and dissolution of the Abbey of St Edmund to fascinating insights into local superstitions and witchcraft.
Winner of Suffolk's Family-Friendly Museum of the Year 2017, Horrible Histories creator Terry Deary has helped Moyse’s Hall Museum bring Bury St Edmunds’ gruesome history to life for children.
The Museum's Crime and Punishment Gallery not only features six Terrible Tales by Terry Deary, best-selling author and creator of the hugely popular Horrible Histories books, but also some grisly and gruesome interactive displays for children and adults. Step inside a gibbet cage (made for the museum by blacksmiths Kingdom Forge), try on a ball and chain for size, experience the smells of history including the wretched tanner’s pits, handle thumbscrews and try on manacles, and pick up a Norman sword. You can even trace the artefacts in The Red Barn Murder including the murder weapon and the disease box where visitors can smell a pus ridden hand is a museum favourite! The Battle of Fornham is told through the eyes of a blacksmith, a nun tending to the body of St Edmund tells of his grisly end. The stories of Mary Tudor, Queen of France (who is buried in St Mary’s Church, Bury St Edmunds), the Red Barn Murder, the Nichols Murder, witchcraft and Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins, all feature. Every story links back to an artefact, bringing the museum’s stories to life.
Moyse's Hall Museum is also known as home to a world class collection of exquisite collections of clocks and timepieces including rare items bequeathed by musician and clock collector Frederic Greshom-Parkington and fine art by Sir Peter Lely, Angelica Kauffman, James Tissot, and England's first professional female painter Mary Beale.
Assistance dogs only. Dogs are welcome in the reception for tourist information enquires and to access the gift shop.
