_The best museums in Norfolk

Norfolk boasts over 50 museum and historic sites, welcoming visitors and explaining the county’s unique and fascinating heritage from prehistoric times onwards. We’ve chosen our top 10, including Norwich Castle, Time & Tide at Great Yarmouth, Bridewell at Norwich and Ancient House, Thetford.

In recent years Norfolk has yielded Deep History discoveries so important they have re-written history. Finds include the 4,000-year-old Holme Timber Circle, otherwise known as Seahenge; the oldest hand-axe found in north-west Europe (550,000 years old) and the West Runton Elephant (over 600,000 years old).

Until the Industrial Revolution, Norfolk was one of the most densely populated counties in the UK.  Renowned for growing wheat and producing wool, the county has been invaded and occupied in turn by the Romans, Angles, Saxons, Vikings and Normans.  And then a Friendly Invasion – the American air force during the second world war.

The result is that Norfolk is strewn with archaeology, producing, on average, thirty per cent of the UK’s treasure finds each year and furnishing its museums with a wealth of fascinating objects.

Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery

One of the city's most famous landmarks, Norwich Castle was built by the Normans as a royal palace over 900 years ago. Now a museum and art gallery, it is packed with treasures to inspire and intrigue visitors of all ages.

The Keep has been reconstructed to be a replica of how it would have been when King Henry I came to spend Christmas in the 12th century.

There are galleries devoted to Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings.  Step even further back in time to experience the atmosphere of an Egyptian tomb with its ancient mummies.

In the Natural History galleries discover creatures from all over the world.  Learn about Victorian collectors, taxidermy, geology, fossils, birds, botany and butterflies, as well as a polar bear.

Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery

Museum of Norwich at The Bridewell

The Bridewell has a fascinating history. It has been home to the first mayor of Norwich, a prison, a tobacco warehouse and a shoe factory. Now it’s a wonderful museum of Norwich life.

At the heart of the museum are the stories of Norwich people. Sometimes ordinary and sometimes extraordinary, they all helped to create the modern city.

There’s flamboyant hatmaker Rumsey Wells, diarist Parson Woodforde, designer Thomas Jeckyll, as well as local girl Ethel George and Bridewell inmate Jane Sellers.

The museum is packed with historic objects. Some are wonderfully weird - like the world’s first machine for knitting wire netting, a chocolate enrobing machine and a head measuring device for the most expensive caps in the world.

Others are technologically brilliant such as Colman’s steam fire engine, a restored jacquard loom, world class Norwich shawls and over 200 locally made shoes.

Museum of Norwich at The Bridewell

Strangers’ Hall, Norwich

Strangers’ Hall is one of the most intriguing and atmospheric buildings in Norwich. Dating back to 1320, it has been home to wealthy merchants and mayors who made medieval Norwich a great city.

Wander through the period room settings, showing how furniture and furnishing design has changed over the centuries.  Marvel at the Tudor great hall, the elegant Georgian dining room and the magnificent stone-vaulted undercroft.

Admire the Regency music room and the charming toy room with its doll’s houses, rocking horse, toy soldiers and Noah’s Ark.  Discover the replica Norwich textiles, interwoven into the displays, which tell the story of the Norwich ‘Strangers’ and how they transformed the city’s weaving industry.

Then rest awhile in the award-winning 17th century style knot garden, with its old-fashioned rose bed and medicinal plants and herbs.

Strangers' Hall

Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse

Combining a historic workhouse, museum and traditional farm, Gressenhall is the perfect place for a day out – whatever the weather.

In the museum galleries, find out about the tools and trades of Norfolk people and the work of the Women’s Land Army.  The Victorian workhouse buildings bring to life the grim reality of daily life for the poor who lived there. Discover the drudgery of daily life, the food, the work and punishments for minor misdemeanours – a dark, forgotten history.

Take a short walk to the farm to see the Suffolk Punch heavy horse, rare East Anglian breeds of sheep and cattle and lots of piglets. It’s a real working farm so you can experience a different aspect of rural life with each change of season.

Special events are held throughout the year – like the Spring Fair and Apple Day plus family activities at weekends and during the school holidays.

Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse

Cromer Museum

It’s easy to imagine what it was like to live in Cromer at the end of the 19th Century, when you step inside this cosy Victorian fisherman’s cottage.

In the Old Cromer Gallery you can learn about Cromer’s history as a Victorian seaside resort, with its fine hotels and scandalous mixed bathing; the lost village of Shipden and Cromer’s coal ships.

There’s an amazing collection of fossils in the Geology Gallery – all found in Norfolk.  Fascinating displays reveal why Cromer is renowned as a geological area of international importance. Find out about the amazing discovery of the famous West Runton elephant, Britain’s oldest and most complete elephant fossil.

Marvel at a cast of the skull of a Mosasaur - a huge marine reptile common in the seas that covered Norfolk over 80 million years ago.

Cromer Museum

The Ancient House Museum of Thetford Life

The museum is set in a handsome Tudor house – a rare survivor from the period. The atmospheric hall has beautiful carved ceiling timbers and a stunning decorative fireplace.

As you wander through the historic rooms you can discover the remarkable story of Thetford and the surrounding Breckland countryside – ‘the Brecks’ Rich collections span the centuries from pre-history to the 1960s and there are amazing replicas of the Thetford treasure.

Film, audio guides and animation bring you in touch with local people from Thetford’s past from the famous revolutionary philosopher, Thomas Paine, Sikh hero Maharajah Duleep Singh to rabbit warreners and railway workers.

Children can dress up in Tudor and Victorian clothing and there’s a charming Tudor knot garden outside where you can enjoy a breather on a warm day.

The Ancient House Museum of Thetford Life

King’s Lynn Museum

The stunning centrepiece of the museum is a life size replica of Seahenge. This astonishing Bronze Age timber circle was discovered on a West Norfolk beach and you can see the actual timbers on display.

Find out how this ancient wooden structure amazingly survived for 4,000 years. Look closely and you’ll even see the marks made by the bronze axes of the people who meticulously crafted the timbers.

The ‘West Norfolk Story’ takes you on a fascinating journey through the history of the area. Marvel at gold coins concealed inside a cow bone since Roman times. Imagine being a pilgrim in the thriving medieval port of King’s Lynn or riding on a magnificent Victorian merry-go-round. Examine scrimshaw carvings made by sailors and Ancient Egyptian Shabti figures.

Lynn Museum

Time and Tide Museum of Great Yarmouth Life

Set in one of the UK’s best preserved Victorian herring curing works, Time and Tide traces Great Yarmouth’s history from its Ice Age origins to the present day. Learn about the town’s rich maritime heritage and its development as a popular seaside resort.

Wander through an atmospheric re-creation of a typical 1913 ‘Row’ and see inside the homes of a local fisherman and his neighbours. A re-created 1950s fish wharf takes you back to the heady days when the quay was buzzing with fishermen and herring girls.

You can take the wheel of a steam drifter and learn about some of the colourful characters who made their living from the sea through gripping tales of wreck and rescue.

The smokehouses offer a fascinating insight into the original use of the building. As you explore, you’ll become aware of the lingering aroma of smoked herring – a vivid reminder of times gone by.

Time and Tide Museum of Great Yarmouth Life

The Tolhouse Museum, Great Yarmouth

This historic building is one of the UK’s oldest gaols and dates back to the 12th century. In fact, locally it's also known as the Gaolhouse. You can still see the original cells and get a sense of what it must have been like to be imprisoned there. There’s also an interesting re-creation of a modern prison cell so you can see how prison life has changed.

As you explore the displays you’ll discover the fate of the thieves, smugglers, witches, pirates and murderers who were confined in the Tolhouse. A free audio guide brings the past to life as the gaoler and his prisoners describe their experiences.

The Tolhouse is only open at certain times during the school holidays.

The Tolhouse Museum

The Elizabethan House Museum, Great Yarmouth

This handsome 16th century home offers a glimpse into the lives the families who lived there, from Tudor through to Victorian times. A wander through the rooms gives you a real feel for day to day domestic life. There are rich period settings and evocative sounds and smells – especially in the kitchen.

In the Conspiracy Room, find out about a fascinating period in Great Yarmouth’s history when the town took sides with Cromwell and the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War. Cromwell visited the house on several occasions and led a successful attack on Royalist Lowestoft, aided by Yarmouth volunteers. The room displays capture life in Civil War Great Yarmouth and a highlight is the marvellous Haddiscoe Hoard of over 300 silver coins.

Elizabethan House Museum