When I moved to Swadlincote a few years ago I noticed a large brick building on the corner of Alexandra Road and West Street. It had a painted sign saying ‘Sharpe’s Pottery Museum’ but I didn’t pay it too much attention having lots of other things to do at the time. When the pandemic hit, like many people I had more time on my hands and during the brief ‘opening up’ last summer I went to a meeting at the Museum when they were asking for volunteers. I found a TARDIS!
In ‘Dr Who’ TARDIS stands for ‘Time and relative dimension in space’. At Sharpe’s it stands for ‘Time and relative dimension in Swadlincote’. It may look quite big from the outside but inside the building is absolutely HUGE. It houses the Museum, currently undergoing a complete refurbishment ready for re-opening in June, the wonderful Magic Attic Archive and community arts organisation People Express. There is also a café, not to mention the developing gardens. The building is itself a time capsule showing many marks of its long history in the pottery industry. The new, vibrant and exciting displays are all about the passage of time in the town and surrounding areas and how local industry developed here.
I guess for many people who have lived in the area for a long time much of this isn’t news but for those, like me, who have chosen to live here more recently there is a wealth of history at your fingertips at Sharpe’s Pottery Museum. A visit to our own TARDIS when we re-open will repay your time manyfold.