Residents with an interest in the history of Burnham‑On‑Sea and Highbridge will have a rare chance to explore a newly catalogued collection of local archives when a dedicated history room opens to the public next month.
For the past two years, a small team of volunteers has been carefully organising and cataloguing the extensive background material collected by local historian Robert Thomas, and previously by his father Winston, for a book.
The result is a rich archive that is now housed at Burnham Community Centre in Berrow Road, next to the swimming pool. The archive in room 4 at the centre was first unveiled in May 2025, as we reported here.
Among the photos are images of Burnham’s Summer Carnival in 1964, pictured above, and Burnham’s early lifeboat crew on the seafront next to the former Queens Hotel (now the Reeds Arms Wetherspoons pub).
“The collection includes over 100 files of postcards, photographs, programmes, documents and more than 7,000 digitised slides, all now indexed and accessible,” says spokesperson Phil Harvey.
“Visitors will also find books of local interest and microfilms of local newspapers dating back to the 19th century, along with a microfilm reader available for use.”
The archive will be open to the public, starting with the Friends’ coffee morning from 10am–12pm on Saturday 6th June, and then at the same times on all Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the month.
Another of the photos recently added to the collection, below, shows Burnham’s Victoria Street in 1850. “It’s probably the oldest photo in our collection and shows how relatively little Victoria Street has changed.”
Organisers say they would be delighted to welcome anyone curious about the area’s past — whether researching family history, looking for old photos, or simply wanting to see how Burnham and Highbridge have changed over the decades.
They also encourage visitors to bring along any items they may wish to contribute to the growing collection.
Further sample items from the archive include an Edwardian‑era donkey cart on the beach and a Victorian Week group photo, pictured below.
