Stratford Armouries is a small museum attached to the Stratford-upon-Avon Lodge Retreat, a hotel offering cabin-based accommodation located near to the village of Snitterfield, approx 4 miles from Straford-upon-Avon town centre. It consists of three rooms, one housing a collection of Churchill memorabilia, one with a

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

trench scene and the remains of a Wellington bomber, and one with artefacts from the airborne operation on the bridge at Bénouville in Normandy, better known as the

Pegasus Bridge Pegasus Bridge, originally called the Bénouville Bridge after the neighbouring village, is a road crossing over the Caen Canal, between Caen and Ouistreham in Normandy. The original bridge, built in 1934, is now a war memorial and is the c ...

. Admission is free (as of August 2021).

History

The Wigington family arrived in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

around 1750. In the nineteenth century James's Great Grandfather Thomas Mabbutt was the managing director of the Abingdon Gunworks Company in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

manufacturing Snider, Chassepot and Martini guns. The family built a private collection of arms and armour during their 250 years in the trade and in 2007 the museum was built on an site - the former RAF Snitterfield in order to house the collection. It was open to the public and included a wide range of exhibits - the most noteworthy included a life-sized armoured Indian elephant, a

cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during th ...

dating from 1450, and a giant

crossbow A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an Elasticity (physics), elastic launching device consisting of a Bow and arrow, bow-like assembly called a ''prod'', mounted horizontally on a main frame called a ''tiller'', which is hand-held in a similar f ...

modelled on

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

's original design. The elephant armour was designed and constructed by Terry English, a famous armourer who has worked on several famous films including the

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

series. The museum struggled to make a profit however and in 2015 the majority of the collection was sold at auction. The site was then redeveloped as a lodge retreat hotel with the current smaller museum housed in an annex. It was re-opened in spring 2016. The redevelopment was initially opposed by the planning authorities, but was allowed on later appeal.

Exhibits

There are four main exhibits in the museum housed in three rooms. The largest room holds an interesting collection of

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

memorabilia built by Jack Darrah and his daughter Carol Harwood, with items from both Churchill’s political and personal life. The collection was originally sited at Bletchley Park. The second room contains a reconstruction of a trench from the First World War and the remains of a Vickers Wellington bomber. The third and smallest room contains various artefacts from the operation to seize control of the bridge at Bénouville in Normandy during the Second World War, better known as the

. This includes many interesting references to the gliders used in the assault.

Notes

Buildings and structures in Stratford-upon-Avon Museums in Warwickshire Military and war museums in England Armour collections {{Warwickshire-geo-stub