Oxfordshire Museum

The museum is situated in a beautiful 18th century house in the heart of Woodstock.

Sturminster Newton Museum & Mill

Sturminster Newton’s Museum Society was formed in 1984, prompted by the death of Ray Rogers, former registrar of Sturminster Newton, a keen collector of archival material and a long-time campaigner for a museum.

The Museum was finally opened in the disused Chapel of the old Union Workhouse in Bath Road on 15th July 1989 by Miss Agnes Williams, the granddaughter of Montague Williams who built the chapel in 1890.

The Chapel suffered several problems as a Museum: it was on the outskirts of the town, had inadequate parking and very poor conservation conditions. It did not attract many visitors.

In 2007, the Society, now the Museum & Mill Society, were able, thanks to the generosity and enthusiasm of the community, to raise sufficient funds to provide a deposit on a mortgage to purchase the current Museum building.

Subsequently, a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund enabled the Society to make some necessary internal alterations and refurbish the building as a museum. The new Museum opened to the public on August 1st 2008.

During the first three months of the year, the museum has restricted opening times (see opening times in the footer).

The Cowper and Newton Museum

Welcome to Orchard Side house, which from 1768 to 1786 was the home  of William Cowper, renowned 18th century poet.  Walk back in time through rooms featuring numerous personal artefacts and belongings.  Discover William’s comic sense of humour, the highs and lows in his life and his love of gardening and animals  – especially his pet hares.

Discover how his friend John Newton’s life and personal experience inspired him to write the world’s most famous hymn ‘Amazing Grace’ here in Olney.  Find out about his time as a slave ship captain, as a captive himself; how he became curate of the parish church, his involvement in the abolition of slavery and his spiritual influence on William Wilberforce.

Museum of Oxford

The Museum of Oxford is the only museum dedicated to telling the story of Oxford and its people.

Past

The Museum of Oxford opened in 1975 and immediately intrigued locals and visitors to the city with the story of Oxford and how it has developed. Bringing together a diverse collection, everything from Roman pottery to marmalade jars, the Museum of Oxford wove the story of the city from the prehistoric to the modern day.

In 2011 the Museum of Oxford turned off the lights and embarked on a new project which brought together the Museum’s collection and the heritage of Oxford’s Town Hall. The Museum of Oxford’s Explore Oxford galleries opened in June 2012. They still tell the story of Oxford and its people but in a different way.

Present

Explore Oxford presents the city’s past and present in two very different spaces. Exploring the past, visitors can have a look around a Victorian Office and see how the city has developed over the past 3000 years.

Continuing into the second space, visitors can take a virtual high-speed bike ride around the city. You can look and read about a variety of different characters from Oxford’s past and how industry, entertainment, work and invention have shaped the city we see today.

There is even more to the  Museum of Oxford than Explore Oxford though. With a host of changing exhibitions in our Gallery, a variety of events ranging from live music to comedy in The Old Museum, family activities and fun throughout the year and an accessible and extensive community programme. There are also lots of ways to get involved with the Museum of Oxford through volunteering.

Future – Updated

In September 2015, the Museum of Oxford submitted a bid for funding to the HLF for an ambitious project called Oxford’s Hidden Histories. The project aims to open up and share the heritage of the city’s communities through stories that radiate out from the Town Hall, the historic building at its centre. Oxford’s Hidden Histories will make objects currently in store accessible; uncover archival records mapping the city’s development; and explore Oxford’s intangible heritage through the memories of local people.

Chilcomb House

Chilcomb House is home to the county’s special collections of Archaeology, Arts, Natural Sciences and Social & Industrial History. Hundreds of thousands of objects are cared for by Hampshire Cultural Trust staff and volunteers who prepare many of them for displays and exhibitions at flagship galleries, community museums and other venues across Hampshire.

Banbury Museum

Explore the galleries: The Civil War, plush manufacturing, the Victorian market town, costume from the 17th century to the present day and the Oxford Canal – plus an international exhibitions programme, family fun events, talks, tours and fun for all.

We are a family friendly museum located in Banbury’s town centre, next to the idyllic canal side, and opposite Tooley’s historic boatyard.

The Civil War, plush manufacturing, the Victorian market town, costume from the 17th century to the present day and the Oxford Canal: these are just some of the stories illustrated in the museum’s galleries. There are also regularly changing exhibitions and activities to ensure that there is always something new to see and do.

Abingdon County Hall Museum

Abingdon County Hall Museum’s aim is to present the history of Abingdon and the surrounding locality in the most informative, exciting and accessible way possible. We will continue to develop the museum in line with visitor comments and town activities with the intention to create exhibitions combining importance to the locality, people, educational significance and interest for as broad an audience as possible.

Museum of The Iron Age

The Museum of the Iron Age tells the story of Danebury hill fort which lies near Andover. Andover from prehistoric times to the present day.

Red House Museum and Garden

A charming Georgian building, built as a workhouse in 1764, now filled with a rich variety of displays and a regular and varied exhibitions programme.  The museum is a great place to visit with our expanded shop, cafe and 3 gardens.  The Red House is also available for hire for events, parties, meetings and activities.  We have a range of spaces suitable for most needs.

Step into a bygone age and experience the charm and harsh reality of life in the workhouse when children worked from dawn to dusk making watch parts.

Find unusual presents in our shop. Enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in our cosy coffee area or outside in the sunny courtyard and beautiful walled Herb Garden.

Relax in the aromatic walled Herb Garden featuring herbs and old-fashioned roses, and stroll through the woodland walk in the tranquil South Garden.

Whitby Museum

Whitby Museum is owned and operated by Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society, a charitable body established in January 1823, a period when such societies operated in many British towns.

It was founded by a group of leading Whitby citizens led by the Rev. George Young, a local Presbyterian Church minister, and author of A History of Whitby (1819).

The chief object of the Society was to setup and maintain a museum, specialising in fossils, since “Whitby is a chief town of a district abounding with petrifications and containing not a few Antiquities.”

The museum opened in September 1823 and the collections soon filled the original two rooms over shops on Baxtergate. In 1827 it moved to the top floor of the riverside building now known as Fusco’s Quayside Fish Restaurant. On the ground floor were the public baths, and a subscription library occupied the middle floor with the largest windows.

This strategic site on the fashionable promenade was a prime attraction in the Victorian resort. Lewis Carroll, George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell and Wilkie Collins were among the visitors. Bram Stoker’s signature appears in the Visitors’ Book for 1890, when he is known to have consulted books in the subscription library, including An Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldovia by William Wilkinson (1820); along with Transylvania this is modern Romania.

The museum’s collections grew to include local plants, shells and butterflies, beetles and fishes, as well as many exhibits illustrating the history of Whitby, including some sizeable models of buildings and ships.

As the 19^th century became the 20^th the main anxiety of the Society was providing more space. After various proposals, in 1924 the decision was made to build a new museum in Pannett Park. Built at a cost to the Society of £6577, it was opened in August 1931. Since then the collections have grown apace, and has been extended several times.

In 1950 a new library, the Kendall Room, was added to house the Society’s collection of books, manuscripts and ephemera relating to Whitby and district. The Chapman Wing houses the museum’s large collection of ship models, and objects relating to Captain James Cook, and the local whaling industry of the 18^th and 19^th century.

In 2005 the Society opened its latest extension, which almost doubled the size of the building. This houses a gallery for temporary exhibitions, lecture room, dedicated costume store and gallery, workshops, stores and a tearoom. This was funded by local donations and the Heritage Lottery fund. The increased capacity allows us to do what is expected of a modern museum, without compromising the  valued ‘Edwardian’ character of the older section.

Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society is a charitable trust (Charity Commission number 1171266.) Its Committee of trustees are elected from among its membership, and meet monthly to review and oversee its activities.

A Joint Management Committee with Whitby Town Council oversees the building. The Council provides security and cleaning staff, as well as operating the adjacent Pannett Art Gallery, bequeathed to the people of Whitby in 1920 by local solicitor, Robert Elliot Pannett.

The Society is operated mostly by volunteers, and is managed on a day-to-day basis by the Hon. Keeper, assisted by the Committee and the other Officers, and the sectional curators who look after the individual areas of the Museum. They are assisted by two part-time paid staff, an Operations Manager, and a Registrar, who look after the administrative side. There are also two part-time Museum Assistants who, along with volunteers, greet visitors as they arrive at the Front Desk.

In accordance with a 1948 High Court Order and ancient tradition, the collections are held ‘in trust for the people of Whitby.’  Residents of Whitby Town parish have the right of free admission.

The Society and its museum are financed by admission fees (of which a proportion are given to Whitby Town Council towards the maintenance), subscriptions paid by the members of the Society, donations and bequests.

In 1991 was successful in becoming registered with the Museums and Galleries Commission (Registration number 1158). This was renamed as the Accreditation Scheme, now under the auspices of Arts Council England. The Museum successfully became accredited in 2008, 2013, and is awaiting re-assessment in 2017.