The Burton at Bideford has been awarded a grant of £86,500 from The DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund to help transform public access to one of the leading ceramic collections in the South West of England.
The funding is part of the £4 million contributed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Wolfson Foundation in 2025-27 to support museums and galleries across England to improve displays, protect collections and make exhibitions more accessible to visitors.
Due to open in Spring 2027, The Ceramic Futures project will see The Burton’s collection of over 1,000 ceramic works moved to a new bespoke gallery space on the ground floor of the building. The improved facilities will significantly increase public access to the collections, bringing important works out of storage to tell the story of Bideford’s ceramic heritage and future.
Bideford’s pottery heritage is central to the town’s identity, with North Devon known as one of England’s most important locations for slipware – a style recognised for its warm glazes and intricate sgraffito designs scratched into white slip over red clay.
As The Burton celebrates its 75th birthday in 2026, Ceramic Futures is part of a series of projects that aim to reimagine how collections can be shared with and used by current and future communities in Torridge. It will create new accessible resources for schools and community groups, and include a space for contemporary commissions, exhibitions and acquisitions that connect The Burton’s historic collections to vital conversations today.
Warren Collum, Exhibitions and Collections Manager at The Burton at Bideford said:
“Receiving this funding is essential to enabling us to present the story of North Devon ceramics with the depth and clarity it deserves. Not only will it strengthen our ability to communicate the significance of The Burton’s collections and their place within a wider cultural and historical context. It also provides a valuable opportunity to bring important works out of storage and into public view, ensuring they can be properly seen, studied, and inspire the next generation.”
Harriet Cooper, Director at The Burton at Bideford said:
“This exciting gallery improvement is a catalyst for how we can transform our local community’s relationship to our collections, creating a new context to explore the relevance these objects have to life today. We aim to celebrate Bideford’s ceramic heritage while also looking to the future and our aspirations to support new acquisitions, ambitious partnerships and creative skills opportunities for young people in the town.”
The Burton’s ceramic collections include the RJ Lloyd Collection of North Devon slipware which comprises over 500 works spanning 300-years, and the Christine Halstead Collection of over 400 pieces of studio ware, providing an insightful introduction to the South West region’s ceramic heritage. Since 2020 an annual Artist in Residence programme has supported contemporary artists like Connor Colston, Florence Dwyer and Simon Bayliss to make new work in response to these collections.
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