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Found in the north of Chelmsford, and minted by the Celtic leader Cunobelin at Colchester around AD 15.

Found at Rivenhall. Celtic Mirrors are important examples of Iron Age art, and were usually the possessions of high born women. This mirror was found in 1848 near the church at Rivenhall, Essex.

Excavated in 1972 in Hall Street. Jet is a form of petrified wood. The jewellery includes a lion pendant, a necklace and bracelet, hairpins, and this Medusa pendant, which has been described as one of the finest in Britain. The jewellery would have been owned by a wealthy lady in the Roman town of Caesaromagus.

Found in Hanningfield in 2006, the pendant is from the 7th Century.

Excavated on the site of the Dominican Friary in Moulsham. You can see the monk has been given a long, beak-like nose.

Found during the excavation of a Roman settlement at Writtle by Heritage Writtle. The tiger may have been shackled by its left back leg.

Barn owls are found in Chelmsford and the surrounding area. They are nocturnal birds with highly sensitive hearing which helps them hunt. They mostly feed on small mammals such as mice, voles and shrews. The weasel is Britain's smallest carnivore and east rats, mice and voles. They hunt both day and night, and can travel over a mile to find food. They need to eat a third of their body weight per day to survive.

Otters are semi aquatic mammals from the same family as the weasel. They can grow up to 80cm and are specially adapted for swimming. They are able to close their ears and nose underwater, have webbed feet and thick fur to keep them warm. Otters are a protected species and have recently re-established themselves along many Essex rivers, including the River Colne in north Essex.

The beehive is one of the museum's most popular exhibits. The bees are able to fly to and from the flowers of Oaklands Park, collecting pollen to bring back to the hive and produce honey. The bees also help to pollinated the plants in Oaklands and the surrounding area. Look out for the Queen bee, who can frequently be seen in the hive.

These are the largest of the Paridae (tit) family. With their green and yellow body and black heads they are highly recognisable. It is a woodland bird, and has adapted to be found in many gardens too.

Listen to a great tit. 

Magpies are common birds across the UK. They are known as scavengers and frequently collect brightly coloured and shiny objects. Fun fact - the collective noun for a group of magpies is a parliament!

Listen to a magpie.

Oil on canvas, c. 1890. Emiliya Shanks (1857 to 1936), was a British painter, born in Moscow. She volunteered to interpret for a group of British doctors who were visiting Russian hospitals, and this painting depicts female medics examining a child.

Lithograph, 1937. Paul Nash (1889 to 1946), was a British surrealist painter and war artist.

Watercolour, 1802.

Oil on canvas, 1794. Philip Reinagle (1749 to 1833), was an English painter and member of the Royal Academy. Shire Hall still stands at the top of Chelmsford High Street. It was designed by John Johnson, and opened in 1791. It has been used for law courts, a market hall for corn and an assembly room.

Watercolour, 1906. Alfred Bennett Bamford (1857 to 1939), was born in Romford. He was an honorary Major in the local voluntary regiment, and during World War I was in charge of prisoners near Chelmsford. The subject of this painting, the Half Moon Inn was on Chelmsford High Street.

Chelmsford High Street, as is shown in the picture is still recognisable today. (c. 1890)

Neptunea angulata (formerly N. contraria) Characteristic fossil found in the Red Crag deposits at Walton-on-the-Naze. Curiously it has a reverse spiral which twists to the left contrary to modern whelks and other fossil snails. Its thick shell makes it a robust fossil even though it is only 2.3million years old and not completely fossilised. Its red colour comes from the concentration of iron in the shallow water Red Crag deposits.

Echinocorys scutata Sea urchins lived in the Chalk sea bed some 100 million years ago. They made burrows as they fed on particles trapped in the chalk mud. This one was preserved by being filled with flint that was deposited from silica in the sea water in the burrows around decaying organisms. After the chalk was uplifted and eroded, the tough flint was released. This fossil would have been brought to Essex along with countless other flint pebbles in the icy flood waters of the ancestral Thames that once flowed across Chelmsford half a million years ago.

Carcharocles megalodon Tooth from what is thought to have been the largest shark that has ever lived. It is a prize find from Walton-on-the-Naze from Miocene times 7 to 10 million years ago, from the junction bed between the London Clay and the Red Crag deposits. Megalodon sharks are thought to have been up to 16 metres long with jaws two metres wide. They preyed on small whales and other marine creatures that lived at the time.

Balaena affinis Whales frequented the Miocene Sea 7 to 10 million years ago. Fragments of whale rib bone, coated in phosphate that makes them shiny, often occur in the junction bed between the London Clay and the Red Crag deposits at Walton-on-the-Naze. A vertebra, part of the backbone, is a rarer find along with a tympanum (ear bone) that is on display in the Museum. Small whales were part of the diet of megalodon sharks.

Mammut sp. Mastodons were large elephant-like, tusk-bearing mammals that lived during the Pliocene and Pleistocene periods up to around 11,000 years ago. Mastodons were around 2½ metres tall and lived in herds in forests where their diet consisted mainly of tree leaves and woody branches of trees and shrubs, together with mosses. This specimen was found at Sandon in sand and gravel deposits from the edge of the ice sheet around 450,000 years ago. The dome shaped projections on the crowns of their molars are different to the flat grinding surfaces of mammoth teeth.

Dactylioceras commune Ammonites were squid-like creatures that lived in a coiled shell, dying out at the end of the Cretaceous period 66 million years ago. Ammonites are typical fossils of the Jurassic period. However, no rocks of Jurassic age occur at the surface or beneath Essex. This specimen, found locally, would have originated in the Whitby area of Yorkshire and been brought by the Anglian ice sheet that came from the north and covered most of Essex 450,000 years ago.

A Marconiphone V2 radio receiver from 1922.

By John Colkett. Oil on canvas, 1847. This painting shows the railway which had come to Chelmsford in 1843.

Made before 1890 by Cromptons to run the Toastrack Railway along Southend Pier.

This crown was made by an apprentice for a competition run by Chelmsford Engineering Society, and was made from Hoffmann’s ball bearings and other products.

The arc lamp was manufactured by Col. R.E.B Crompton at his Arc Works in Anchor Street in c1890. Crompton placed the arc at the bottom of the lamp, so that no shadow was cast by the casing, giving a steadier light.

Made in the Hall Street factory in 1905. The glass tube contained silver and nickel filings which were continually aligned, shaken and re-aligned to allow the radio signal to be generated.

Grace Chappelow was imprisoned on three occasions: 

• in 1911, when a riot with police broke out after a large group of suffragettes tried to storm the House of Parliament

• in 1912, for smashing windows of the Mansion House in London

• again in 1912, after she refused to pay a fine over an incident involving her dog

This model was recovered from a German airfield after World War II. The model was made to help German pilots target Chelmsford factories. Marconi and Hoffmanns were hit several times. They were targeted because they were large and important factories involved in making weapons and equipment. Marconi for instance made radios for the army, navy and air force including those used by spies in German-occupied countries.

All towns tried to compete with each other to collect enough money to sponsor a spitfire and have it named after them. The Chelmsford spitfire was presented to the nation in 1940/41. The box was made by GD Swan of Wickford. When a coin was inserted, the propeller went round.

Made for Edmund Durrant by the Castle Hedingham Pottery, 1893. The Chelmsford Odde Volumes was a society of book lovers whose purpose was to encourage literature, the fine arts, science, archaeology and music. It was founded in 1888 by bookseller and stationer Edmund Durrant. Meetings were held in Durrant's house at 90 High Street Chelmsford. This society visited Castle Hedingham Pottery and commissioned this piece featuring the likeness of their founder.

The Pitt Club was originally intended as a political club, to honour the name and memory of William Pitt and to uphold the political principles for which he stood. From the start however, there was a social element and this became more important and the Club became more of an elite gentleman's dining club. The club met at the Black Boy Inn from 1817 to 1824.

This badge was designed by Sylvia Pankhurst (daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst) and presented to Grace Chappelow and other suffragettes that had been imprisoned in Holloway.

Local stoneware ginger beer bottles, made and sold in Chelmsford. They are the equivalent of a modern fizzy drinks can.

The use of anaesthetics was only introduced in 1846.

This dusty and faded shoe was found hidden in the chimney of a farmhouse. It dates to the 17th century, when concealing objects in the walls of the home was believed to protect the inhabitants from evil spirits. Belief in the existence of witches was common in 17th century Essex. The famous Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins, searched the county for alleged witches and frequently subjected women to physical and psychological torture to get them to confess. In 1645, 15 women were tried and executed for the crime of witchcraft in Chelmsford.

Stoneware beer jugs, such as this one, were called Bellarmines after Cardinal Bellarmine, whose grotesque bearded face was stamped on the front. They were used as ‘witch bottles’ in the 16th and 17th centuries to repel curses cast by witches. Households would place urine, hair, nail clippings and iron nails in a bottle to ‘confuse’ the witches spell, drawing her curse into the bottle where it would be pierced by the iron nails!

Elephant feet were very popular in the Victorian era as household furniture. Many were used as umbrella/cane stands. This one is described in our museum catalogue as “Waste Paper Basket”. An inscription on it tells us that is was sold from ‘The Jungle’, a shop in Piccadilly that was owned by the great taxidermist Rowland Ward. Did you know that despite being so big, elephants move quietly because their feet have inbuilt shock absorbers.

What you are looking at is the largest seed in the plant kingdom! It comes from the coco de mer palm which grows in the Seychelles. The fruit from the tree often falls into the sea, washing up on foreign beaches. The enormous seeds were highly prized. Locals who found them believed they grew on mythical trees beneath the Indian Ocean and possessed great healing powers. Did you know that coco de mer simply means ‘sea coconut’?

Did you know that cats:

• were worshipped by the Egyptians and it is believed they first arrived in Britain with the Romans

• spend up to 16 hours a day sleeping

• use their whiskers to measure tight spaces

A group of cats is called a ‘clowder’.

The Hawksbill Turtle can be found in the world’s tropical oceans. Adult turtles can grow up to a metre in length and weigh around 80kg. Sadly, they are now critically endangered. They were hunted for their patterned shells which were made into highly decorative objects, such as combs, small boxes, glasses frames and guitar picks. Did you know the Hawksbill Turtle was given its name because its mouth ends in a sharp point, like the beak of a bird?

This fierce looking tooth was found along the coast of Walton-on-the-Naze. It came from a Megalodon, a species of shark that became extinct 2.6 million years ago. Related to the Great White Shark, it is believed to be the largest shark that ever lived. Size estimates vary, but evidence suggests the average Megalodon was between 10 to 18 meters long, with some growing even larger! One thing we do know, if you get into the water with one of these, you’re gonna need a bigger boat.

This alien-looking creature is a Brittle Star, sometimes referred to as the ‘Serpent Star’. A relative of the star fish, they use their long arms to propel themselves along the sea floor. The mouth can be found on the underside of the body – they have FIVE jaws. Brittle Stars are scavengers; they use their arms to capture organic deposits floating in the water, which they pass into their mouths. They have the power to regenerate, which is fortunate, because their arms are very delicate and easily broken.

This Asian Elephant’s tooth was found in a shed and donated to the museum. Elephants usually have 26 teeth. They consist of 2 incisors (or tusks), 12 deciduous premolars (milk teeth), and 12 molars. Their chewing teeth are replaced six times in their lifetime

This beaded pillbox hat was made by Dior in the early 1960s. The Dior fashion house was founded in 1946 by the designer Christian Dior. The designer became famous for the iconic shapes and silhouettes that gave his models a curvy appearance. At first, his designs were criticised for the liberal amounts of fabric they used. During World War II, fashion designers, like everyone else, were asked to conserve fabric, which was often rationed. Post war, his designs were viewed as a welcome change from the boxy and unflattering war-time styles.

This is a dry specimen of a European spider crab. They are known for their large size (this one is 22cm with leg spread). Their orange spiny shells may look scary, but it catches on algae, making them look green and furry- a useful disguise! European Spider crabs prefer warmer waters so are often found in the Mediterranean Sea. Spider crabs undertake an annual migration into deeper waters in the Autumn, sometimes travelling over 100 miles in total on their outwards and return journeys.