Museums in Northamptonshire

Park Avenue South, Abington Park
Northampton NN1 5LW

northampton.gov.uk

A 15th century manor house, once the home of Shakespeare's granddaughter, Elizabeth Bernard, who is buried in the nearby church. It is now a museum including the history of the house. Collections: Social history costume military history natural sciences egyptology leathercraft.

Civic Centre, 120 High Street
Burton Latimer NN15 5RH

burtonlatimer.info

Burton Latimer Heritage Museum is situated in a former health centre now the Civic Centre. It is managed by Burton Latimer Heritage Society, which mounts two themed exhibitions each year.

Sunnyvale Farm, off Lamport Road, Harrington
Harrington NN6 9PF

harringtonmuseum.org.uk

Displays and exhibits within the Carpetbagger Aviation Museum depict the history of the airfield and vividly show the work carried out by the 801st (Provisional) / 492nd Bomb Group of the US Eighth Air Force, especially during Operation Carpetbagger, and their secret missions to deliver agents and supplies to resistance groups in Occupied Europe during the Second World War. Other exhibits and displays include the secret work of the British Special Operations Executive from their RAF base at Tempsford; the cold war roles of the airfield at Harrington with the Thor rockets; and the Royal Observer Corps. Nearby in the former Paymaster nissen hut, and also forming part of the Harrington Aviation Museums, is the Northants Aviation Society Museum. This contains many other fascinating items of equipment and memorabilia.

Town Council Offices, 3 New Street
Daventry NN11 4BT

The exhibition has some interesting displays of past Daventry artefacts including the old Borough Charter and a model of the railway station. Many displays are changed on a regular basis. At the present time the exhibition contains many interesting items of Daventry??s history donated or loaned or donated by local people of the town.

Barkers Factory Complex, Station Road, Earls Barton
Northampton NN6 0DH

Earls Barton Museum of Local Life offers visitors a chance to see just how the people of this area have lived through many stages in history. There is thought to have been a settlement in this area for a great deal of time, and this museum charts the development of people and practices through several stages.

Irchester Country Park
Wellingborough NN29 7DL

google.com

Situated in Irchester Country Park, Northamptonshire, the Irchester Narrow Gauge Railway Museum is home to a collection of working steam and diesel locomotives.

Sheep Street
Kettering NN16 0AN

kettering.gov.uk

Temporary exhibitions and regular activities make the Manor House Museum a lively and vibrant place to visit. Come along to explore Kettering's history and find out what makes the town unique. Collections: The museum collects only those items, which were made or used within the geographical area of Kettering Borough for its permanent collections. The current size of the collections is thought to total circa 20,000 artefacts.

c/o Central Museum & Art Gallery, Guildhall Road
Northampton NN1 1DP

museumofleathercraft.org

The museum of Leathercraft is internationally acknowledged as having one of the finest collections of leather artefacts in the world.

Abington Park
Northampton NN1 5LW

northampton.gov.uk

The collection includes photographs acquired by the regiment over many years, some of which are the personal photograph albums of individual soldiers. Some of these photographs show life serving in a various number of places including Waziristan, India, Egypt, Iraq, China, Korea and other tours of various bases in Europe.

Guildhall Road
Northampton NN1 1DP

northampton.gov.uk

Northampton Museum reflects the town's proud standing as both Britain's boot and shoe capital and the focus for history of the town through the ages. Collections: The Boot and Shoe collection held at Northampton's Central Museum and Art Gallery is one of the most extensive collections of its kind in the world. It includes everything from Roman and medieval footwear to the work of contemporary designers and reflects the vital role of Northampton in the history of shoe making.

Doddridge Centre, 109 St James Road
Northampton NN5 5LD

northants-black-history.org.uk

This community-led project aims to record and promote the histories and stories of Northamptonshire's Black communities over at least the past 500 years. It involves three main activities: (1) Historical research to reveal the Black presence by looking at newspapers, parish records, paintings, photographs, gravestones and other media; (2) community archiving to preserve the records of today's black communities and individuals for future generations; (3) Oral history interviews to document the stories and experiences of people living in Northamptonshire today.

Hunsbury Hill Country Park, Hunsbury Hill Road, Camp Hill
Northampton NN4 9UW

nirt.co.uk

Sited on the old ironstone quarry closed in the 1930s, this museum houses a collection of relics from the ironstone quarrying era of Northampton. Also on site is a 1.5 mile demonstration railway line in standard gauge.

Abington Park
Northampton NN1 5LW

northampton.gov.uk

Learn about the history of the Northamptonshire Regiment and Yeomanry and about how we used to live.

The Courthouse, Mill Road
Oundle PE8 4BW

oundlemuseum.org.uk

Permanent exhibits include: local archaeological finds, brewing and malting, farming tools and machinery, remand cell.

Chapel End
Piddington, Northampton NN7 2DD

unas.org.uk

Housed in a former Wesleyan chapel, the museum displays some of the many finds made during the long running excavation of the Piddington Roman Villa over 25 years, and still on-going. Apart from the displays, the building houses stores for the many found objects. Collections: Apart from significant archaeological material it houses displays interpreting 500 years of life at the settlement, including: a detailed model of the villa, as in the later 2nd century; a full-sized mannequin of a possible owner of the villa called Tiberius Claudius Severus, with an audio presentation; a full-scale reconstruction of sections of a typical roof and hypocaust, the Roman heating system.

14-16 Bridge Street
Rothwell NN14 6JW

rothwellheritage.org.uk

Rothwell is a market town with many historic buildings and proud links to the past. The importance of Rothwell or Rowell in this context is recorded in the Domesday Book. The Arts and Heritage Centre was established in 2003 by Rothwell Museum Group and Rothwell and Desborough Market Towns Initiative.

Bridge Road, Stoke Bruerne
Towcester NN12 7SE

Housed in a restored cornmill in the picturesque village of Stoke Bruerne on the Grand Union Canal, the museum collection vividly portrays the heritage of 200 years of inland waterways. Collections: The collection includes objects painted by boatmen in the traditional 'Roses and Castles' style, costumes worn by boating families, waterways souvenirs from the 1950s, a large collection of photographs and extensive archive material such as canal company share certificates.

Manor Road, Sulgrave
nr Banbury OX17 2SD

sulgravemanor.org.uk

Sulgrave Manor was set up in the 1920s as a symbol of the rich network of links that bind the United Kingdom and the United States together. It was built by George Washington's direct ancestor in the middle of the 16th century and is now restored to show how the gentry of the period lived. Collections: Carefully and sympahetically restored 16th Great Hall and bedchamber and 18th century rooms bedrooms, parlour and kitchen. Furniture, artefacts and textiles of the period displayed as well as the largest collection of George Washington memorabilia.

12 Castle Way
Wellingborough NN8 1XB

wellingboroughmuseum.co.uk

The Wellingborough Museum is housed in Dulley's Baths, built in 1892 as an indoor swimming pool by David Dulley, a brewer in the town. In 1920, the building was bought by George Cox and converted into a shoe factory. Collections: A typical market-town collection of mainly social items relating to Wellingborough and district.