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The Merrin Collection

Open Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 17:00Tenter Lane, Sheffield

Four thousand ordinary things, kept like treasure.

One family kept everything, from the bread knife to the front door key. We label it and show it the way a museum shows silver, in the cutlery works where most of it was used.

Plan your visitSee the collection
A white enamelled water jug with a dark blue rim and handle, chipped to the steel in a few places, on grey paper.

Water jug, blue rim

Unknown enamel works, probably Wolverhampton, about 1925The kitchen, on the dresserCost new: one and threepence

Nothing here was precious, until it was kept.

Every object has a label: what it is, who made it, where to find it and what it cost new. Five of the four thousand.

A white plate with a blue band at the rim, mended across its cracks with rows of small metal staples, seen from above.

Dinner plate, riveted

Unknown pottery, Staffordshire, about 1900Made to Mend, in the long caseCost new: threepence; the mend, a penny
A small brown leather school satchel with one buckled strap, scuffed and soft from use, on grey paper.

School satchel

Unknown saddler, Sheffield, 1928The schoolroom, on the peg by the doorCost new: four shillings
A round brown glazed teapot with a chipped spout and a lid mended with glue and a small brass rivet, on grey paper.

Brown teapot, mended lid

Unknown pottery, Staffordshire, about 1935Made to Mend, in the long caseCost new: tenpence
A square clear glass inkwell with its brass lid open and dried blue ink inside, a wooden dip pen beside it.

Inkwell and dip pen

Unknown glassworks, about 1915The schoolroom, on the teacher’s tableCost new: fourpence
Two worn silver-plated table forks laid side by side, the plating worn through to yellow metal at the tips.

Table forks, worn through

Merrin & Sons, Tenter Lane, 1924The workshop, on the packing tableCost new: nine shillings the dozen
The whole collectionBorrow from the library of things

On now, top floor

Made to MendWhat a household fixed, and how many times

Four hundred repairs from one family’s house: riveted china, darned socks, boots soled four times, a teapot lid mended by two generations.

When
Until 1 March 2027
Where
The top-floor gallery
Tickets
Included with entry
Read about the exhibition

Three ways in.

The galleries are open five days a week. The archive opens by appointment, and the library of things on Saturday mornings.

  • The kitchen gallery: whitewashed brick, a black range and dresser behind a rope, glass cases on oak plinths.

    The galleries

    Four rooms of the permanent collection and the changing exhibition on the top floor.

    Open
    Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00–17:00
    Today
    Thursdays until 20:00. Last entry 45 minutes before closing.
    Price
    £8, under-18s free
  • The reading room: an oak table with grey archive boxes, an open ledger on a cushion, white gloves and a brass lamp.

    The archive reading room

    Letters, account books, catalogues and photographs from the works and the house.

    Open
    Thursday and Friday, 10:00–16:00
    Today
    By appointment, a week ahead.
    Price
    Free
  • Pine shelves of tools and kitchen things with blank luggage tags, and someone choosing from them.

    The library of things

    The collection’s spares, lent out: jam pans, drills, a sewing machine, garden shears.

    Open
    Saturdays, 10:00–13:00
    Today
    In the yard building. One week, then renew once.
    Price
    £2 a week, free for Friends

Keep the doors open, come in free.

Friends pay £30 a year, get in free every day we’re open and borrow from the library of things for nothing. It pays for the archive’s boxes, the lift and the Saturday mornings.

Become a Friend

The object of the month

One object and its story, the first Thursday of each month. Nothing else.