Petworth Cottage Museum
The First Twenty Years
In 2016 we were able to stage an exhibition to celebrate twenty years of the museum. Extracted from the Petworth Society's scrapbooks of cuttings, the pictures and transcripts collected here occupied three sides of the exhibition hall. Five years on we cannot stage another physical exhibition but we can show these cuttings here. Unless otherwise stated the cuttings are all from the Midhurst & Petworth Observer. Click on the pictures to enlarge.
12 Honouring Old Custom - 30th May 2002
A garland of oak leaves and oak apples is catching the eye of visitors to the Cottage Museum at Petworth. It has been made by Ann Bradley, one of the museum's founders, to mark the old custom of celebrating Oak Apple Day - May 29th - which in the early 1900s timewarp of the museum had more significance than it does today. Mrs. Bradley said, “I collected the leaves and apples on my dog walk around Petworth and hang dried them for the garland. It's hanging in the museum where we have one of those old fashioned date calendars which you rotate to the day. I shall leave it there until it becomes too tatty.” Oak Apple Day or Royal Oak Day has its origins in King Charles II's escape from certain death when he hid in an oak tree in Boscobel, Shropshire after the Battle of Worcester. May 29th was declared a day of thanksgiving by an Act of Parliament in 1666 to mark Charles's restoration to the throne, and the oak apple became its symbol. Children were expected to sport oak apples in their buttonholes, and those who failed to remember risked being beaten on the legs with stinging nettles by other children. The day remained in the national calendar until 1859, but the custom of wearing an oak apple on May 29th survived in some parts of England well into the 20th century. Petworth Cottage Museum is in High Street. It is open Wednesday-Sunday, 2 p.m. to 4.30 p.m.
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