A NEW exhibit at Athelstan Museum provides a fascinating insight into what Malmesbury was like more than 100 years ago.

The museum was recently gifted a book called Confessions, Opinions & Autographs of My Friends, which contains comments from people at the time about society, culture and history.

The book appears to have originally been a gift to one of the Adye daughters for Christmas 1900.

The Adye family owned the grocery shop on the Malmesbury High Street for many years and the book provides an insight into what Malmesbury was like a century ago.

Bridget Robison, volunteer manager at Athelstan Museum, said: “It is a fascinating glimpse, albeit brief, into the opinions and views of a small section of society at that time and provides wonderful material for those interested in social and cultural history.”

Many of the questions posed in the book cover contentious topics such as the role of the woman in society, the answers to which would seem juxtaposed to modern day Malmesbury.

“Responding to questions relating to women’s role in public life and women’s suffrage, the majority view was that women should play no role in public life and neither should they get the vote,” explained Bridget.

“One female participant suggested that women had the greatest brain power however was emphatic in her opinion that women should not take part in public life or be able to vote; the glaring contradiction had obviously not occurred to her.

“The questions are as interesting as the answers and point to an age of innocence, loyalty and perhaps naivety given what was to follow.”

Other questions are concerned with preferences of literature, poetry, music, science, heroes and heroines, that provides a cultural snapshot of the time.

The book is currently on display in the Athelstan Museum as part of the Hidden Gems exhibition.

The museum describe the exhibit as “a perfect prelude to the museum's summer exhibition about the era of the First World War”.