The collection includes a number of costume and textile pieces. Unusually, for Museum collections, there is some balance between male and female costume although female costume is still more heavily represented.

The collection includes wedding dresses and shoes, the earliest wedding dress being from the seventeenth century; an intricately embroidered man’s eighteenth century waistcoat; military uniforms; nursing uniforms; mayoral robes and an ambassadorial outfit from when our founder, John Cloake, was Ambassador to Bulgaria.

The costume collection is augmented by children’s clothing, clothing for dolls and other textiles.