Time & Tide Museum - Great Yarmouth

So today was a relatively nice day although it was a bit breezy. I decided to get on a bus and go to the Time and Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth. The reason for my visit was to see the Tattoo: British Tattoo Art Revealed exhibition but I will write another blog about that in February as I have booked to go on a talk and tour of the exhibition with the curators.

The museum is a short walk from the town centre and there is some great architecture en route. There is a car park opposite the museum so that's handy of you are driving there. Admission is reasonable - adults £6.20, concession rate £5.90 and young person rate £5.30. There are also group rates for families. It is free for Museum Association members.

The museum is on the site of the old Tower Fish Curing Works. The lower part of the the museum tells the story Great Yarmouth's role in the herring industry. The original smokehouse is used in the exhibition and you can still smell the aroma of smoked fish on the visitor route around the museum. One of the draws to Great Yarmouth is its Historical South Quay. Off this port route are many little lanes known as 'Rows'. These were where the fishermen lived and bought supplies. The first part of the exhibition takes you down a 'Row' so that you can experience where the fishermen lived. The visitor route continues through the courtyard where there are examples of fishing boats, into another building where you can experience the dockside and learn more about the herring industry. This is the building that incorporates the old smokehouse. This area also touches on other fishing out of Great Yarmouth and the whaling industry.

The visitor route then takes you upstairs, it becomes more of a general social history museum. It outlines Great Yarmouth's history in the prehistory, and the bronze and iron ages. It was a massive port and posting in Roman times. My favourite part of any small museum is their cabinet of curiosities. Although this one wasn't as random as some I've seen it did have a lot of examples of exotic fish. The sea and fishing theme continues as the route then takes you to an area entitled 'Wreck and Rescue' where you learn about Captain Mamby (I didn't know who he was, I just knew there is a Toby Carvery named after him) who invented lots of mechanical items to save fisherman at sea.

The next part of the museum is a bit kitschy - it tells you about Great Yarmouth as a seaside holiday resort. This could have been a really in-depth and interesting section but it was tiny and a bit tacky and seemed a little out of placed where it was situated as it was before a section on maritime trading that tied in more with the previous section.

The room on wartime Yarmouth is really interesting. War Museums are my speciality having written my MA dissertation on German Documentation Centres. I love learning about how a town in any country was affected by war and the damage and re-building afterwards. There were some really interesting postcards showing zeppelin damage from one of the raids.

The final room is more about everyday life in the 20th century and is designed to get the visitor talking about the objects on show and their memories of them. The display cases contain objects like toys, technology, fashion and culture from recent decades.

In conclusion I would recommend a trip to the Time and Tide Museum it is interesting and explains the sites history. It is value for money. I was there for about 2 hours including the Tattoo Museum. They have a small shop in the entrance that sells generic museum gifts. There is also a Smokehouse Cafe on site. I was pushed for time so did not visit.