For a more comprehensive list of British museums and galleries see the Museums and Galleries Yearbook, published by the Museums Association or the Culture 24 website: www.culture24.org.uk
Ashmolean Museum, Beaumont Street, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 2PH. Tel: 01865 278000. website: www.ashmolean.org The world’s first university museum, built to house the collection donated to the University of Oxford by Elias Ashmole in 1677.
Beamish Museum, Beamish, County Durham, County Durham DH9 0RG. Tel: 0191 370 4000. website: www.beamish.org.uk Large open-air museum, focusing on life in the north of England in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3DH. Tel: 0121 303 2834. website: www.bmag.org.uk Exceptional municipal museum and art gallery, founded in 1885.
Blist’s Hill Victorian Town, Legges Way, Madeley, Telford, Shropshire TF7 5DU. Tel: 01952 884391. website: www.ironbridge.org.uk Open-air museum of Shropshire industry and everyday life, run by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust.
Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Durham DL12 8NP. Tel: 01833 690606. website: www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk Palatial purpose-built public art gallery and museum, opened in 1892.
British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG. Tel: 020 7323 8000. website: www.britishmuseum.org National museum of human history and culture, established in 1753.
British Lawnmower Museum, 106–114 Shakespeare Street, Southport, Lancashire PR8 5AJ. Tel: 01704 501336. website: www.lawnmowerworld.co.uk Nation’s foremost museum of garden machinery.
Brontë Parsonage Museum, Church Street, Haworth, Keighley, West Yorkshire BD22 8DR. Tel: 01535 642323. website: www.bronte.org.uk Former home and museum tracing the life and work of celebrated writing family, the Brontës.
Charles Dickens Museum, 48 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LX. Tel: 020 7405 2127. website: www.dickensmuseum.com Only surviving home of Victorian author Charles Dickens.
Dove Cottage, The Wordsworth Museum and Art Gallery, Town End, Grasmere, Cumbria LA22 9SH. Tel: 015394 35544. Website: https://wordsworth.org.uk Home of the poet William Wordsworth and museum of his life and work.
Dulwich Picture Gallery, Gallery Road, Dulwich Village, London SE21 7AD. Tel: 020 8693 5254. website: www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk England’s first purpose-built public art gallery.
Fitzwilliam Museum, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB2 1RB. Tel: 01223 332900. website: www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk Art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge, based on the bequest of the 7th Viscount Fitzwilliam.
Foundling Museum, 40 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AZ. Tel: 020 7841 3600. website: www.foundlingmuseum.org.uk The nation’s first public art gallery and part of the now defunct Foundling Hospital for abandoned children.
Horniman Museum and Gardens, 100 London Road, Forest Hill, London SE23 3PQ. Tel: 020 8699 1872. website: www.horniman.ac.uk Museum founded by tea trader and philanthropist Frederick John Horniman, opened to the public in 1901.
IWM London (part of Imperial War Museums), Lambeth Road, London SE1 6HZ. Tel: 020 7416 5000. website: www.iwm.org.uk The London branch of Imperial War Museums, with other venues nationwide, notably Salford’s IWM North.
Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL. Tel: 0161 275 2648. website: www.museum.manchester.ac.uk University of Manchester Museum specialising in archaeology, anthropology and natural history.
Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising, 2 Colville Mews, Lonsdale Road, Notting Hill, London W11 2AR. Tel: 020 7908 0880. website: www.museumofbrands.com Home of an extensive and colourful collection started by Robert Opie.
Museum of London, London Wall, City of London EC2Y 5HN. Tel: 020 7001 9844. website: www.museumoflondon.org.uk Museum tracing the history of London from the prehistoric to the present.
Museum of Science and Industry, Liverpool Road, Castlefield, Manchester M3 4FP. Tel: 0161 832 2244. website: www.mosi.org.uk Part of the Science Museum group, focusing on the development of science, technology and industry alongside Manchester’s industrial heritage.
Museum of Witchcraft, The Harbour, Boscastle, Cornwall PL35 0HD. Tel: 01840 250 111. website: www.museumofwitchcraft.com The world’s largest collection of witchcraft and wiccan related artefacts, established by neopagan witch, Cecil Williamson.
National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN. Tel: 020 7747 2885. website: www.nationalgallery.org.uk National collection of Western European painting from the thirteenth to the nineteenth centuries, founded in 1824.
National Museum Cardiff, Cathays Park, Cardiff, Wales CF10 3NP. Tel: 029 2057 3000. website: www.museumwales.ac.uk/cy/cardiff Founded in 1907 but not opened until 1927, specialising in archaeology, botany, fine and applied art, geology and zoology. Part of the wider network National Museum Wales.
National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh, Scotland EH1 1JF. Tel: 0300 123 6789. website: www.nms.ac.uk Scottish national museum, amalgamating the former National Museum of Antiquities and the Royal Scottish Museum.
National Museums Liverpool, c/o 127 Dale Street, Liverpool L2 2JH. Tel: 0151 207 0001. website: www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk A group of free museums and galleries on Merseyside including the World Museum, the Walker Art Gallery, the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Merseyside Maritime Museum, International Slavery Museum, Sudley House and the Museum of Liverpool.
National Railway Museum, Leeman Road, York, North Yorkshire YO26 4XJ. Tel: 08448 153 139. website: www.nrm.org.uk Home to the UK’s national railway collection, telling the story of rail transport in Britain.
Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD. Tel: 020 7942 5000. website: www.nhm.ac.uk South Kensington museum, specialising in natural history in an iconic Alfred Waterhouse building.
Old Operating Theatre Museum, 9A St Thomas’ Street, London SE1 9RY. Tel: 020 7188 2679. website: www.thegarret.org.uk Atmospheric museum of surgical history, including one of the oldest surviving operating theatres and an apothecary’s herb garret.
Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Parks Road, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 3PW. Tel: 01865 272950. website: www.oum.ox.ac.uk Museum of the University of Oxford housing the university’s scientific collections of zoological, entomological and geological specimens, housed in a spectacular neo-Gothic building.
Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 3PP. Tel: 01865 270927. website: www.prm.ox.ac.uk Museum of the University of Oxford specialising in archaeology and anthropology, founded by Lieutenant Colonel Augustus Pitt Rivers.
Powell-Cotton Museum, Quex Park, Park Lane, Birchington, Kent CT7 0BH. Tel: 01843 842 168. website: www.quexpark.co.uk/museum Established by Major Percy Powell-Cotton in 1896 to house natural history specimens and cultural objects collected on expeditions to Asia and Africa.
Royal Armouries, Armouries Drive, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS10 1LT. Tel: 08700 344 344. website: www.royalarmouries.org/home Britain’s national museum of arms and armour, across three sites including the Tower of London, Fort Nelson in Portsmouth and a headquarters in Leeds.
Royal Museums Greenwich, Park Row, Greenwich, London SE10 9NF. Tel: 020 8858 4422. website: www.rmg.co.uk Three linked sites: the National Maritime Museum, the Royal Observatory Greenwich and the seventeenth-century Queen’s House, set in Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site.
Ryedale Folk Museum, Hutton-le-Hole, York, North Yorkshire YO62 6UA. Tel: 01751 417367. website: www.ryedalefolkmuseum.co.uk Yorkshire’s leading open-air museum.
Science Museum, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2DD. Tel: 0870 870 4868. website: www.sciencemuseum.org.uk The UK’s major science museum, with sister sites nationwide.
Sir John Soane’s Museum, 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3BP. Tel: 020 7405 2107. website: www.soane.org The cornucopic collection of architect Sir John Soane, bequeathed to the nation on his death in 1837.
St Fagans National History Museum, St Fagans, Cardiff, Wales CF5 6XB. Tel: 029 2057 3500. website: www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/stfagans Open-air museum representing the life and culture of Welsh people. Part of the National Museum Wales network.
Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG. Tel: 020 7887 8888. website: www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-britain National gallery of British art from 1500 to the present day.
Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG. Tel: 020 7887 8888. website: www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern UK’s national museum of modern and contemporary art from 1900 to the present day.
Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra, Holywood, Ulster NI BT18 OEU. Tel: 0 28 9042 8428. website: www.nmni.com/uftm Open-air museum focusing on Irish life in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
V&A Museum of Childhood, Cambridge Heath Road, London E2. Tel: 020 8983 5201. website: www.museumofchildhood.org.uk Recently renovated Victorian museum tracing the social history of childhood with exhibits including toys and games from different eras.
Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, London SW7. Tel: 020 7942 2000. website: www.vam.ac.uk The national museum of art and design with vast collections encompassing fashion, ceramics, textiles, furniture, fine art and more.
Wallace Collection, Hertford House, Manchester Square, London W1U 3BN. Tel: 020 7563 9500. website: www.wallacecollection.org World-famous collection of Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford bequeathed to the nation by the widow of his illegitimate son, Sir Richard Wallace.
Wayside Museum, Zennor, near St Ives, Cornwall TR26 3DA. Tel: 01736 796945. website: www.museumsincornwall.org.uk/Wayside-Museum-and-Trewey-Mill,-Zennor/Cornwall-Museums Local museum and mill telling the story of farming and local life.
Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, Singleton near Chichester, West Sussex PP018 0EU. Tel: 01243 811363. website: www.wealddown.co.uk Picturesque open-air museum of Sussex life and building technology.