Victorian museum opens at school

Pupils at Orielton Primary in Pembrokeshire are ready to welcome visitors to the school's newly opened Victorian museum and show them around

Part of a Pembrokeshire school has become a working museum so visitors can explore its Victorian past.

Some of the rooms in the old school house at Orielton primary in Hudleton have been returned to how they might have looked over 100 years ago.

Pupils helped with the decorations and research and will act as tour guides.

The museum is based around former head master John T Hitchings and his family who lived and taught at the school in the late 1800s.

Original artefacts on show range from desks, ink carriers and the clock to registers, sickness and punishment reports and even the school's maypoll.

Many of the school's records dating back to Mr Hitchings's era are on show

These have been added to by donations from businesses and parents to create the impression of a Victorian era household.

The museum takes up the lower floor of the original school house, which adjoins the modern day classrooms.

Current head teacher Mark Owen said: "It's not just a little display, it's a working museum.

"We are lucky that we've got the house - it's taken up little corners and areas of the school that were not being used for much.

"Once you come into the house and the ground floor you are into a Victorian school.

"It has its own entrance so members of the public are not interfering with the normal working of the school."

Mr Owen said pupils from Year Five would take time out from lessons during the limited time the museum was open to act as tour guides.

The pupils say it is like going back in time to the Victorian era. Enlarge Image

Their first customers were set to be officials from the nearby Chevron refinery which provides grants for projects at Orielton and a delegation from Pembrokeshire Council.

Year Five pupil Alesha Owens said: "It feels like you are going back to Victorian times when you go in there."

Hannah Collings added: "We think they (visitors) will think its really good."

Mr Owen said he hoped other schools in the county would come and visit.

The opening of the museum marks the culmination of events to mark the school's 135th anniversary.

Pupils have also performed a drama, which has been recorded on a DVD, and a diary of the school's history has been published.

Mr Owen added: "It's been a lot of work.

"The museum will be something lasting for future generations to come."