Popular pop-up Discovery Centre gets new lease of life

The Discovery Centre opened in the Eastgate Shopping Centre in June last year, to review some of the museum’s collections while celebrating the richness of Gloucester’s heritage.

The “From Store to Store” project was organised by the museum in partnership with Cotswold Archaeology and funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Working alongside volunteers, the project team repacked and reviewed thousands of archaeological finds collected between the 1960s and the 1990s. Ninety-three volunteers spent over 4,000 hours sorting through nearly 3,000 boxes, engaging with visitors, and supporting talks and workshops.

Among the highlights uncovered were Roman shoes, decorative tools and a Roman tile with a print of a dog, as well as many everyday objects such as animal bones, pottery, ceramic building material and glassware from the last 2,500 years.

Much of the archive came from excavations carried out before legal protections for archaeological remains were introduced. These digs often had to be completed quickly—sometimes just hours before building work began—and finds were stored in makeshift containers such as fruit crates and tobacco tins.

Store to Store saw volunteers review what items should be kept and the rest of the archive was recycled or passed to local schools, the University of Gloucestershire, or local artists. The project’s success means the museum’s archaeological store is now more accessible and better able to support future research and accept any future important discoveries.

The project that was featured in the BBC’s Digging for Britain, has now been recreated at the Museum of Gloucester, where visitors can explore the project's legacy and discover what happens next.

Councillor Caroline Courtney, Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure, said “We’re incredibly lucky to live in such a fascinating city but that also brings its own challenges in terms of the cost and resource needed to keep all these finds. Across the UK, museums face similar challenges: limited storage, expanding collections, and increasing pressure to safeguard archaeological material. However, this project is a great example of how we can think differently and involve local people in how we preserve our collections for future generations. We’re delighted with how popular it has been and immensely grateful to our volunteers – it just shows the passion our residents have for our historic city.”

The Discovery Centre is at the Museum of Gloucester until March 28. More information here The Discovery Centre — Museum of Gloucester