Museum Story

A museum, like a dictionary, should be at hand for reference.
William Penny Brookes

The first museum in Much Wenlock was established at the Agricultural Reading Rooms by William Penny Brookes. The collection was a cabinet of curiosities ranging from local fossils and plant specimens to shells from Mauritius and Ancient Egyptian idols. Some of the objects were collected by Brookes himself whilst other were donated by the ‘great and the good’.

The museum remained at the Corn Exchange until the 1920s. It was then revived in 1968 and soon after opened at the Memorial Hall where it remains today.

Part of this original museum collection survives and is on display here.