Bodiam Castle, East Sussex
This collection has 800 items online
Bodiam Castle began to attract scholarly and artistic interest during the 18th century when it was reappraised as a romantic relic and archaeological curiosity. Successive owners sought to understand, repair and interpret the site; their discoveries form the core of this collection, which consists mostly of archaeological finds. These range from Roman artefacts to the material remains of the interior, a medieval pilgrim badge and 20th-century coins. A small collection of works on paper complements the archaeological collection and provides an artistic record of the castle’s history. Further finds related to the castle are held elsewhere. Lord Curzon created the first catalogue of the collection. He exhibited finds in a museum on-site and published his findings. During the National Trust’s ownership several excavations and research projects have further developed our knowledge of this collection, most notably the 1970s excavation of the moat, the 2005 portcullis research, the 2010-12 Southampton/Northwestern surveys and the 2016 Collection Management Plan.
