South East Of England Museums Information about Museums in the South East Of England including Amberley Working Museum, Bletchley Park, Brooklands Museum, Buckler's Hard, Bucks County Museum, Butser Ancient Farm, The Historic Dockyard Chatham, Museum of the History of Science, National Motor Museum, Oxford Bus Museum, Oxfordshire Museum, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, River & Rowing Museum, Royal Armouries Museum, Royal Navy Submarine Museum, Tangmere Aviation Museum, The Cowper and Newton Museum, The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, Weald & Downland Open Air Museum, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire plus where to go and day out.
Amberley Working Museum is a 36 acre open-air museum dedicated to the industrial heritage of the south-east. Staffed largely by volunteers, the Museum contains a wide range of exhibits, ranging from transport-based collections, such as the Southdown bus collection & the village garage, to industry-based collections, such as the Print Workshop & Wheelwrights. The Museum is also home to a number of resident craftspeople, who work to traditional methods.
During WW2 the German armed forces top secret codes were broken at Bletchley Park, providing the allies with vital information towards their war effort. Travelling under the guise of 'Captain Ridley's Shooting Party', a small team of scholars-turned-codebreakers arrived at Bletchley Park in the summer of 1939.Their mission: to crack the Nazi Enigma cypher. The odds against them were a staggering 150,000,000,000,000,000,000 to 1. Their success in breaking this seemingly 'unbreakable' code was one of the greatest intellectual achievements of the twentieth century.
The Mansion, Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes MK3 6EB
Brooklands Museum where the 'Spirit of Brooklands' lives on! Brooklands - the world's first purpose-built motor racing circuit, constructed at Weybridge, Surrey in 1907 - was more than a great sporting arena. Brooklands was the birthplace of British motorsport and aviation, home of Concorde and the site of many engineering and technological achievements throughout eight decades of the 20th century.
Buckler's Hard is one of England's most attractive and unusual villages. It was created in the early 18th century by the 2nd Duke of Montagu, who planned to build a free port, Montagu Town, on the banks of the Beaulieu River for the import and export of sugar from the West Indies. The idea failed to get off the ground when the French captured the islands, but from the 1740's the site was used for the building of over 50 wooden ships for the Royal Navy.
The Maritime Museum, Buckler's Hard, Beaulieu, Brockenhurst, Hampshire SO42 7XB
The award winning County Museum is in the attractive old town area of Aylesbury in beautifully restored buildings, some dating from the 15th century. The museum showcases the County's rich heritage alongside a changing programme of exhibitions in the Buckinghamshire Art Gallery and they also have the Roald Dahl Children's gallery.
Butser Ancient Farm is a replica of the sort of farm which would have existed in the British Iron Age circa 300 BC. Founded in 1972, it moved to its present site at Bascomb Copse in 1992. The farm has buildings, structures, animals and crops of the kind that existed at that time. It is much more than a museum though. It is essentially a large open air laboratory where research into the Iron Age and Roman periods goes on using the methods and materials which were available at that time, and also by applying modern science to ancient problems
The Historic Dockyard Chatham is one of the world's most fascinating and significant maritime heritage locations. Eighty acres containing spectacular architecture and exciting naval and maritime exhibits.Journey through 400 years of the history of Chatham and the Royal Navy in the Museum of the Royal Dockyard. Experience the open bridge of the World War II destroyer HMS Cavalier and go below decks to see how the crew lived.
The Museum of the History of Science houses an unrivalled collection of historic scientific instruments in the world's oldest surviving purpose-built museum building, the Old Ashmolean on Broad Street, Oxford. By virtue of the collection and the building, the Museum occupies a special position, both in the study of the history of science and in the development of western culture and collecting.
Whether your interest is as an individual, a motor enthusiast, or as a member of an interest group or educational party, when it comes to cars, motorbikes, commercial vehicles, motoring eccentricities and memorabilia, the National Motor Museum is firmly in the driving seat. With the Collection now comprising some 250 vehicles - from some of the earliest examples of motoring to legendary World Record Breakers like Bluebird and Golden Arrow - you are sure to find something to fascinate you.
The Oxford Bus Museum has also been home to another exhibition – the Morris Motors Museum, telling the story of how cars and commercial vehicles were produced at Cowley. There are exhibitions of photographs, drawings and all kinds of memorabilia, together with an impressive display of vintage Morris vehicles, representing the earliest to the last. Entry is included in the Oxford Bus Museum admission price – two museums for the price of one!
Station Yard, Long Hanborough, Witney, Oxfordshire, OX29 8LA
Discover life in Victorian times in our latest permanent gallery. Learn about Queen Victoria, the Great Exhibition, houses and homes, schools, religion, past times, farming and sanitation - don't miss the talking toilet! The museum’s attractively landscaped gardens are the ideal location for morning coffee, a light lunch or afternoon tea on the terrace or for just relaxing with children and friends.
Fletcher's House, Park Street, Woodstock, Oxon OX20 1SN
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard offers a complete maritime experience, all year round. Visitors can discover history at the home of world-famous ships, HMS Victory and HMS Warrior 1860; walk through fascinating exhibitions at the Mary Rose Museum and the National Museum of the Royal Navy; test skills at the interactive Action Stations and take a Harbour Tours boat trip around Portsmouth Harbour and Naval Base. Whether interested in naval, military, industrial or social history, architecture, culture, or just a way to keep the kids occupied, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is an ideal destination.
Visitor Centre, Victory Gate, HM Naval Base, Portsmouth PO1 3LJ.
The Museum has three main galleries devoted to the River Thames, the international sport of rowing and the town of Henley on Thames. The Wind in the Willows is a permanent exhibition that brings the story to life using 3D models, sets, music and an audio guide. A programme of Special exhibitions in the Treasures gallery, Lord Kirkham gallery and on The Wall ensure there is always something new to explore, often providing unique or unexpected insights into one of our main themes.
Mill Meadows, Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire RG9 1BF
The Royal Armouries collection of artillery, Covering every period of history from every corner of the world the collection is brought vividly to life every day with the live firing of one of the field guns. Fort Nelson has over 350 big guns and historic cannon on display, all part of the national collection of arms and armour. Fort Nelson was built in the 1860s, as part of a chain of fortifications protecting the great naval harbour of Portsmouth.
Fort Nelson, Portsdown Hill Road, Fareham PO17 6AN
The Royal Armouries collection of artillery, Covering every period of history from every corner of the world the collection is brought vividly to life every day with the live firing of one of the field guns. Fort Nelson has over 350 big guns and historic cannon on display, all part of the national collection of arms and armour. Fort Nelson was built in the 1860s, as part of a chain of fortifications protecting the great naval harbour of Portsmouth.
Tangmere Military Aviation Museum was established in 1982 on the old RAF Tangmere airfield. The museum contains countless fascinating exhibits. Here you can see priceless historic aircraft such as Neville Duke's world record breaking Hawker Hunter, actual equipment used by the brave SOE agents who were carried into occupied France on 'black Lysander' flights from Tangmere, flight simulators where you can try your hand at flying, a full sized replica of the very first Spitfire prototype and more. Much more.
The Cowper and Newton Museum is the fascinating Georgian town house where William Cowper used to live. Cowper and Newton were eighteenth-century writers, public figures and abolitionists who wrote the song ‘Amazing Grace’. The Museum and gardens reenact the mezmerizing life of an eighteenth-century public figure.
This great little award-winning Museum with its two biographical galleries, story centre, shop, café and a sunny courtyard, is aimed at 6 to 12 year olds and their families. Situated in Great Missenden where Roald Dahl lived for over 36 years, it was created as a home for the author's archive (which visitors can see on our regular tours) and as a place to inspire creativity and a love of reading in children, about which Roald Dahl was passionate.
81-83 High Street, Great Missenden, Bucks HP16 0AL
Set in 50 acres of beautiful Sussex countryside is a very special place to wander amongst a fascinating collection of nearly 50 historic buildings dating from the 13th to the 19th century, many with period gardens, together with farm animals, woodland walks and a picturesque lake. Rescued from destruction, the buildings have been carefully dismantled, conserved and rebuilt to their original form and bring to life the homes, farmsteads and rural industries of the last 500 years.
