Barclay Wills spent years collecting the clothing, tools and everyday objects used by shepherds on the South Downs, just as the centuries old way of life was about to vanish.

The artefacts, photographs and drawings he collected during the twilight years of traditional shepherding are now the most prized of their kind in Britain.

But campaigners fear the treasures Wills gathered during the Twenties and Thirties could be broken up and lost if the museum which houses them is closed.

Author Peter Brandon, who has written extensively about the South Downs, said: "The Barclay Wills Collection is unique. It represents Sussex and the great tradition of shepherding.

"It is part of our heritage and is a collection that must be treasured and kept within the county."

Worthing Borough Council will send a questionnaire to residents to test opinion on a package of cuts this month, which includes saving £129,000 by closing the town's museum and art gallery.

Without a permanent home, campaigners fear the collection, as well as some of the award-winning museum's 200,000 other exhibits, could be lost.

As a naturalist, writer and collector, Barclay Wills tramped the Downs gathering crooks, shears and other tools of the shepherd's trade. He collected the smocks they wore, the household implements that adorned their huts and homes and the bells that rang from sheep grazing on the spongy turf.

Paul Millmore, director of the Society of Sussex Downsmen, described the artefacts as a "marvellous snapshot" of a lost world.

He said: "It is probably the best collection of what one would call shepherdalia - things to do with shepherds and shepherding - anywhere in Britain.

"You could not collect it today because that period of downland history, when there were huge sheep flocks and shepherds shepherding them, has gone.

"What would happen to it if the museum closed? Where would it go? Who will conserve it and look after it? The same goes for the rest of the museum's collections."

The museum and art gallery, in Chapel Road, houses a nationally important costume collection and famous archaeological finds, such as the Patching Hoard.

The gallery's pictures include Stanley Spencer's The Furnace Man and Holman Hunt's Bianca.

Dan Thompson, spokesman for Save Worthing Museum and Art Gallery, said: "Everybody I have spoken to has a favourite, whether it is a painting, a piece of archaeology, or a hat.

"My great-great-grandfather was a shepherd on the Downs and the downland stuff is important. It is part of our heritage and it should not be lost to save £130,000."

The campaign has already gathered more than 700 signatures since a petition to save the museum and art gallery was launched on Christmas Eve.

Mr Thompson said: "We strongly believe the collections should remain the property of the town as they are now."

The council has warned it would need to raise its share of the council tax by 14 per cent to keep the museum and art gallery open beyond the spring.

Other cuts being consulted on include the possible closure of the Aquarena swimming pool, some public toilets in the town and, after 2005, the Pavilion Theatre.

Culture councillor Maurice Tucker said it would be up to the public to decide whether to lose amenities such as the museum or have 40p a week added to council tax bills.

He said no final decision had been taken but without consulting on tax rises, the council risked being capped by the Government.

He said: "It is not just about the museum. It is what we give as a cultural package to Worthing.

"I am expecting an adult debate where people are going to turn around and say 'We want to keep our town as it is'."