A Special Call from Topsham Museum

One of the area’s best loved museums is putting out a special call - a telephone call, that is.

For Topsham Museum, which is run by 200 volunteers in and around the Devon town, is about to take control of a classic red telephone box.

It will host special displays changing every two months bringing history into the centre of the town, and drawing people to the Museum proper which is located a few hundred yards away on Topsham’s historic Strand.

The box was decommissioned by BT earlier this year and was seized upon by the Museum as an ideal outpost. The shift of ownership was easy - BT disposed of it for just £1 - but then the hard work started for the Museum volunteers.

“A special team undertook the task of renovating the box, repairing the door, replacing the corroded window frames and painting it inside and out” explains Rachel Nichols, president of the Museum and a volunteer for many years.

The box is being formally opened as part of the Museum this month.

“We’ll have special displays beginning with one celebrating Christmas in Topsham with both historic and modern photos. Then we’ll have a feature promoting the treasures we have at the Museum, and next year we’ll have a special event coinciding with King Charles III’s Coronation. We hope the box will become a landmark in its own right and an inspiration for visitors and residents to come to the Museum itself” she explains.

Topsham Museum’s large main building is one of the 17th century houses close to the Exe. It is closed to the public from November until late March but has a popular and frequently-updated website and virtual tour, plus an online shop.

Now the Museum will also have the telephone box - located just outside the town’s St Margaret’s Church - as a year-round outpost and attraction.

“The Museum holds a huge archive of information, photographs and documents about Topsham and it will be lovely to share a small part of this with the community and visitors all year through the telephone box” adds Rachel Nichols.

The renovation work has been funded by the Market House Trust, a Topsham charity promoting activities in the town.