15 Museums to Explore in Leicestershire

Checkout places to visit in Leicestershire

Leicestershire

Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands, being within the East Midlands. Leicestershire takes its name from the city of Leicester located at its centre and administered separately from the rest of the county. The ceremonial county – the non-metropolitan county plus the city of Leicester – has a total population of just over 1 million, more than half of which lives in the Leicester Urban Area.

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Museums to Explore in Leicestershire

1620s House and Garden at Donington le Heath

This rare and beautiful house is a surviving example of a family home which was built in the 13th century and then modernised in the 17th Century, one of the oldest houses in Leicestershire. It was once owned by a relative of one of the Gunpowder plotters, and is now managed by Leicestershire County Council. All the rooms are fully furnished as they might have been at the time and the mixture of original and replica furniture and household objects can be touched and used - with one exception.

Abbey Pumping Station Museum

Abbey Pumping Station is Leicester’s Industrial Museum, displaying Leicester’s very varied Industrial, Technological and Scientific heritage. Situated adjacent to the National Space Centre, the two attractions tell the story of over 200 years of science and technology from the early days of steam and industry to the space exploration of today. With four working steam-powered beam engines from its time as a sewage pumping station, it also houses exhibits for transport, public health, light and o

Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre

Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre is a colourful multi award winning interactive exhibition telling the story of the Battle of Bosworth, its place in the Wars of the Roses and the transition to the Tudor age, as well as the re-discovery of the battlefield through archaeological investigations. Visitors don’t just walk through the Heritage Centre’s exhibition – they also embark on an incredible journey through medieval England via films, images and activities in eight hands-on galleries.

Charnwood Museum

Charnwood Museum is a local history museum in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. This Museum reflects the history and industries of Loughborough and the surrounding area. Permanent displays include: Coming to Charnwood, The Natural World, Living off the Land and Earning a Living. It has a café and a shop and is fully accessible to disabled visitors. It runs many events including art and craft workshops held every school holiday for children, talks, tours and lectures throughout the year.

East Midlands Aeropark

The Aeropark is both an aviation museum and a viewing area where you can study the preserved planes of yesteryear or watch the modern airliners of today taking-off and landing at a growing international passenger and cargo airport. The museum includes a large number of aircraft on external display and also offers two viewing mounds for watching aircraft arriving and departing East Midlands Airport.

Harborough Museum

Harborough Museum was opened in 1983 in the former R & W H Symington corset factory that also houses the Harborough District Council offices in the historic market town of Market Harborough. The permanent collection includes films by the Market Harborough Movie Makers, an exploration of the Battle of Naseby and of life in Harborough during the wars, exhibits from Harborough's industrial past, 17th-century toys found in the local church, a boot and shoemaking workshop, and a display about working

Jewry Wall Museum

The Jewry Wall Museum is a museum in Leicester. It was built in the 1960s, facing the Jewry Wall ruins in a building shared with Vaughan College. It housed artifacts from Iron Age, Roman, and medieval Leicester. The museum grounds contain one of Leicester’s most famous landmarks, the Jewry Wall, part of the Roman town's public baths. It is one of the tallest surviving pieces of Roman masonry in the country.

Leicester Museum and Art Gallery

The Leicester Museum & Art Gallery is a museum on New Walk in Leicester, England. It features works from the collections and touring exhibitions from national museums. Plus a range of activities from entertaining talks, children’s handling sessions, lunchtime concerts, licensed for weddings, civil ceremonies and available for private hire.

Melton Carnegie Museum

The Melton Carnegie Museum was built in 1904. It traces the social and economic history of Melton and includes exhibitions on the town's world-renowned Stilton cheese and pork pie industries and accounts of the arguments for and against fox hunting. It contains a fine collection of shells and various objects of interest.’

Moira Furnace is a nineteenth-century iron-making blast furnace, Museum and Country Park located in Moira, Leicestershire. There is also a restored section of Ashby Canal on the site so you may wish to enjoy a boat trip. Enjoy finding out about it's fascinating history, with woodland walks and trails to explore.

Moira Furnace is a nineteenth-century iron-making blast furnace, Museum and Country Park located in Moira, Leicestershire. There is also a restored section of Ashby Canal on the site so you may wish to enjoy a boat trip. Enjoy finding out about it's fascinating history, with woodland walks and trails to explore. It is a most important industrial monument, since it is remarkably well-preserved, and dates from a formative period of the Industrial Revolution.

National Gas Museum Trust

Natural Gas Museum was started by a national trust that has set out to make sure England’s history of gas usage both in the home and in industry is preserved. The collection is held across two floors in the gatehouse of the former Leicester Corporation Gas Works, once a major provider of industrial gas in the area. There is a tableau of a 1920s kitchen with gas equipment. Domestic items include washing machines, gas irons and even a gas-powered radio.

National Space Centre

The National Space Centre is a visitor attraction, education facility, corporate venue, an information hub, and home to NSC Creative and the National Space Academy. Many of the exhibits, including upright rockets, are housed in a tower with minimal steel supports and a semi-transparent cladding of ETFE 'pillows' which has become one of Leicester's most recognizable landmarks.

Stonehurst Family Farm and Motor Museum

The Stonehurst Family Farm and Motor Museum is a working farm and a motor museum located in the village of Mountsorrel, Leicestershire. It is a real working family farm, come and meet our cows, sheep, and pigs and their farmyard friends. Take home some of Leicestershire’s finest produce, with homegrown potatoes, organic herbs and vegetables, free-range eggs and local cheeses meats, and delicatessen in the Stonehurst Farm Shop and also visit Stonehurst Motor Museum, housing a fascinating collecti

The Guildhall Museum

The Guildhall Museum is a fun place where visitors can discover the history of Rochester and Medway in a museum for all the family. The museum was founded in 1897, in honor of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee. The collection includes artifacts associated with Rochester from prehistoric times to the present day. Works of art in the museum include a painting by Hendrik Frans van Lint depicting a classical Italian landscape.

The Newarke Houses Museum

Newarke Houses Museum tells the story of contemporary Leicester and the history of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment. It incorporates the museum of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment, and has a range of exhibits illustrating post-medieval and contemporary LeicesterThe museum displays include a cinema experience, a collection of toys from Tudor times to present day and a play area for children to try various games.

Map of Museums to explore in Leicestershire