Hi-tech security keeps the Cogges turning

Opened in 1978 as a museum for rural life, Cogges Manor Farm is a unique working attraction that depicts Oxfordshire rural life in Victorian times. Centred on an historic manor house and surrounding Cotswold stone farm buildings, the Oxfordshire County Council owned museum attracts over 30,000 visitors each year.

At the museum, visitors can take a step back in time when they enter the idyllic 20-acre farmstead and meet traditional breeds of farm animals. Characters from Cogges' history describe working life in an ‘audio tour’ of the farm’s buildings, and displays of farm implements and machinery. Regular demonstrations of farm work such as hand milking and butter-making add to the experience, and help bring the museum to life.

Dating from the 1200’s, the recently restored manor house is a Grade II* Listed Building. Displaying some historically important artefacts relating to rural life, it is the collection of buildings on the site however, also Grade II* Listed, that are of real historical significance. The need to provide a secure level of protection for these buildings hit home in 2001, when after a spate of incidents of petty vandalism, an arson attack on a 17 th century ox byre (ox shed) totally destroyed the building’s thatched roof. With the culprit(s) never brought to justice and the real possibility that this major incident was quite simply caused by bored local school children, clearly the sad loss demanded urgent action.

Taking advice from other museums and galleries on their security precautions, Cogges’ Manor Farm Museum’s Manager, Clare Pope, decided to implement an immediate security deterrent, hiring a contract guard to patrol the site out of hours. However the problems with this approach, such as the high running costs and number of false alarms, resulted in the police withdrawing their response and meant that it was time to go back to the drawing board!

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