A three-year labour of love comes to fruition today when the Governor, Lord Waddington, opens Bermuda's newest museum.

The latest venture of the National Trust gives Bermuda its first archaeological museum, situated in the old cellars of Tucker House in St.

George's, and housing a collection of artefacts discovered under the existing floors.

The museum, due for a visit from the Queen when she visits the Island next month, is small, but packed with the sort of everyday objects which give us some idea of how people lived in the 18th and 19th centuries. These range from 200-year old pieces of china, bottles, thimbles, tobacco pipes, beads, buttons and even children's marbles.

The concept of this type of museum fits in with Trust director, Ms Amanda Outerbridge's stated aim of expanding their museums' educational value and, at the same time, providing displays that should prove interesting to both visitors and locals.

The cellars of the early 18th century building on Water Street comprise several rooms, three of which house the archaeology collection. The first room, entered from a charming little walled garden, tells the story of Henry Tucker and his family. Next is a section which explains the archaeological process, and the remainder of the space displays the exhibits.

National Trust Conservation Officer Mr. Robert Duffy said the idea for an archaeological museum was mooted as long ago as 1973, when Mr. David Fleming excavated a small section of the Tucker House.

"The whole thing then lay dormant until around 1988 when Dr. Marley Brown, director of the Colonial Williamsburg Archaeological Research Department, and a close friend of Maritime Museum director Ed Harris, pointed out that while the National Trust owned some of the Island's most historical properties, there was no urban archaeological programme at all on the Island.'' With the growing realisation that the ancient town of St. George's can lay credible claim to being the oldest English-speaking settlement outside the British Isles, the importance of rectifying this omission became increasingly clear.

"So it was seen as a responsibility of the National Trust to investigate how best we could go about this project,'' says Mr. Duffy.

Mr. Duffy, who comes from Winchester and was a member of that ancient city's Archaeological Rescue Team, was already working for the National Trust. "Will Zuill pointed a finger at me and said, `This is your baby', and that was how we started. It's been great fun and brought back a lot of memories for Ed Harris and me. We even discovered we must have been students together!'' Since then, it is estimated that about 100 people, including the staffs of Colonial Williamsburg, the Maritime Museum, Bermuda Archives, National Trust staff, students and volunteers, have been involved in making this ambitious project a reality.

It took about six weeks to dig through the layers of earth in the cellars and, since then, almost three years of clearing the site, sorting artefacts found, washing and repairing, and researching origins, before the exhibit could be put together. Much of this work has been done at a laboratory in Samaritan's Lodge, where dedicated volunteers have spent literally hours at a time on each piece. One of the most time-consuming tasks was `cross-mending', the process by which shards, or fragments of china are pieced together.

The museum project, which has been made possible through a gift from Mrs.

Collins Outerbridge, has been co-ordinated by an archaeological committee headed by volunteer Mrs. Susan Kessaram.

She points out that they were very fortunate to have access to the correspondence between Henry Tucker, who lived in the house from 1775 to 1807, and his brother, St. George, who settled in Virginia and became a prominent lawyer.

"Henry was his father's representative in the port and the cellars were probably the store-house for goods that were imported or waiting to be trans-shipped from England and Europe to the States. You can still see the slots in the walls here where the shelves were fitted.'' In those days, the grounds of Tucker House stretched down to the waterside.

Artefacts uncovered indicate that, even then, the Tucker family was financially well-off.

"We can see this, for example, from a piece of handpainted Pearlware dish. It can be dated some time after 1762 when this particular type of ceramic ware, made by Wedgwood, first appeared, so only well-to-do people would own it. In fact,'' Mrs. Kessaram explains, "Wedgwood sold a set of creamware to the Empress of Russia, so he named it `Queen's Ware', placed it on show and advertised it as such.'' One of the more intriguing facts to emerge from the excavation was that, by the late 18th century Bermuda was, in relative terms, a trading giant. By comparing the quality and range of objects excavated in the Tucker House with those unearthed in Williamsburg, it has emerged that little Bermuda, centrally located in major trade routes, was wealthier and rather more sophisticated than her American neighbour.

Mrs. Kessaram says that pieces of animal bone found among the artefacts suggest that the inhabitants of Tucker House also had better diets than their American counterparts, whose consumption of fish and other wildlife constituted only five percent of their meat intake. The Tuckers, on the other hand, could enjoy local fish and the benefits of Bermuda's other natural resources.

The Tucker House Archaeology Museum is open six days a week, Monday through Saturday. Admission is $3, $1 for children and senior citizens, or $6 for a combination ticket which allows access to all museums. Mr. Duffy points out that, for an annual charge of only $10, National Trust members may visit all Trust museums, free of charge, "and as many times as you want. It's a very good deal!'' A GLIMPSE INTO TIMES PAST -- Mrs. Susan Kessaram, co-ordinator of the new Tucker House Archaelogical Museum, which is to be officially opened today.