During the 1980s and a bit of the 1990s there was a museum under the Walker Hall – it was accessed via a small alleyway right next to the hall and the sign “museum” hung on it long after the museum disappeared. It was called the Stables museum because supposedly before the Walker Hall, there were stables there and also the remains of a very old medieval pub.
I have been in touch with the council to try and find out where the stuff went when it closed. They have given me a catalogue of stuff they hold from the museum which you can access here.
There are a few things missing though which I can clearly remember which you can see below:
- A 19th century original portrait picture of Robert William Knox of Moorpark in a frame
- The block cement stone from the lamp on the bridge which was Robert William’s gift to the town. It has engravings on there.
It is possible that the picture was loaned either from the Knox Institute which was at the cross in Kilbirnie (it’s been closed for years though), the Masonic Lodge, the mill office or the main Walker Hall which the museum sat under. That would have been returned to wherever it came from when the museum closed.
The stone from the bridge on the other hand was fairly big and my guess is that it might be stored somewhere by the council or else left under the Walker Hall where the museum was. The lamp had long gone, it was only the stone that was left.
If anybody knows where these things are, please let me know because they should be catalogued somewhere to make sure they don’t get lost again so they hopefully can be preserved.