C Alderman, March 1998
Historical Manuscripts Commission
The collections of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society are housed in its Library. Access is free to members but other researchers, although welcome, are asked to pay a small fee. The Library is currently open Tuesday-Saturday (10:00-5:00, excluding public holidays). Written enquiries should be addressed to the Sandell Librarian at Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society.
A Library for members of the newly created Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society was founded in 1853, and was at first housed in The Old Town Hall. It holds a very extensive collection of printed books, many of which are annotated by their authors, journals, maps, newspaper cuttings, pamphlets, and programmes relating to Wiltshire. It is believed that many of these items are unique.
In its manuscript collection the Library holds the correspondence, diaries, research papers and collections of many Wiltshire antiquaries and historians. It also holds over 20,000 paintings, prints and drawings, many of them topographical. There is also a collection of photographs and postcards, including Fox-Talbot prints and negatives, early photographs of Stonehenge and other nineteenth-century scenes of Wiltshire.
This report was compiled following a visit to Library by Dr Chris Alderman in connection with a survey of the papers of British antiquaries, archaeologists and historians being undertaken by the Commission. The Commission is most grateful to Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, and to Ms Pamela Colman (Sandell Librarian) and Ms Lorna Haycock (Assistant Librarian) for their assistance.
CUNNINGTON, William (1754-1810)
Geologist and archaeologist, FSA
MSS relating to Ancient Wiltshire [1-13] (3 vols)
[Request by name]
Letters addressed to Cunnington relating to excavations at Heytesbury 1790-1810 (3 vols)
[Request by name]
Stonehenge and Avebury notebooks (2 vols), with letters, cuttings, engravings and drawings
[Volume E in catalogue of prints and drawings]
Synopsis of antiquities at Heytesbury (1 vol)
[Wiltshire Misc MSS]
Notes on the excavation of long barrows at Heytesbury and other sites in Wiltshire 1800-7
[DZSWS: Box 50, MS 577]
Photocopies of notes on hill forts and the Ridgeway by Thomas Leman and William Cunnington
[DZSWS: Box 121, MS 1303]
Typed copies of letters to and from William Cunnington relating to excavations 1790-1810, with notes on archaeological sites
[DZSWS: Box 121, MS 1311]
Correspondence, notes and papers 1801-10, including copies of letters to and from William Cunnington, notes on barrows, hill forts, Stonehenge and other archaeological sites, correspondence with the Crocker family, and a copy of Stonehenge by William Stukeley (1740)
[DZSWS: Box 121, MS 1313]
See NRA 41673 for the major part of Cunnington's papers held by the Society.
HOARE, Sir Richard Colt (1758-1838)Accounts with John Buckler for prints and watercolours c1821-6, with a list in Colt Hoare's hand of illustrations for Modern Wiltshire
[DZSWS: Box 63, MS 725]
Drawings
[Request by name]
Autograph essay on 'The conduct of the directors of the British Institution in regard to their patronage of British artists', with notes and drawings from various contributors to Ancient Wiltshire 1794-1823
[DZSWS: Box 63, MS 727]
Notes relating to a tour of Sussex 1826
[DZSWS: Box 63A, MS 737]
Travel notebooks relating to journeys through south-west England in search of antiquities 1807-16, including a sketch of the Marlborough Bucket
[DZSWS: Box 63A, MS 740]
Travel journal, Warwickshire and Gloucestershire 1795
[DZSWS: Box 76, MS 870]
Travel journal, Austria and Italy 1791
[DZSWS: Box 76, MS 871]
Memoranda of travels abroad, including itineraries and a pass for him to enter Dover with his drawings
[DZSWS: Box 76, MS 876]
Notes by him relating to the cultivation of geraniums and pelargoniums, with certificate admitting him as a member of the Academy of Etnei of Catania and letter from the Guildhall Library 1825
[DZSWS: Box 76, MSS 880-81, 883]
Photocopies of notes by him on barrows and Stockton Camp, with extract from his diary and copy of his will
[DZSWS: Box 121, MSS 1309-10]
Hungerford family history collection, comprising 'Personal History' (4 vols), 'Hungerford Cartulary' (2 vols), 'Places A-Z' (4 vols) and 'MSS Collection' (2 vols)
[Request by name]
Stonehenge notes (1 vol)
[Request by name]
Miscellaneous notes (3 vols)
[Request by name]
Aubreyana: a collection of notes and letters, with particular reference to the lost Liber Brevium; annotated copies of A Guide to Farleigh Hungerford, County Somerset (1879) and The History of the Priory of Monkton Farley, County of Wiltshire (1857)
[Request by name]
Notes and sketches relating to Wiltshire arms
[Bound in Wiltshire MSS, C]
Papers and collections
[Request by name]
Commonplace book, including drawings and notes relating to antiquities, with some notes on medical subjects 1717-48
[Safe No 2]
Photocopy of commonplace book
[DZSWS: Box 146, MS 1452]
Correspondence, diaries, journals and papers 1930-56 (c40 vols)
[Request by name]