United Kingdom, Europe | Unique Collections
The Higgins Armoury Museum is set within an Art Deco pseudo-castle.
It can be seen from the nearby highway with its tall flags. Inside, it is larger than it appears from the outside and is full of myriad examples of armor and weaponry from all over the world, much of it from Feudal Japan, Renaissance Europe, and ancient Greece and Rome. There are even examples for you to try on, and annual events there, such as the Renaissance Fair.
If the armor doesn’t catch your eye, the building will. Made of steel and glass, the uniquely odd architecture is completely different inside and out. While outside it is a cold monolith, inside it resembles a great hall or church. It was designed and built by John Woodman Higgins, a business man and owner of the Worcester Pressed Steel Company, in 1927. Obsessed with steel and in love with the history of its craft Higgins refereed to his museum as “a temple of steelcraft.”
Perhaps the item that most catches peoples eye in the museum is the model of a dog wearing a suit of 16th century German doggy armor. These types of dogs were often used to protect caravans.
