A Complete List of All Museums in Dorset

Blandford Forum

Blandford Town Museum: The story of Blandford Forum and its surrounding villages. Admission free.

Blandford Fashion Museum: Historical fashion collections housed in a beautiful Georgian townhouse. Adults £6, children (under 16) free.

Royal Signals Museum: A military museum based at Blandford Camp. Adults £10, children (5-16) £7, under 5s free.

Bournemouth

Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum: An art gallery and museum in a Grade II* listed building on East Cliff, with stunning sea views. Adults £9.50, concessions and children £5.

Bournemouth Natural Science Society: A registered charity formed to promote study, interest and enjoyment in all branches of the Natural Sciences and History. Admission free.

Bournemouth University Atrium Gallery: Art gallery with works by university students and contributing artists. Admission free.

TheGallery at Arts University Bournemouth: Art gallery focusing on contemporary art and design. Admission free.

Museum of Design in Plastics: The only accredited museum in the UK with a focus on plastics. Admission free.

Bournemouth Aviation Museum: “Hands-on” aviation museum in Hurn, close to Bournemouth Airport. Adults £10, children (3-16) £5.

Bridport & West Bay

Bridport Museum: Local history – including a great fossil collection and a strong focus on Bridport’s long history of rope and netmaking. Adults £5, under 21s free.

Bridport Arts Centre: The complex includes the Marlow Theatre, the Allsop Gallery and a cinema. Admission free (shows and events are individually ticketed).

West Bay Discovery Centre: Visitor centre covering the history of West Bay, housed in a former Methodist chapel. Admission free.

Christchurch

Place Mill: 11th-century heritage mill on Christchurch Quay. There is also a small gallery space for art exhibitions. Admission free.

Red House Museum: Local history museum housed in a former workhouse built in 1764. Admission free.

Highcliffe Castle: Clifftop Romantic and Picturesque style castle from the 19th century. Adults £10, children £3.60, under 5s free.

Dorchester

Dorset Museum & Art Gallery: The county’s main museum. Local history, natural history, fossils, art, and more, with regular temporary exhibits. Adults from £13.50, children (0-15) free.

The Keep Military Museum: Local military museum in the former county barracks. CLOSED IN 2025. Adults £8, children (5-18) £3.50, under 5s free.

Shire Hall Museum: Historic court and jail cells with real stories of former prisoners and trials. Adults £10.50, children (5-18) £5.50, under 5s free.

Dinosaur Museum: Fossils and life-size reconstructions. Adults £14, children £10, under 3s free.

Dorset Teddy Bear Museum: Small family museum displaying antique and modern teddy bears. Adults £14, children £10, under 3s free.

Terracotta Warriors Museum: Replicas of the warriors from the Terracotta Army buried with the Emperor of China. Adults £6.50, children (5-18) £4.50, under 5s free.

Tutankhamun Exhibition: An exact replica of the tomb of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Adults £18, children £12, under 5s free.

Max Gate: The former home of local author Thomas Hardy, designed by the author. Adults from £11, children (5-17) from £5.50, under 5s free. Free for National Trust members.

Near Dorchester

Hardy’s Cottage: The birthplace of local author Thomas Hardy, located in the village of Higher Bockhampton a short drive from Dorchester. Adults from £11, children (5-17) from £5.50, under 5s free. Free for National Trust members.

Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum: The tale of the arrest, trial and punishment of six farm workers nicknamed the “Tolpuddle Martyrs”, that led to the foundation of modern-day trade unionism. Admission free.

The Tank Museum, Bovington: Almost 300 armoured fighting vehicles on display – with occasional live demos. Adults from £19.55, children (4-15) from £10.63, under 4s free.

Clouds Hill, near Bovington: An isolated early 19th-century cottage and the former home of T. E. Lawrence. Adults from £11, children from £5.50, under 5s free.

Isle of Purbeck

Corfe Castle Town Trust Museum, Corfe Castle: Local history museum housed within the smallest Town Hall in England. Admission free.

Swanage Railway Museum, Corfe Castle: Objects, pictures and documents relating to the railway, in the Goods Shed at Corfe Castle Station. Admission free.

Purbeck Mining Museum, Norden: The history of Purbeck Ball Clay mining and its industrial narrow gauge railways, located at Norden railway station. Admission free.

Lulworth Castle, East Lulworth: Mock-castle manor house on the Lulworth Estate built in the 17th century. Adults £9, children (4-15 years) £6, under 5s free.

The Etches Collection, Kimmeridge: A unique, modern museum of fossils found on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast. Adults £9.50, children (5 – 16 years) £4.75, under 5s free.

The Purbeck Stone Museum & Langton Matravers Museum, Langton Matravers: Local history, genealogy, and the history of Purbeck Stone quarrying. Admission free.

Tyneham Village, nr Lulworth: Dorset’s famous ‘lost’ village. The houses were given up by residents for military training in 1943 and never inhabited again. Admission free.

Swanage Museum, Swanage: Local history and art, plus a family history centre. Admission free.

Lyme Regis & Charmouth

Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre: Locally-found fossils. They also offer guided fossil walks on the beach. Admission free.

Lyme Regis Museum: Local history and fossils. The museum is on the site of the former home of the palaeontologist Mary Anning. Adults £8.95, children £6.95, under 6s free.

Dinosaurland Fossil Museum: An independent museum owned and run by Palaeontologist Steve Davies. Adults £7.50, children (5-16) £5.50, under 5s free.

Town Mill: Ancient watermill rescued from dereliction by local volunteers. Admission free.

Poole

Poole Museum: Local history, archaeology, Poole Pottery, and more, set in a Victorian quayside warehouse. Admission free.

Poole Old Lifeboat Museum: Dedicated to the local lifeboat service with a small souvenir shop onsite. Admission free.

Scaplen’s Court Museum: Grade I listed house with period rooms. Part of Poole Museum. Admission free.

Portland

Portland Museum: Dinosaurs, fossils, shipwrecks and smugglers, stone carving, seafaring, and more. Adults £5, children £1.

Castletown D-Day Centre: An authentic recreation of the busy wartime dockyard that once occupied this spot. Adults £12, young adults (12-17) £8, children (under 12) £7.

Grove Prison Museum: History of Convicts, Wardens and the prison’s impact upon the Isle of Portland. Admission free.

Portland Bill Lighthouse: Informative visitor centre with information about the lighthouse and its history. You can also take a guided tour to the top of the lighthouse. Adults from £3, children from £1.50.

Portland Castle: 16th-century armed castle fort built by Henry VIII to protect against French and Spanish invasion. Adults from £8.10, children from £4.50, under 5s free. Free for English Heritage members.

Shaftesbury

Gold Hill Museum: Renovated sandstone cottage housing local history exhibitions. Admission free.

Shaftesbury Abbey Museum & Garden: Excavated remains of the Royal Nunnery founded by Alfred the Great in 888. Admission free.

Sherborne

Sherborne Museum: Independent local museum with art, industrial & social history, textiles, geology, natural history and more. Admission free.

Sherborne Castle: 16th-century Tudor mansion built by Sir Walter Raleigh. Adults from £14, children (3-15) from £5, under 3s free.

Sherborne Steam & Waterwheel Centre: Located in its original pumphouse which was built in 1869. Admission free. See website for open days.

Sturminster Newton

Sturminster Newton Museum: Local history and heritage, plus the Sturminster Newton Model Railway. Admission free.

Sturminster Newton Mill: One of a series of ancient flour mills built on the River Stour. Adults £5, children £1, pre-school children free.

Fiddleford Manor: A medieval manor house, completed in about 1370. Admission free.

Swanage

Swanage Museum: Local history, geology, and art, plus a family history centre. Admission free.

Wareham & Surrounds

Wareham Town Museum, Wareham: Town history and heritage, archaeological finds, and a pictorial collection of T.E. Lawrence, also known as Lawrence of Arabia. Admission free.

The Tank Museum, Bovington: Almost 300 armoured fighting vehicles on display – with occasional live demos. Adults from £19.55, children (4-15) from £10.63, under 4s free.

Clouds Hill, near Bovington: An isolated early 19th-century cottage and the former home of T. E. Lawrence. Adults from £11, children from £5.50, under 5s free.

Weymouth

Nothe Fort: One of Weymouth’s top attractions – military history museum in a 19th-century coastal fort. Adults £10.50, children (5-16) £4.50, under 5s free.

Tudor House: One of the Nation’s best preserved Tudor buildings, built at the beginning of the 17th Century. Admission free.

Weymouth Museum: Local history and art. Currently closed while the Brewers Quay building is being redeveloped.

Wimborne Minster

Museum of East Dorset (formerly the Priest’s House Museum): Local history collections in a historic house dating back to the 1500s. Adults £12, children(5-16) £5.50, under 5s free.

Kingston Lacy: A lavish country manor with a collection of artefacts from around the world. Adults from £19, children from £9.50, under 5s free.

White Mill, Sturminster Marshall: Corn mill with original wooden machinery, rebuilt in 1776 on a site mentioned in the Domesday Book. Adults £3.50, children £2.50, under 5s free.