The map shows Parham Plantation in Antigua, surveyed for the owners Rachel Tudway and her son Clement Tudway and dated 1730. Rachel Tudway was by then a widow. The plantation at that time had the ‘great house’, a mill and other buildings associated with processing the sugar cane, cart tracks, a church, and ‘negro’ (enslaved African) houses. It is drawn on parchment. It was found in 1969 above the stables at Cedars House, formerly a Wells residence of the Tudway family. The map is in the museum collections and can be studied by appointment.
Accession number 2023.14

Wrist restraints made by J. Nichols, for a small adult or a child. These were found in 1969 above the stables at Cedars House, formerly a Wells residence of the Tudway family. The shackles were made no earlier than the mid-19th century, after the abolition of slavery in 1834. Their purpose is not known. The shackles are in the museum collections and will be on display in galleries currently being developed.
Accession number 2022.16/2

The collar for a hunting dog, made of brass in the 18th century, and inscribed ‘J.P. Tudway’. These were found in 1969 above the stables at Cedars House, formerly a Wells residence of the Tudway family. The collar is in the museum collections and will be on display in galleries currently being developed.
Accession number 2002.16/1

The building was built in 1825 by Vincent Stuckey of Langport, one of the leading bankers of his day. William Halliday was responsible for the ‘Gothic’ carving on the upper stories of the façade of the building. He was a craftsman and founder of Halliday’s antique shop at 35 High St, Wells. The façade was altered when the building became the Westminster Bank. In the image three plaques can be seen at the door: ‘Parr’s Bank’, ‘Stuckey’s Banking Company’ and lastly the opening hours. Etched on the glass front windows is ‘Stuckey’s Bank founded 1806’. The image is From a glass plate negative by Phillips City Studio which is in the museum collections.
Accession number 2002.22/0776

Stucky’s Banking Company was unusual in being a joint stock bank, the second to be formed in the country. In 1909 Stuckey’s merged with Parr’s Bank, which was acquired by the Westminster Bank in 1923. This became the National Westminster Bank in 1970 and is now NatWest. The cheque book is in the museum collections.
Accession number 2016.62/1.4.17

Museum website:
Museum website – including resources available in the library and Wells City Archives

Available from the museum website:
History of the Museum Building, by Gill Pettitt

Available from the museum website, an account of J.L. Lovell’s time as Wells Almshouse governor 1840-1843, in ‘Wells Old Almshouse’, by Jean Imray, 2022, pages 113-120:
Wells Old Almshouse, by Jean Imray

In the collections of the Heinz History Center at Pittsburgh, USA are three collars for enslaved people inscribed ‘J.P. Tudway’. One is on display. They were found in Wells at the same time as the shackles, dog collar, and map which are now at Wells & Mendip Museum:
Collar for enslaved person

‘The Tudways of Wells’, a paper by Dr R.D. Reid in Proc. Wells Natural History and Archaeological Society, 81-82 (1969-1970), pages 8-21