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After Sedgemoor: remembering the Monmouth Rebellion

This spring, as part of the Museum of Somerset’s Spotlight Loan programme, the South West Heritage Trust will be marking the 340th anniversary of the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685. An exhibition, called ‘After Sedgemoor’, will explore the rebellion’s tragic consequences and how they have been remembered by later generations.

At the centre of the exhibition, which runs from March 29 to July 6, will be two nationally-important paintings, kindly being loaned by the Tate and Manchester Art Gallery.

Edgar Bundy’s ‘The Morning of Sedgemoor’ (1905) shows frightened rebels sheltering in a barn after the Battle of Sedgemoor, and John Pettie’s ‘The Duke of Monmouth’s Interview with James II’ (c. 1882) famously captures the scene as Monmouth vainly pleaded with the king to spare his life.

The exhibition will also feature new discoveries, including an outstanding portrait of Monmouth from 1683, as well as evocative original documents and illustrations.

The exhibition will also form part of the Trust’s celebrations to mark 150 years since the purchase of Taunton Castle by Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society. The Castle, home of the Museum of Somerset, is indelibly linked to the Monmouth Rebellion as the setting for Judge Jeffreys’ Bloody Assizes.

“We’re very pleased, in this anniversary year, that we can remember the Monmouth Rebellion with major loans from national collections,” said Chief Executive of the South West Heritage Trust Sam Astill.

“The rebellion has a fundamental place in the story of Somerset, and the events that followed it have never been forgotten. There couldn’t be a better setting for the exhibition than Taunton Castle, which still echoes with the events of 340 years ago.”

Historian and co-curator Tom Mayberry will be giving a talk about the Monmouth Rebellion in the Great Hall at the Museum of Somerset on Wednesday, July 2, at 7.30 pm (booking required.)

For more information visit museumofsomerset.org.uk.

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