Tiverton Museum awarded HLF grant to mark First World War Centenary - Tiverton Museum of Mid Devon Life

By: Tiverton Museum of Mid Devon Life
Added: 08 April 2015

This week, Tiverton Museum of Mid Devon Life has received £6,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for a project ‘Munitions and Matrons’ in Tiverton. Awarded through HLF’sFirst World War: then and now programme, the project will focus on the contribution that the Heathcoat Factory made to the war effort during the First World War.

Tiverton Museum’s project will examine the history of the Heathcoat lace factory, which from 1915 produced shell cases and components for very early gas masks. Museum staff and volunteers will collect and research photographs, newspapers and documents, as well as family tales passed down to help them build a clear picture of what life was really like for the local people who worked in the factory.

This information will be gathered together for a temporary exhibition at the museum running from August to Christmas. The museum is planning to work with the local community as much as possible: we are looking for descendants of people who worked in the munitions department of the factory who would be happy to have their family stories recorded for the project. 

The Museum is working with Knightshayes Court, which became a VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) hospital in 1915. Knightshayes is also running a special exhibition looking at the history of the hospital which will be on from August to November.

Commenting on the award, Pippa Griffith, Director of Tiverton Museum said: “We are thrilled to have received the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund and are very excited to start researching the history of the factory to discover what impact the war had on the factory, its workers and the town.”