Bradford on Avon Museum

What to see at the Bradford on Avon Museum

The museum includes exhibits about local history including displays about the town’s industrial history and the importance of both the wool and rubber industries to Bradford on Avon. Some of the museum’s more interesting displays include an excellent model of the Saxon Church and locally-manufactured Mouton bicycles.

For many visitors, the museum’s highlight is the Christopher shop. The vintage chemist shop forms the largest part of the museum’s collection and it is also the museum’s foundation exhibit that the rest of the museum grew from. The chemist was originally established in Silver Street in 1863 and operated for over 120 years. When the shop closed in 1986, the Bradford on Avon Museum Society was formed to preserve the pharmacy’s collection of items used to make old-time medicines and a replica of the shop was built above the town’s library to house the collection.

The museum is run by volunteers who are a fount of knowledge about the museum’s exhibits and the town’s history.

Visiting the Bradford on Avon Museum

The Bradford on Avon Museum is part of the library complex, which has a riverside location on Bridge Street in the town centre. Visitors need to enter through the library’s main entrance and then take the stairs on the left up to the first floor.

Admission to the museum is free of charge, although there is a box for donations. It is only open Thursday to Sunday and it is closed from December to mid-January.

There is a car park outside the museum, which is free on Sundays.