Essex Museums

Brightlingsea Museum

The present collection depicts the industries, people and events that have influenced the development of Brightlingsea. industries connected with the sea, the impact of war and leisure and the revival of medieval traditions. Domestic and working life, education, town events and activities are more general themes.

1 Duke Street  Brightlingsea CO7 0EA Tel: 01206 303185

Chelmsford Museum

The museum is set in a beautiful Victorian mansion which relays the history of Chelmsford from the Ice Ages through to the Present Day

Oaklands Park, Moulsham Street, Chelmsford CM2 9AQ Tel: 01245 615100  

Coggeshall Museum & Heritage Centre

Preserving the town’s historic past

Stoneham Street Coggeshall Colchester CO6 1UH Tel: 01376 563003 Email

Colchester Castle Museum

Archaeology, Weapons and War, Decorative and Applied Art, Fine Art, Coins and Medals, Social History

Museum Resource Centre, 14 Ryegate Road, Colchester CO1 1YJ  01206 282931  Email

Dorothy L Sayers Centre

The centre holds a reference collection of works by and about the author, Dorothy L Sayers, who lived in Witham for nearly 30 years.

18 Newland Street, Witham  CM8 2AQ  01376 519625   Email

Great Dunmow Museum

The Great Dunmow Maltings date from 1560 and retain much of the original malting infrastructure used to produce malt by hand throughout the building’s active life of 400 years until closure in the late 1940s. The building demonstrates examples of 16th C and 18th C architecture and building techniques of very high standards carried through to the recent restoration. The ground floor houses the town museum,

Maltings, Mill Lane, Great Dunmow CM6 1BG 01371 878979 Email

Harlow Museum

The Museum tells the story of Harlow through Roman, Saxon, Georgian and Victorian times to the development of Harlow New Town

Passmores House, Third Avenue, Harlow CM18 6YL  Tel:  01279 454959   Email

Harwich Lifeboat Museum

Museum contains the last Clacton off-shore 34ft lifeboat and a history of lifeboat service in Harwich

Timberfileds, Wellington Road  Harwich  CO12 3EJ Tel: 01255 503429

Hollytrees Museum

Enjoy 300 years of history through hands-on exhibits and displays with fun and humour in mind. Look out for the dolls’ house, it’s a model of Hollytrees House. Discover what family life was like for the rich and the poor people. Hear the stories of those who lived and worked in Hollytrees, a beautiful Georgian town house built in 1718.

High Street, Colchester,  CO1 1UG  01206 282940   Email

House on the Hill Toy Museum

The largest privately owned Toy Museum in Europe with over 80,000 individual items of mixed antiquity on display, housed within an area of 7000 sq. ft.

Mountfitchet Castle, Stansted, CM24 8SP Tel: 01279 813237 Email

Maldon District Museum  

The Museum is housed in the old park keepers lodge just inside the main gates to the Promenade. The downstairs exhibition area consists of an entrance hall, four rooms and a large exhibition area known locally as ’the long hall’. A room on the first landing and two rooms on the first floor are also used for display

47 Mill Road, Maldon  CM9 5HX Tel: 01621 842688

Mangapps Railway Museum

A privately owned working museum established on a 400 acre farm at Burnham on Crouch, Essex. It features a ¾ mile standard gauge passenger carrying line, with restored stations, signal boxes and ancillary equipment removed from various sites throughout East Anglia.

Southminster Road, Burnham-on-Crouch CM0 8QQ  Tel:  01621 784898

Maeldune Heritage Centre

Houses the Maldon Embroidery a 42ft long embroidery celebrating the Battle of Maldon in AD991 depicting the History of Maldon 991-1991 and also housing exhibitions by local artists and displays of general interest

Plume Building, Market Hill, Maldon  CM9 4PZ  Tel: 01621 851628

Mersea Island Museum

Museum of local, social and natural history with displays of methods and equipment used in fishing and wildfowling, fossils and a mineral display. Also special exhibitions

High Street, West Mersea  CO5 8QD  Tel:  01206 385191 Email

Sir Alfred Munnings Art Museum

The home, studio and grounds where Sir Alfred Munnings lived and painted for 40 years. Displaying a large collection of his works.

Castle House, Dedham Colchester, CO7 6AZ Tel: 01206 322127

Museum of Power  

The Museum of Power, housed in the Steam Pumping Station at Langford in Essex, was set up to exhibit and demonstrate working examples of power sources of all types and chronicle the major roles that they have played in history.

Steam Pumping Station, Hatfield Road, Maldon  CM9 6QA  Tel: 01621 843183  Email

Natural History Museum

The museum focuses on the rich natural heritage of North East Essex

All Saints Church, High Street, Colchester  CO1 1DN  Tel:  01206 282932   Email

North Weald Airfield Museum and Memorial

The museum is housed in the former RAF North Weald Station Office. It is adjacent to what was the main entrance to this former Battle of Britain Fighter Station. North Weald Airfield Museum is about people. It’s about the service personnel and civilians, who have lived, worked, flown, fought and died here since the airfield opened in 1916.The museum sets out to tell their story of a famous airfield that has protected London during two world wars.

Ad Astra House, 6 Hurricane Way, North Weald,  CM16 6AA Tel: 01992 522210

Prittlewell Priory Museum

Archaeology, Natural Sciences, Decorative and Applied Art, Fine Art, Science and Technology, Social History, Land Transport

Priory Park, Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea SS2 6NB Tel: 01702 342878

Saffron Walden Museum

Up-to-date displays about local history and archaeology as well as collections of national significance, particularly in the fields of natural history, decorative arts and anthropology. The main building is in its own grounds in the mediaeval centre of the town, adjacent to the ruins of the Castle, with the fine parish church nearby.

Museum Street, Saffron Walden CB10 1JL Tel: 01799 510333

Southchurch Hall Museum  

 Laid out in a series of period rooms, the great open hall reflecting life in the later middle ages. The solar wing displays life in Tudor and Stuart times, while the service wing is devoted to domestic life through several centuries. On the first floor is a Victorian bedroom.

Southchurch Hall Gardens, Southend-on-Sea  SS1 2TE  Tel:  01702 467671   Email

Southend Central Museum, Planetarium & Discovery Centre

Three museums in one building

Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea  SS2 6EW  Tel: 01702 434449   Email

Southend Pier Museum

Information about the history of Southend Pier the Pier Museum offers a closer and more detailed insight. The Museum is located in North Station at the shore end of the Pier.

Marine Parade, Southend-on-Sea  SS1 2EL  Tel: 01702 611214   Email

Thameside Aviation Museum

The home of aviation archaeology in Essex

Coalhouse Fort, East Tilbury, RM18 8PB  Tel: none listed    Email

Tymperleys Clock Museum

Housed in a 15th century timber framed house, once home to William Gilberd, scientist and physician to Elizabeth 1 and now houses part of the famous Bernard Mason Collection.

Trinity Street, Colchester  CO1 1JN  Tel: 01206 282931   Email

Walton Hall Museum

The main collection is housed in a 17thC English barn and other farm buildings. The collection includes farming bygones, tools, wagons, implements, harnesses, militaria, domestic and motoring displays. There are representations of a Victorian and Edwardian child’s nursery with dolls, toys and a collection of prams and representations of an old-time dairy, a milk delivery pram, churns, milk delivery and bottles, a bird garden and picnic lawn with barbecue area. Blacksmith display wheelwright display, village bakery, baking on occasions.

Walton Hall Rad, Linford, Stanford-le-Hope SS17 0RH Tel: 01375 671874