8 Museums to Explore in Herefordshire

The Black and White House Museum - also known as 'the Old House' - has been called 'a perfectly preserved Jacobean timber-framed house'. It is a place which vividly tells both it's own immensely varied story and nearly four centuries of Hereford's history. Built in 1621, the house has been used for many purposes over the years, starting life as a butcher's home and shop and finishing its commercial life in the hands of Lloyds Bank in the late 1920s.

Butcher Row House Museum features many items of local interest including reproduction helmets and breastplates that would have been worn in the Battle of Ledbury in 1645 and a small collection of musical instruments ranging from a ‘hurdy-gurdy’ to a Tibetan pipe fashioned from a thigh bone. The cottage used to stand on Ledbury's High Street and was one of 15 burgage houses and shops making up Butchers Row.

The Cider Museum is a museum in Hereford, England, about the history of cider. The museum holds a nationally important collection covering the history of cider. It's set in the former Bulmer's cider factory with champagne cider cellars dating from 1889. Listen to oral history recordings and view 19th century watercolours of cider apples and perry pears and appreciate the delicately engraved collection of English lead crystal cider glasses.

Hereford Museum and Art Gallery, housed in a spectacular Victorian gothic building, has been exhibiting artefacts and works of fine and decorative art connected with the local area since 1874. The building is an exhibit in itself, as a fine example of Victorian gothic architecture, built in 1874. The façade includes carvings of animals and birds reflecting the interests of the museum’s founders.

Kington Museum was opened in June 1986, and is housed in what were the stables of the King’s Head Inn that was demolished in 1885, although it has had a somewhat chequered history since that time.

This beautiful heritage center is located in the centre of Ledbury is a gem of a Grade II* Listed 16th-century building with an enigmatic history. It tells the history of Ledbury through its buildings and its trades. Originally maintained and run by the Council, it is now owned by Ledbury Places, a charity established to keep such well-loved and historically important buildings in the ownership of the town, to be used and enjoyed by all.

Leominster Folk Museum is an independent, volunteer-run, museum in Leominster, Herefordshire, England. It tells the story of Leominster, its surrounding villages, and their people from pre-Roman times to the present day. The collection comprises artifacts, pictures, photographs, postcards, and documents, including an important collection of paintings and drawings by famous Leominster artist John Scarlett Davis.

The museum is one of Herefordshire’s leading visitor attractions with something for all ages. Children enjoy using hands on exhibits, including in the unique Heritage Water Park, and the museum has a permanent exhibition to Hereford in WW2. YOu can see the UK’s widest range of working pumps and engines from across Herefordshire, neighbouring counties and Wales, most of which are the last working examples of their type.