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Loans Boxes

We have nine loan boxes, each available for loan for a three week period.  Loans boxes are available to borrow free of charge from the Dock Museum and use in the classroom or other setting such as a care home.  The Shopping loans box is particularly appreciated by older users.

The loans boxes have been prepared with the national curriculum in mind, and is especially relevant for Key Stages 1 and 2.

How to book?

Please contact the Dock Museum to book a loans box.  This service is free of charge.

dockmuseum@barrowbc.gov.uk
01229 876400

Please read our T&Cs and our handling guidance for the loans boxes. 

The loans boxes have to be picked up from the Dock Museum and then returned here.  We do not send our loans boxes in the post.

Vikings

The Vikings were master craftsmen and traders and this box gives an impression of how they lived, worshipped, what they wore and even how they cleaned their ears!

Loans box objects include:

  • Thor's hammer
  • Whetstones
  • Drinking horn
  • Comb
  • Brooches
  • Puttees
  • Coppergate cap

Click here to read notes for teachers for the Viking loans box.

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Victorian Kitchen

Some objects will still be very familiar today but the Victorian kitchen illustrates the Victorian period neatly with their delight in innovation, mania for cleanliness and also the time-consuming nature of household work. 

Loans box objects include: 

  • Butter hands
  • Blacking brush
  • Tea caddy
  • Donkey stone
  • Candle holder
  • Grater
  • Coffee grinder

 Click here to read notes for teachers for the Victorian kitchen loans box.

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Washday Blues

Laundry day was staggeringly tiring and hard work.  This box gives an excellent impression of what life was like in the Victorian period.

Loans box objects include:

  • Dolly tub and dolly peg
  • Darning mushroom
  • Posser and stirrer
  • Carbolic soap
  • Pegs
  • Drawers and christening gown
  • Dolly blue box

Click here to read notes for teachers for the Washday blues loans box.

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Furness Railway

Railways transformed life in Britain and certainly in the Furness area.  Find out the origins of the railway, how people worked on it and even the origins of the "Thomas down the mine" story!

Loans box objects include:

  • Signal lamps
  • Flags
  • Waistcoat
  • Furness Railway spanner
  • Cap
  • Furness Railway crest

Click here to read notes for teachers for the Furness Railway loans box.

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World War Two 

Barrow suffered during its own blitz due to the presence of the shipyard and steelworks in the town.  This box looks at rationing, air raids and daily life for Barrovians.

Loans box objects include: 

  • Gas mask (replica)
  • Ration book
  • Bombing map
  • National Registration Identity Card
  • Civil Defence First Aid helmet
  • Toilet paper
  • Shrapnel

Click here to read notes for teachers for the World War Two loans box.

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Shopping  

With objects and a wicker shopping basket dating from the 1930s to the 1960s this box will help older users take a trip down memory lane. 

Loans box objects include:

  • Oxo box and tin
  • Reckitt's Blue
  • Cinnamon tablets
  • Smith's Crisps box
  • Wicker shopping basket
  • Bicarbonate of soda
  • National Dried Milk Formula

Click here to read notes for teachers for the Shopping loans box.

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Toys

Toys from the late Victorian period to the twentieth century (including a writing slate, Dinky toys and Rubik's Cube) show both how little and how much has changed and developed over the decades.

Loans box objects include:

  • Tin bucket
  • Dinky toys
  • Writing slate
  • Rubik's cube
  • Marbles 
  • Cardboard egg
  • Rag doll

Click here to read notes for teachers for the Toys loans box.

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Toys 2

Toys from the late Victorian period to the twentieth century (including a writing slate, boulie hoop and frisbee) show both how little and how much has changed and developed over the decades.

Loans box objects include:

  • Cup and ball
  • Slate
  • Canterbury feeding bottle
  • ABC minor's badge
  • Pigs in Clover puzzle
  • Boulie hoop
  • Frisbee

Click here to read notes for teachers for the Toys 2 loans box.

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Seaside 

Swimsuits, camera and toys (amongst other objects) show how you would have had fun at the seaside from the Victorian period up to the present day. A Magic Grandad DVD and resource pack is also included.

  • Parasol
  • Punch and Judy
  • Swimming costumes (boy and girl)
  • Dinky toys
  • Dakora camera
  • Bucket and spade
  • Magic Grandpa DVD and resource pack

Click here to read notes for teachers for the Seaside loans box.

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