The Rumble Museum at Cheney is a unique partnership between an educational charity and a school. The Iris Project, a charity which promotes learning about the ancient world, is working with Cheney School to grow a museum within a school. We have been awarded full Museum Accreditation by the Arts Council Museum Accreditation Scheme.
The Museum is named after Jamie Rumble, a young man who devoted his life to improving the lives of young people.
The Museum is spread across various areas of the school, and features original and replica artefacts from a range of eras. Our original artefacts form our official collection, and these are mostly found in the Library. Our collection is currently divided into several different themes: War & Weaponry, Science & Medicine, History of Headington, Trade & Economy, Design & Technology, African Artefacts, Civil Rights and Women's Suffrage. It contains very ancient items, including ammonite fossils, mesolithic tools, and Roman and Greek objects, all the way to very modern items such as an iPod.
We have developed an exhibition area in the Canteen which explores the history of Cheney School, incorporating a range of artefacts; the School itself dates back to around 1797 and has a fascinating development connecting with various educational institutions and buildings across the city of Oxford.
As well as our main collections, we have a number of departmental collections in corridors and classrooms, such as Natural History, History of Medicine, African, Middle East, and our Ancient Greek & Roman items. We have a Victorian Printing Press in the Art Department, which is in regular use!
As the tube map shows, you can find items around every corner of the school site.
We run a wide range of projects, events, workshops and exhibitions, both for Cheney students and the wider community. You can find out more about these by exploring this website. We publish weekly newsletters which can be found on the Cheney School website.
The founder and director of the Rumble Museum is Dr Lorna Robinson. She can be contacted on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
