The Dog Collar Museum

The Dog Collar Museum stands inside the grounds of Leeds Castle in Kent, housed in a converted stable beside the moat. The castle itself dates from the 11th century and draws more than half a million visitors each year. Gertrude Hunt began the collection in 1977 when she gave sixty historic collars to the Leeds Castle Foundation in memory of her husband John Hunt, a noted medieval historian. The collection now numbers over 130 pieces spanning five centuries. The earliest, from the 15th century, are iron collars lined with spikes designed to protect sheepdogs from wolves and bears. By the 16th century the spikes remained but decoration grew, and in the Baroque period collars became elaborate status symbols adorned with gold, velvet and family crests. Later examples include silver collars from the 18th and 19th centuries and modern plastic and rubber designs from the 20th and 21st centuries. Visitors walk through a single room filled with collars arranged chronologically. The Spanish collar of 1495, made for a mastiff used in hunting, is the oldest and largest, its iron spikes still sharp. Nearby lies a heavily engraved Italian collar bearing a noble coat of arms, hinting at the wealth of its owner. A British gold collar carries floral emblems for England, Scotland and Ireland, while a Renaissance piece shows the extravagance lavished on favoured pets by wealthy families.