The local museum which stands at the gates of Blenheim Palace had always presented the standard fare of natural history, country crafts, geology, industry, art and archaeology. Its refurbishment was to achieve a bright new thematic approach, raising its profile to county level. The re-designed Museum still presents historic treasures, for example Britain’s oldest piece of bread(!) and a locally-made steel-jewelled dress sword, but now also examines broader themes such as traffic and the demographic shifts of modern times.
One gallery, Innovations, concentrates on the many ‘firsts’ that were native to Oxfordshire, from agricultural devices to hi-tech instruments. Visitors can get their hands onto electron microscopes, vacuum pump experiments and magnet effects.
