New exhibitions that feature industry and entrepreneurship in Lancaster have just opened at two of the city’s museums.
Standfast and Barracks: A Century of Design, is currently at the City Museum on Market Square and uncovers the rich history of one of Lancaster’s most well-known factories, Standfast and Barracks, which celebrates its centenary this year.
The exhibition, which runs until 30th June 2024, shows scrimshaw made by prisoners interned on the Caton Road site, when it was a camp for ‘enemy aliens’ during the first world war, as well as original design books and the memorial plaque for colleagues lost during the second world war.
Innovators in design and print, the exhibition celebrates Standfast and Barracks as becoming a 21st century leader in environmental sustainability.
The second exhibition, Lancaster Delftware: A Potted History, running until August 30 2024., on display at the Maritime Museum on St George’s Quay, goes even further back into Lancaster’s industrial history to uncover the less well-known story of the 18th century delftware pothouse.
The exhibition draws on research by Barbara Blenkinship and Matthew Hobson conducted on the archaeology of the site, which was located on the River Lune and showcases the design and making process, as well as bringing together pieces from the largest collection of English delftware sherds in Britain, taken from the spoil heap during the excavation.
Lancaster delftware was exported across the Atlantic and featured on the dining tables of many wealthy Lancastrians abroad until the pothouse closed and production ceased.