How We Used to Live

The Summerfield Galleries show how we used to live in past centuries. Like all museum displays, the picture given is limited by what the Museum has and what survives. The belongings of the less well-off were rarely saved. The displays include paintings, furniture and objects in everyday use - from coins to candlesticks.

The focus of each room is a table display with a place setting complete with food and personal belongings. There are also fireplace settings. Handling tables give visitors, especially partially-sighted people and children, the chance to touch and examine more closely objects of the time.

Life from the medieval period to the 17th century is illustrated by European paintings, domestic furniture and a collection of rare pewter which belonged to Mr Isher, a local antique dealer.

From two hundred years ago there is furniture that could have been found in a Gloucestershire farmer's house, contrasting with finer pieces produced for the wealthy. A sedan chair from Bourton-on-the-Water shows how the local aristocracy sometimes travelled. 18th-century porcelain reveals the fashionable taste for Chinese and rococo styles.

From Cheltenham’s heyday a Regency gallery shows the fashion for classical Roman and Greek designs, and includes spectacular Regency tiaras and jewellery. A Victorian gallery includes a display of Parian - white porcelain figures for the mantelpiece, their subjects taken from mythology and history. There are also Victorain paintings and sculpture, and furniture including an important table by Pugin.