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Museums long ago ceased to be stuffy
rooms full of glass cases containing bits of old pottery
and fossilised bones.
Today even most conventional
museums including displays which change but over recent
years there has been a growth in industrial and "living"
museums.
Here you can learn about local heritage, get a feel for how people lived
and worked, the hardships they endured...
Galleries listed include not just civic
galleries displaying publicly owned artworks, but also
privately owned galleries with items for sale.
Not all the
museums and galleries in the Wiltshire area are listed.
Please provide details of any we have missed here.
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TROWBRIDGE MUSEUM
The Shires, Court Street, Trowbridge,
Wiltshire, BA14 8AT
Tel: 01225 751339 Fax: 01225 754608
E-mail:
c.lyall@trowbridge.gov.uk
Web:
www.trowbridgemuseum.co.uk
Open: Tues-Fri, 10am-4pm and Saturdays
10am-4.30pm.
Free Admission
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Trowbridge
Museum is located in what was the town's
last working woollen mill and tells the
fascinating story of wool production, the
town and its people.
Other displays include the reconstruction
of a medieval castle, and an audio-visual
display on the story of Trowbridge. |
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Step back in time to a
Weaver's cottage and Taylor's draper's shop
and discover more about Trowbridge's famous
son Isaac Pitman.
There are also regular temporary
exhibitions, a mouse hunt for children and
children's holiday activities too. |
You can see our resident
weaver weaving on most Saturdays. Check out our website:
www.trowbridgemuseum.co.uk
If
you need help with homework see our
excellent Local History website in the
Education Section! |
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SALISBURY & SOUTH
WILTSHIRE MUSEUM
The King's House, 65 The Close, Salisbury,
Wiltshire, SP1 2EN
Tel: 01722 332151 Fax:
01722 325611
E-mail:
museum@salisburymuseum.org.uk
Web:
www.salisburymuseum.org.uk
Open: All year Mon to Sat 10am - 5pm.
July & August Sunday 2pm - 5pm. Closed Christmas
week.
Award winning galleries from Stonehenge to
modern day. The Monkton Deverill gold torc, and
the famous Warminster Jewel. Displays include
Early Man; the Romans and Saxons; history of Old
Sarum and Salisbury (with the renowned Giant and
Hob Nob); the Pitt Rivers collection; pottery,
porcelain and Wedgwood in beautiful 17th century
rooms; a pre-NHS surgery, costume, lace and
embroidery. There are pictures, including Turner
watercolours, throughout the Museum. Special
exhibitions all year. Season tickets and
membership benefits available. A friendly museum
in a splendid Grade 1 Listed building.
Designated as having archaeology collections of
national importance.
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RIFLEMEN IN THE WARDROBE
58 The Close, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP1 2EX
Tel: 01722 419419
E-mail:
curator@thewardrobe.org.uk
Web:
www.thewardrobe.org.uk
Opening Times:
April - October
7 days: 10.00am
- 5.00pm. Nov,
Feb & March Tues
- Sun: 10.00am -
5.00pm. Closed
December &
January.
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Rifleman in The
Wardrobe, with its many period features, dates
from 1254.
It is known as the Wardrobe having been used as
a clothing and document store by bishops in the
14th century.
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Artefacts of the County Infantry Regiment of
Berkshire and Wiltshire, incorporating the Royal
Berkshire Regiment, the Wiltshire Regiment, the
Duke of Edinburgh Royal Regiment, the Rifles
Regiment, the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire
and Wiltshire Regiment along with Salisbury
Museum. The many and varied exhibits tell an
absorbing story of the life of an English county
Regiment. Visitors can also walk around the
riverside garden with views of the famous Water
Meadows. The Bernieres Tea Room, housed in a
restored 16th century coach house, offers home
cooked food, which can be served on the terrace
in summer. All museum rooms are located on the
ground floor and accessible to the disabled.
For further details on the Riflemen in the
Wardrobe see our website.
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Lacock Abbey, Fox Talbot
Museum & Village
Lacock, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN15 2LG
Tel: 01249 730227 (Abbey tel/fax)
01249 730459 (Museum)
01249 730176 (Museum Curator) 01249
730227 (Group/tour booking)
01249 730141 (Learning) 01985 843601 (Box
office) 01249 730302 (Shop)
Fax: 01249 730501 (Museum/Estate
office)
E-mail:
lacockabbey@nationaltrust.org.uk
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Country house created out of a medieval abbey,
the home of a pioneer of photography.
Founded in 1232 and converted into a country
house c.1540, the fine medieval cloisters,
sacristy, chapter house and monastic rooms of
the Abbey have survived largely intact.
The handsome 16th-century stable courtyard has
half-timbered gables, a clockhouse, brewery
and bakehouse.
The Victorian woodland garden boasts a fine
display of spring flowers, magnificent trees,
an 18th-century summer house, Victorian rose
garden and newly restored ‘botanic’ garden.
The Photographic Museum commemorates the
achievements of a former resident of the
Abbey, William Henry Fox Talbot (1800–77),
inventor of the negative/positive photographic
process and whose descendants gave the Abbey
and village to the Trust in 1944.
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Lacock Abbey -
Photo:
Stuart Cankett
CCL |
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Lacock -
Photo:
Pam Brophy
CCL |
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The village, which dates
from the 13th century and has many lime washed
half-timbered and stone houses, was used as a
location in the TV and film productions of
Pride and Prejudice, Moll Flanders and Emma.
The Abbey also featured in the recent Harry
Potter films. |
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Athelstan Museum
Town Hall, Cross Hayes, Malmesbury, Wiltshire
SN16 9BZ
Tel: 01666 829258
E-mail:
admin@athelstan-museum.org.uk
Web:
www.athelstan-museum.org.uk
The museum is within the Town Hall. The exhibits
of local history include coins minted in
Malmesbury, costume, lace-making display, an
early fire engine, an early tricycle, and
collections of early drawings of the town by
Thomas Girtin, Thomas Hearne and Luke Sullivan.
There is also a collection of photographs of
Malmesbury and the branch railway.
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Bradford-on-Avon Museum
Tel: 01225 865797
The museum, which displays the natural and human
heritage of the town, is situated on the first
floor of the town library. Its main exhibit is
an old pharmacy shop that has been lovingly
rebuilt after 120 years of service.
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Mere Museum - WW Data
Barton Lane, Church Street, Mere, Warminster,
Wiltshire, BA12 6JA
Tel: 01747 861444
E-mail:
curator@meremuseum.fsnet.co.uk
Displays of local history and items of general
interest which change at approximately 3-monthly
intervals. A pictorial map of Mere (of which
small copies are available) and display panels
on "Mere in the 20th century" are permanent
displays.
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Warminster Dewey Museum
Warminster Library, Three Horseshoes Mall,
Warminster, Wiltshire, BA12 9BT
Tel: 01985 216022 Fax:
01985 846332
Exhibition of the local history of Warminster
and the surrounding district, including the
Manley collection of fossils.
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