Tweeddale’s Treasures

This is a new permanent exhibition at the Peebles Library, Museum & Gallery hosted in our iconic Chambers Room which houses the extraordinary plasterwork friezes commissioned by William Chambers, including a 16-metre reproduction of portions of the Elgin Marbles. Alongside this beautiful plasterwork is our exhibition Tweeddale’s Treasures which spotlights key events in our history through the unique objects in our collection.

As we all know, the best side of most museums isn’t the one that faces the public, and that is definitely true of Peebles Museum and Gallery, which for obvious reasons can’t display all our thousands of objects in its care all of the time.

Our knowledge of Tweeddale’s past has been greatly enhanced and the Museums Service collections enriched by the many objects donated by local people and metal detectorists since opening in 1859. This means we now have an extraordinary resource for exploring our past and this exhibition is a great opportunity for visitors to come and see some of the very best of this. This is a real treat for anyone with an interest in local history – and perhaps something to inspire those who have never previously visited the Peebles Museum and Gallery.

Among the exhibits is a remarkable hand carved wooden shrine, reported by the local newspaper to have been made from ‘part of Noah’s Ark’.

An engraved sword used in battle in 1725, bloodied (but cleaned up!)

A treasure trove of silver coins nearly 2,000 years old.