The museum will be re-opening on the 19th May subject to government guidelines. Please book your tickets here

Welcome to Ilfracombe Museum

Ilfracombe Museum Trust CIO

Explore a world of curiosities at our friendly museum. Discover the story of Ilfracombe’s rich history and find objects from around the world. Be amazed at the variety of our collections, from natural history and archaeology, art and photography, costume and domestic history. There’s something here for everyone to enjoy.

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Plan Your Visit

From 19th May 2021 we’ll be open Monday to Friday 10am-5pm. Booking is essential and you’ll find details of session times on our booking page.

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Visitor Information

What’s On

We’ve got lots of exciting free family activities for you to take part in – click the Stay Curious button

Stay Curious

Events

Support Us

Details of how you can support what we do

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Explore a world of curiosities at our friendly museum

Ilfracombe’s great value family attraction

A fascinating place to visit come rain or shine

Overflowing with the curious and the wonderful, we have unimaginable finds from around the world – from a shrunken head to pickled bats! There is something here for everyone and children visit free! A great experience for all the family.

The whole family will be intrigued by the variety of displays. Peer into drawers and peek into cupboards; wander through eight different rooms and uncover the museum’s hidden treasures. You won’t be disappointed by your visit to one of North Devon’s best museums!

There’s more to discover than you’d ever imagine!

Museum gift shop – browse our great gift range

Children’s quizzes, brass rubbing & regular children’s activities.

Under 16s FREE. Disabled access.

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ilfracombe_museum

Are you feeing creative? Have a go at making a sal $Are you feeing creative? Have a go at making a salt dough Curious Creatures plate! Like Great Uncle Mervyn, Pip & Kim are fascinated by curious creatures and one of their favourite things in the museum is this amazing Palissy ware plate, decorated with a collection of small animals, all on a bed of wiggly grass! If you would like to make your own Curious Creatures plate you can download our activity sheet from the Ilfracombe Museum Stay Curious web page. https://www.ilfracombemuseum.co.uk/stay-curious/stay-courious-things-to-do/ We would love to see your finished plates so post your pictures here 👇 👇 #palissyware #kidsinmuseums #ceramics #kidscrafts #kidsactivities #ilfracombe #ilfracombemuseum #ilfracombethingstodo #staycurious #northdevon #artandcraft #youngcreatives #makeyourown #saltdough$

Excited to see more mysteries uncovered? So are we $Excited to see more mysteries uncovered? So are we! Like this incredible box of geological samples, we are reopening! From Wednesday 19th May at 10am you can come into the museum and uncover the mysteries of our collection for yourself. Book your tickets here: https://ilfracombe-museum.arttickets.org.uk/ We can't wait to see you xx #reopening #museum #mysteriesatthemuseum #ilfracombe #discover #geology$

We're so pleased to be re-opening to you soon! ( s $We're so pleased to be re-opening to you soon! ( subject to government guidance) We have made some changes to make sure we can offer a safe visit to you all. We will be offering booking in advance online to help us manage numbers. Tickets will be £4 for everyone and children under 16 are free. We have a new virtual gallery tour and an interactive kids' trail for families. Come along and let us know what you think! Book here https://ilfracombe-museum.arttickets.org.uk/$

Today is Firefighter's Memorial Day in the Uk, whi $Today is Firefighter's Memorial Day in the Uk, which honours the sacrifice of firefighters who have lost their lives in the line of duty. We thought we would pay tribute by posting this photo of the Ilfracombe firefighting crew of 1896. This was the year of the Great Fire of Ilfracombe which devastated parts of the High St, Fore St, and destroyed the Arcade. Inspite of only having a hand operated pump these men bravely fought a fire which ended up damaging or destroying 35 properties. Fortunately no lives were lost and the crew were awarded medals for their service. #firefightersmemorialday #ilfracombe #devon #victorianera$

Down through the centuries May Day has been associ $Down through the centuries May Day has been associated with fun, revelry and perhaps most important of all, fertility. The Day would be marked with village folk cavorting round the maypole, the selection of the May Queen and the dancing figure of the Jack-in-the-Green at the head of the procession. Jack is thought to be a relic from those enlightened days when our ancient ancestors worshipped trees. Ilfracombe has enjoyed May Day celebrations for many years - what memories do you have of Ilfracombe Jack in the Green processions. We'd love to hear who learnt to dance round the maypole with Mr Thompson, danced with the Morris dancers or Red Petticoats or played drums with Humdrumconundrum in more recent years. Do you have older memories? Tell us about them, we can't enjoy a procession this year but we can enjoy our memories! The photos with this post are taken from Ilfracombe May Day celebration page on Facebook and are all from 2011/12. The black and white photo of children dancing around the maypole is from 1906 and is actually celebrating Empire Day which used to be held later in May.$

Pip and Kim are curious to see what you have been $Pip and Kim are curious to see what you have been up to. Have you made a #shrunkenhead yet? We'd love to see your pictures if you have. We have so many weird and wonderful items here at the museum and we can't wait to welcome you back next month. We're busy cleaning and polishing and everything will be looking its best when we are able to open up our doors. All the instructions for making a shrunken head are on our website at www.ilfracombemuseum.co.uk/staycurious for more #staycurious fun. Share your photos with us, we'd love to see what you and your friends can come up with! #ilfracombe #ilfracombemuseum #weirdandwonderful #smallmuseum$

Supporting your local small museum is easy! You co $Supporting your local small museum is easy! You could sign up for our monthly newsletter to keep in touch with what's going on. Just head to our website at www.ilfracombemuseum.co.uk and fill in your details. We will never bombard you, we promise! #smallmuseum #ilfracombe #keepitlocal$

There are so many weird and wonderful exhibits fro $There are so many weird and wonderful exhibits from around the world in the Palmer Room at Ilfracombe Museum. One of young explorers Pip & Kim’s favourites is the shrunken head! Not a real head but a tourist souvenir made from goat skin and monkey hair and brought back from South America in the 1930s. If you would like to make your own shrunken head, take a look at our activity sheet on the Stay Curious page of Ilfracombe Museum’s website (link below!). We have also put together some free activity packs with cotton wool and grass seeds to help you (head not supplied!) just get in touch with the Museum to reserve yours. #shrunkenhead #weirdandwonderful #staycurious #ilfracombe #kidsactivities #kidsinmuseums #museum #potatohead #growyourown #souvenir #cabinetofcuriosities https://www.ilfracombemuseum.co.uk/stay-curious/stay-courious-things-to-do/$

Did you know today is World Pet Parent Day ??!

Are you looking for a new volunteering challenge? $Are you looking for a new volunteering challenge? Do you want to get involved with a local organisation which has been established since 1932? Have you got an afternoon a week to spare? We have just the position for you! Come join us at Ilfracombe Museum, we are still looking for front of house volunteers to join our friendly team and help us bring the weird and wonderful of our fabulous little museum to our visitors. We are dedicated to looking after our volunteers and visitors and we have a robust covid-19 policy which will help keep all safe. If you would like to know more, please get in touch - phone us on 01271863541, email info.ilfracombemuseum@gmail.com or simply direct message us on Facebook. We would love to hear from you. All training provided!$

Happy St. George's Day! St. George may have slain

Happy Earth Day 2021!🌍 Our museum is filled wit $Happy Earth Day 2021!🌍 Our museum is filled with wonderful insects and butterflies, many of which are now endangered or extinct in the wild 😩 If you love and are inspired by insects and are aged between 13 and 19 why not enter our Stay Curious design competition to create butterfly wings for the outside of the museum? You can find an entry form here www.ilfracombemuseum.co.uk/stay-curious/stay-curious-butterfly-wings-competition/ The deadline for entries is 6th June #Earthday #butterflies #artists #competition #designer #youngartists #northdevon$

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