Museums in the Midlands Information about Museums in the Midlands including, Avoncroft Museum, Birmingham & Midlands Museum of Transport, Black Country Museum, Galleries of Justice, Ironbridge Gorge Museum, National Motorcycle Museum, Royal Air Force Museum, Shakespeare's Birthplace, Wedgwood Story, Places to visit in the Midlands, Birmingham, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, where to go and day out.
Acton Scott Historic Working Farm is one of Britain's leading working farm museums. We specialise in practical demonstrations of historic farming using traditional skills and period horse-drawn machines. Every day you can see milking by hand and butter-making in the dairy. There are weekly visits from the wheelwright, farrier and blacksmith. In the woodsman's hut rakes and gate hurdles are being made. In addition, our award winning craft programme offers wide ranging demonstrations, events focusing on rural life and craft skills which complete the picture of estate life a hundred years ago.
Wenlock Lodge, Acton Scott, Church Stretton, Shropshire, SY6 6QN
Avoncroft is a fascinating world of historic buildings covering seven centuries, rescued and rebuilt on a beautiful open-air site in the heart of the Worcestershire countryside. Since the successful preservation of the Merchant's House, Avoncroft Museum has rescued a further 24 important buildings and structures, including a 17th century cock pit, a Victorian Mission Church, a windmill and a 1946 Prefab.
Bantock House is arranged over two floors. The ground floor is set in the Edwardian period with Arts and Crafts inspired décor. On this floor you will find displays featuring items from our exquisite Decorative Arts collection, including locally-made enamels, steel jewellery and japanned ware. In addition there is our newly-restored Billiard Room and the Victorian Rooms which offer a fascinating insight into the lives of women and children during the Victorian period.
The museum occupies a twenty six acre urban heritage park in the shadow of Dudley Castle in the centre of the Black Country conurbation of two million people. Electric tramcars and trolleybuses transport visitors from the entrance in a recreated factory to the village area with thirty buildings situated by the canal basin. Coal mine displays include underground workings, colliery surface buildings and a replica of the 1712 Newcomen steam engine. In all forty two separate displays have either been re-erected or built to old plans to create a living open air museum.
Bosworth is a site of national historic significance, being the location of one of the three most important battles fought on British soil. It is the site where the Battle of Bosworth took place in 1485, and infamous as the place where King Richard III lost his life and crown to Henry Tudor and thus where the Tudor dynasty was born.
Sutton Cheney, Nr. Market Bosworth, Nuneaton CV13 0AD
Charnwood Museum features a wide range of exhibits reflecting the history, geology, archaeology and industries of Charnwood and the surrounding area. Permanent displays include 'Coming to Charnwood', 'The Natural World of Charnwood', 'Living off the Land' and 'Earning a Living'. Each contains exhibits from the past and present including interactive displays, computers and audio-visuals. Visitors can handle rocks from Charnwood's volcanic past, walk beneath the giant oak tree, investigate the 4,000 year old burial of the Cossington Boy, visit the Victorian grocers shop or zoom-in on a fly's eye with the video microscope.
Visit Hereford's famous Cider Museum and learn about the history of cider making - how the apples were milled and pressed and how the resulting juice was fermented to produce cider. Set in a former cider making factory, visitors can explore original cider champagne cellars and view cidermaking equipment, a cooper's workshop and a vat house. Listen to oral history recordings and view 19th century watercolours of cider apples and perry pears.
The museum is based in a Medieval Manor House dating back to 1280. The house has a fascinating history and is now restored with fine oak furnishings. Visitors to the house can now see restored rooms and displays on medieval life as well as a series of temporary exhibitions on a wide range of subjects. The house is set in recently recreated 17th century style gardens with flower gardens, an orchard, herb gardens and a maze. The adjoining stone barn is home to the Classics Tea Room.
Manor Road, Donington le Heath, Coalville, Leicestershire LE67 2FW
Home to the Villainous Sheriff of Nottingham and the only venue where you can discover Nottingham’s horrible history! They preserve the site of Nottinghamshire’s old Courthouse and County Gaol as well as maintaining a vast collection of spine chilling artefacts relating to Crime and Punishment over the last three centuries. Also have a free Robin Hood exhibition on site where you can learn all about Nottingham’s most famous outlaw!
High Pavement, The Lace Market, Nottingham, NG1 1HN
Find out about the historic town of Market Harborough and its surrounding area. The district's history is celebrated with displays including important collections of toys, the Symington Collection of Corsetry, a reconstruction of a local bootmaker's workshop, local archaeological finds and a programme of regularly changing exhibitions. The museum itself is located on the second floor of the council offices.
Council Offices, Adam & Eve Street, Market Harborough LE16 7AG
Scene of pioneering events which led to the Industrial Revolution. Stunning scenery, a recreated Victorian town, Coalport China and the world famous Iron Bridge are just some of the attractions. See the products that set industry on its path and the machines that made them. Watch and talk to the Museums' craftsmen and costumed demonstrators as they work iron, fashion china and glass, and bring alive the people who lived and worked here.
Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, in the West Midlands houses 70 aircraft and is home to War Planes, Missiles, Transport & Training and Research & Development collections. The newly opened National Cold War Exhibition with its interactive kiosks and hotspots gives visitors a chance to see what life was like behind the Iron Curtain.
Discover the exciting story of William Shakespeare's early years, and see where he spent the first five years with his new wife. See where prominent writers including Charles Dickens, John Keats, Walter Scott and Thomas Hardy have visited the house and left their mark.
Snibston is set on the site of a former colliery and consists of an award winning interactive museum, scheduled ancient colliery buildings, the Century Theatre, and a one hundred acre country park and nature reserve. The museum displays a diverse and rich collection of historic objects telling the story of technology and design and how it has affected everyday life from the past to the present day, and the future.
The National Motorcycle Museum is recognised as the finest and largest motorcycle museum in the world. Our aim is to make it even better. Important and famous machines are forever being added to our collection. It is a place where 'Legends Live On' and it is a tribute to and a living record of this once great British industry that dominated world markets for some sixty years. It is a place where an older generation can once again view with nostalgia the machines they rode in days gone by, and younger generations can study the development of the motorcycle from its earlier days to the golden years of the 1930s-60s, when British motorcycles 'ruled the world'.
Coventry Road, Bickenhill, Solihull, West Midlands, B92 0EJ
There are now three halls which accommodate one of the most significant collections of preserved buses in the country. It has the largest collection of preserved Midland Red buses and can probably make the same claim for Birmingham City Transport.
Whether you just like looking at beautiful objects or have a specialist interest. We are the home of one of the most interesting ceramic collections in the world. Our galleries tell the story of Josiah Wedgwood, his family, and the company he founded two-and-a-half centuries ago.
