Beyond the capital and its famous institutions, the United Kingdom is home to so many world-class museums
London is undisputedly home to some of the world’s best museums. This includes iconic institutions such as the V&A and the Natural History Museum, as well as hidden gems like the Postal Museum. There are also many newer venues, for example, the Vagina Museum and the Migration Museum. But to only focus on the best museums of the capital city is to miss out on a huge range of fascinating museums from across the United Kingdom.
From leading art galleries and stunning period buildings to living history museums, historic ships and fascinating science museums, here is our list of the best museums outside of London that the UK has to offer, in no particular order.
By far the oldest entry on our list of the best museums in the UK outside of London, the Ashmolean‘s first building was founded in 1683. This makes it Britain’s first public museum. The University of Oxford’s museum of art and archaeology, it holds a large and wide-ranging collection spanning a time period from 8000 BC to the present day. This covers everything from Egyptian mummies to contemporary art.
It has one of the best collections of Pre-Raphaelite paintings, majolica pottery, and English silver. It also has a strong collection of Greek and Minoan pottery and antiquities from Ancient Egypt and Sudan. In 2016, the Ashmolean opened new galleries of 19th-century art.
Speaking to blooloop in 2016, the museum’s director Dr Alexander Sturgis said:
“It’s often been described as a collection of collections. It’s got these pockets of huge significance and depth in terms of collections. But because the collection is so various, people have special relationships, often with particular parts of the museum. In some ways, it feels like lots of small museums as well as being this one great institution.”
During the pandemic, the Ashmolean connected with its visitors virtually, encouraging its social media followers to create something based on an item in its collection using the hashtag #IsolationCreations.
The Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM) in Exeter, Devon, is home to a diverse collection. This covers archaeology, zoology and anthropology, as well as fine art, geology, and more. It dates back to 1868.
In December 2011, it reopened after a £24 million redevelopment project that took four years to complete. During this time, the museum made repairs to the building and completely redesigned the exhibits. This project also saw the addition of a new entrance, as well as the construction of a purpose-built off-site collections store. Following the refurbishment, the Art Fund named RAMM the United Kingdom’s Museum of the Year in 2012.
“RAMM’s world-class collections and ambitious programming ensure that the museum is a place of discovery which encourages everyone to be curious, and inspires us to shape a better future,” says a statement on the museum’s website.
RAMM also runs a wide range of community outreach programmes. These include artistic workshops, culture cafes, family activities, learning courses, discussions, object-handling sessions, performance events and more.
Next on our list of the UK’s best museums outside London is W5 (whowhatwherewhenwhy). This is an award-winning Science & Discovery Centre located in the Titanic Quarter in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It first opened in 2001, and two decades later it underwent a transformational £4.5 million redevelopment, starting in April 2019 with the doors reopening in October 2021.
Mather & Co worked in partnership with interactive design specialists Aivaf on the project. W5 is now home to eight new interactive zones, and Mather & Co and Aivaf developed two new gallery floors of exhibits, interactives, and engaging audio-visuals to stimulate science learning. Mather & Co also introduced theatrical theming and graphics, alongside the cutting-edge interactives.
The Access Group provides its Access Gamma solution to the museum.
Celebrating the reopening, Catherine O’Mullan, Chair of W5 said: “This is a momentous moment for W5 and our staff. Our transformative re-development has delivered a truly world-class visitor attraction that Belfast can be proud of. Science has never had a more important role in our society.
“Inspiring the next generation of great minds is at the heart of our vision for W5. Our new, immersive experiences will help us to capture imaginations and ignite interest in science and discovery for many more years to come.”
The Jorvik Viking Centre is located on the site of one of the most famous discoveries of modern archaeology. Between the years 1976 and 1981, archaeologists from York Archaeological Trust revealed the houses, workshops and backyards of the Viking-age city of Jorvik as it stood nearly 1,000 years ago.
The museum transports visitors to Viking-era Britain, as they explore the reconstructed streets and experience life in 10th-century York. Smell also plays an important part in this immersive experience, as Rachel Mackay explains:
“Smell conveys an atmosphere none of us has ever experienced: the York of over 1000 years ago. As the visitor travels through a recreation of Jorvik, they experience the smells of a Viking settlement; both foul and fragrant.”
The Jorvik Viking Centre also triggered a shift change in the way cultural attractions approached the visitor experience, according to Continuum Attractions’ Juliana Delaney, who was part of the team who worked on the development of the museum’s visitor experience:
“This was a museum that never presented itself as a museum. It always was somewhere where everybody felt comfortable coming and enjoyed themselves. As the very best teachers know, when you enjoy your lesson, you learn so much more…Soon people were saying, ‘we want a Jorvik here’.”
Visitors to the seaside city of Brighton and Hove can’t miss the Royal Pavilion, an ostentatious building located close to the Palace Pier and easily one of the best museums in the UK outside of London. This historic house from 1823 was initially a seaside pleasure palace for King George IV. Its style combines the grandeur of the Regency era with a design that takes inspiration from both India and China, resulting in something truly unique.
In June 1850, the Royal Pavilion became the property of the people of Brighton, after the city paid £53,000 for the former palace.
Upon taking possession, however, the locals found that the Pavilion had been stripped of all of its furnishings, which remained the property of the Crown. Over the next 100 years, it was used as a venue for balls and celebrations, as an early iteration of Brighton Museum, as the offices of the local Mayor, and even as a hospital during WWI.
Original items from the royal collection have gradually been returned over the years. By the late 1960s, the building was being presented as a restored palace, but restoration work continues to this day.
In May 2021, Derby Silk Mill reopened to the public as the Museum of Making following an £18 million redevelopment and has already cemented its place as one of the UK’s best museums outside of London. The museum is located within the Derwent Valley Mills UNESCO World Heritage Site and is operated by Derby Museums.
The Museum of Making’s displays were created in partnership with local residents. These showcase Derby’s 300 years of innovation, design and manufacturing.
Tony Butler, executive director of Derby Museums, says: “The Museum of Making tells the story of our industrial and creative past, but it is also a hub for modern makers through the facilities and support on offer.”
The visitor experience, he adds, is “designed to encourage people to understand how things are made, think about materials and their uses, have access to skills, knowledge and equipment that might otherwise be unavailable.”
The Creative Core worked alongside the team at Derby Museums to design and co-produce the new museum with local communities. The new design uses the museum’s huge collection of over 30,000 objects to spark curiosity and creativity in visitors. This gives them a space to develop new skills through direct interaction with made objects.
The Museum of Making is a finalist for the Art Fund Museum of the Year 2022.
Liverpool’s The Beatles Story is located on the city’s Royal Albert Dock. It tells the story of the much-loved band as well as exploring its connection with the city.
Visitors can enjoy recreations of locations and scenes that played a pivotal part in the band’s journey. For example, the Casbah Coffee Club, Mathew Street, The Cavern Club and Abbey Road Studios. The museum also holds a number of Beatles artefacts, like John Lennon‘s glasses and George Harrison‘s first guitar.
The Beatles Story attracts an international audience and also offers multimedia ‘Living History’ guides with every ticket purchased. These are available in twelve different languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian, Polish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese and Korean.
As one of the UK’s best museums, it has won several awards in recent years. This includes receiving the ‘People’s Choice’ award in both 2017 and 2018 at the Liverpool City Region Tourism Awards.
The National Maritime Museum Cornwall sits next to the harbour in Falmouth. RIBA held a competition for the building’s design, and this was won by architect M. J. Long who went on to design the museum, which opened in 2003. The design echoes the boat builders’ sheds which used to sit by the harbour.
The new museum is a result of a collaboration between the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich and the former Cornwall Maritime Museum in Falmouth. It manages the National Small Boat Collection, which came from the National Maritime Museum in London. The museum also holds its own collection of Cornish and other boats.
The National Maritime Museum Cornwall says it is “A place to enrich your understanding of the sea and Cornwall.
“Through our exhibitions programme, we aspire to bring new and diverse perspectives to maritime issues, and highlight their relevance to the present day. We also bring rare objects from around the world to Cornwall to tell local, national and international stories.”
It has won several awards, such as a Silver Award for Best UK Heritage Attraction at British Travel Awards, Silver in the Cornwall Tourism Awards, and The Telegraph Family Friendly Museum Award.
Part of the Science Museum Group, which also operates London’s Science Museum, this popular venue in Manchester is one of the best in the UK. The Science and Industry Museum is on a mission to inspire its visitors by exploring some of the ideas that have changed the world, from the Industrial Revolution to the present day. Given this content, its location on the site of the oldest surviving passenger railway station, in the heart of the world’s first industrial city, is significant.
As well as looking at the past, the Science and Industry Museum also runs a contemporary science programme, connecting the past and the present. As part of this, it runs the annual Manchester Science Festival. This highlights current research and also promotes the area’s history of innovation.
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In 2019, the museum unveiled plans for a multi-million-pound restoration programme, which is currently underway. This will see crucial restoration work taking place, as well as the addition of new spaces.
“We are bringing to life the story of the site, inspiring the innovators of the future to power the next (green) industrial revolution and creating a more sustainable museum,” says a statement on the museum’s website.
From October 2021 to March 2022, it hosted ‘Cancer Revolution: Science, innovation and hope’, an exhibition created with support from Cancer Research UK. This explored the revolution in science that is transforming cancer care.
Next up on our list of the best UK museums outside of London is M Shed, a museum all about Bristol. M Shed invites visitors to explore the city’s places, its people and their stories. It is housed in a 1950s transit shed on Bristol’s historic wharf.
M Shed’s exhibits look at the history of Bristol from prehistoric times to the modern-day. It is curated in partnership with communities from across the city, who have shared their stories and experiences. The museum also holds collections of objects, art and archives that help to bring these stories to life.
There are three main galleries: Bristol Places, Bristol People, and Bristol Life. Outside, there are also Working Exhibits. The neighbouring L Shed store is home to thousands of items from the industrial, maritime and social history collections.
In summer 2021, people could visit M Shed to see the toppled statue of Bristol slave trader Edward Colston. This was on display during the We Are Bristol History Commission’s public engagement about the future of the statue and plinth. Nearly 14,000 people shared their views.
Covering 26 acres, the Black Country Living Museum is the largest open-air museum in the UK. The collection of rebuilt historic buildings is located in the centre of the Black Country, 10 miles west of Birmingham.
As they explore the reconstructed shops, pubs and houses, visitors interact with historic characters. These actors help to show what it was like to live and work in one of Britain’s first industrialised landscapes. The Black Country Living Museum was also used to film parts of the hit TV show Peaky Blinders.
The museum is currently constructing 22 historic buildings and structures in the first phase of its Forging Ahead project. The centrepiece is a 1940s to 1960s town, which also includes a reconstructed pub called the Elephant & Castle. It has asked for donations of 1960s furnishings and objects to decorate the pub, which was built in 1905 in Wolverhampton and demolished in 2001.
Speaking about the Forging Ahead project, Andrew Lovett, the museum’s chief executive said:
“As the biggest single development in our 43-year history, Forging Ahead gives us the momentum to thrive once again for our community following the unprecedented difficulties presented by the pandemic. Forging Ahead is not just about exploring the past, it’s also about making a positive difference to the future of this community too.”
The Lady Lever Art Gallery is located in the model village of Port Sunlight, created by the industrialist and philanthropist William Lever. In his lifetime, Lever collected over 20,000 works of art. The museum, which he founded in memory of his wife Elizabeth, is considered to be one of the finest art galleries in Europe, as well as one of the best in the UK.
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The Lady Lever Art Gallery has a large collection of pre-Raphelite paintings. Highlights of the collection include works by Millais, Rossetti, Burne-Jones, Turner, Constable and Gainsborough. Visitors can also see collections of English furniture, Wedgewood and Chinese ceramics.
The museum opened its doors in 1922 and is managed by National Museums Liverpool. It also hosts touring exhibitions and in 2022 has been hosting Kunichika: Japanese Prints. This exhibition of prints by Toyohara Kunichika is the first exhibition in a national gallery outside Japan to focus on one of the most important 19th-century Japanese printmakers.
Yorkshire’s Hepworth Wakefield takes its name from the famed English artist and sculptor, Barbara Hepworth, who was born and brought up in the city. Located on the historic waterfront and designed by David Chipperfield Architects, it opened in May 2011. It was the Art Fund’s Museum of the Year in 2017.
The Hepworth Wakefield presents exhibitions of international modern and contemporary art, alongside its permanent galleries that explore Hepworth’s art and working process.
It also holds Wakefield’s collection of modern British art, which used to be housed in the original Wakefield Art Gallery. This collection includes works by Ben Nicholson, Patrick Heron, L.S. Lowry, Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore. Plus, it holds work by contemporary artists like Frank Auerbach, Maggi Hambling, Anthea Hamilton, Martin Parr and Eva Rothschild.
The building’s design takes inspiration from both the riverside setting and the city’s industrial past, resulting in a striking and sculptural concrete structure. Guests can also enjoy the free Hepworth Wakefield Garden, designed by Tom Stuart-Smith. This is home to outdoor sculptures and hosts frequent events.
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is home to a collection of international importance covering fine art, archaeology, metalwork, ceramics, local history, jewellery, natural history, ethnography, and industrial history. It also holds a significant collection of paintings from the 14th to the 21st century. This includes the world’s largest collection of works by Burne-Jones.
In April 2022, the museum partially reopened to the public following a period of closure caused by both the pandemic and essential electrical work. The first spaces to reopen were the Industrial Gallery, Round Room, Bridge Gallery and Gallery 10, as well as the Edwardian Tearooms and the museum’s shop.
Birmingham City Council’s essential electrical works will continue at the museum through 2023 or 2024. Over 36,000 items from the collection are in safe storage during this project. Birmingham Museums Trust runs this venue, as well as eight other museums around the city.
In 2021, Linda Spurdle of Birmingham Museums Trust, and Yarden Yaroshevski of StikiPixels, spoke to blooloop about the Occupy White Walls (OWW) project. This draws artworks from the Trust’s collections into a game centring on a virtual art gallery.
The second open-air living museum on our list of the UK’s best museums outside London, Beamish was established in 1972 and was one of the pioneers of this concept. Its creator, Dr Frank Atkinson, found inspiration from his visits to Scandinavian folk museums in the early 1950s. He wanted to create an open-air museum in the same style for the North East.
The museum’s website explains: “[Atkinson] realised the dramatically-changing region was losing its industrial heritage. Coal mining, ship building and iron and steel manufacturing were disappearing, along with the communities that served them. Frank wanted the new museum to “illustrate vividly” the way of life of “ordinary people” and bring the region’s history alive.”
In 2021, Beamish received a Capital Kickstart Fund award of £975,500 from the £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund. The funding supports the museum’s Remaking Beamish project. This includes the addition of a 1950s town and 1950s farm, as well as an expansion of the 1820s area. The 1950s town will include houses, shops, a café, a cinema and playground. Old miners’ homes will also become a centre for people living with dementia and older people.
“This funding is amazing news and will enable the successful restart and completion of our major Remaking Beamish project, which was paused due to the impact of the pandemic,” said Rhiannon Hiles, deputy director of Beamish.
Manchester Museum, which is owned by the University of Manchester, closed to the public in August 2021 to undertake the final phase of its ‘Hello Future’ transformation project. It will reopen in February 2023.
The £15 million project aims to build understanding between cultures, and to work towards the creation of a more sustainable world, according to Manchester Museum’s director, Esme Ward. Speaking to blooloop in 2022, she said:
“It used to be called the ‘Courtyard Project’ because it was focused on building a two-storey extension in the courtyard. This project is so much more than that, so we told our visitors what we were trying to do. We talked a lot about the values..and we asked them what we should call the project. A young lad, probably about seven or eight, said, ‘Why don’t you just call it ‘Hello, Future.’ I love it. Visitors always have the best lines. It so beautifully summarises the sense of possibility.”
With over 4.5 million objects, Manchester Museum is the UK’s largest university museum. It is a major visitor attraction for the city, and also serves as a resource for academic research and teaching. Its collection covers the fields of archaeology, anthropology and natural history.
The Burrell Collection consists of nearly 9000 objects and it was a gift to the city of Glasgow in 1944 from Sir William Burrell & his wife Lady Constance. It spans 50 countries and 6000 years of history, from 4000 BC to the turn of the 20th century.
The collection features medieval art, furniture, Islamic art and artefacts from ancient Egypt and China, as well as Impressionist works by Degas and Cézanne, modern sculpture and more.
The museum is located in an award-winning modernist building in Pollock Country Park. In 2022, it reopened to the public following a six-year, £68 million refurbishment project, cementing its position as one of the UK’s best museums outside London. This work increased the size of the museum by 35%. A key goal was to preserve The Burrell Collection for future generations by enhancing the site’s accessibility and sustainability.
Companies that worked on the project include Event, Leach and BECK.
Big Pit was a working coal mine from 1880 to 1980. It then reopened as a visitor attraction, Big Pit National Coal Museum, in 1983. Its goal is to preserve the Welsh heritage of coal mining.
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Big Pit’s famous underground tour gives visitors a chance to see what life was like for coal miners, as they descend 300 feet to explore a section of original underground workings. A real miner guides visitors during the experience, and guests wear the same equipment as the miners. This includes helmets, cap lamps, belts, batteries and a ‘self-rescuer’. There is also a multi-media tour of a modern coal mine with a virtual miner.
Run by National Museum Wales, Big Pit is part of the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape, a World Heritage Site.
Like another entry on our list of the UK’s best museums outside London, the Science and Industry Museum, this is part of the Science Museum Group. The National Railway Museum tells the story of rail transport in the UK, exploring its impact on society. Guests can view the national collection of historically important trains, including the Mallard, the Stirling Single, the Duchess of Hamilton and even a Japanese bullet train.
In 2022, the museum submitted a planning application for its new Central Hall. This will feature a new welcome area for guests alongside additional gallery space and will be located between the Great Hall and Station Hall. Central Hall forms a key part of the museum’s Vision 2025 plans, which will see it transformed into a modern and inspiring 21st-century attraction.
“We are very pleased to reach this milestone and submit the planning application,” said Judith McNicol, director of the National Railway Museum, speaking about the planning application submission. “Central Hall is a major part of the wider Vision 2025 strategy which will not only improve our offer but also help us to inspire the next generation of engineers.
As one of the best museums in the UK outside of London, the National Railway Museum won the European Museum of the Year Award in 2001.
Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard is home to several important historical vessels. For instance, the Mary Rose, the HMS Victory, the HMS Warrior and HMS M.33. In addition, the complex also includes the National Museum of the Royal Navy.
HMS Victory, Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar, is one of the Royal Navy’s most famous warships. It is now a living museum in Portsmouth that shows what life was like in the Georgian Navy. A plaque on the deck shows the spot where Nelson fell.
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The Mary Rose is the only ship of its kind on display in the world. It was the flagship of Henry VIII before it sank in 1545. It was on the seabed until the raising of the remains in 1982. The cutting-edge Mary Rose Museum opened in 2016, featuring around 19,000 artefacts that were recovered in one of the most challenging archaeological excavations in history.
The David Livingstone Birthplace is a museum in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, dedicated to the Scottish explorer. It opened on 28 July 2021 after a £9.1m regeneration project to re-ignite the story of David Livingstone and re-interpret it for a new generation.
Ahead of the grand opening, the Grade A-Listed building was refurbished and a new exhibition was added, with a clear focus on exploring multiple narratives. There is also a renovated cafe and retail space and a vibrant activities programme.
In 2021, Grant Mackenzie, interim museum director, spoke to blooloop about the project, and the importance of telling the full story:
“He was born here, he worked in the mill, and lived in one room with six other people. He worked extremely hard to become a doctor. Livingstone was self-educated and walked eight miles into Glasgow at three or four in the morning each day, and back again, then did some more work. He is, in many ways, a positive role model.
“There is, though, the other side of the story; some of the activities that he did and the explorations in which he took part in Malawi, Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, were allied to Western powers colonising the countries.
“It wasn’t something he was planning, but there was an inevitable impact. What we’ve tried to do is widen the story out a bit, and put it more in a world context. In doing this, the interpretation taps into current issues, including Black Lives Matter, and discussions around how we look at people like Livingstone.”
Another living museum on our list of the UK’s best outside London, this site is operated by National Museum Wales and is dedicated to chronicling the historical lifestyle, culture, and architecture of the Welsh people.
Since 1948, St Fagans has re-erected more than forty original buildings from a variety of different historical periods. This includes houses, a farm, a school, a chapel and a Workmen’s Institute. Visitors can also discover traditional crafts and activities in the site’s workshops, where craftsmen demonstrate their skills and sell their produce.
In 2018, St Fagans completed its £30 million Making History redevelopment. This involved opening new galleries, enhancing the visitor experience, and restoring and recreating buildings. Then, in 2019, the Art Fund named it Museum of the Year.
Speaking after the announcement in 2019, Stephen Deuchar, Art Fund Director, said St Fagans “lives, breathes and embodies the culture and identity of Wales…This magical place was made by the people of Wales for people everywhere. [It] stands as one of the most welcoming and engaging museums anywhere in the UK.”
Last but not least on our list of the UK’s best museums outside London, Titanic Belfast tells the story of the iconic ship. It also explores the stories of sister ships RMS Olympic and HMHS Britannic. It is located on the site of the former Harland & Wolff shipyard in the city’s Titanic Quarter, where the RMS Titanic was built from 1909 to 1912. The museum has won numerous awards, including the World’s Leading Tourism Attraction Award at the World Travel Awards in 2016.
Former CEO Tim Husbands spoke to blooloop in 2016. He identifies why the story of the Titanic has captured people’s imagination throughout history:
“First and foremost, it’s a personal story that people can identify with, ” he says. “It’s captured the imagination, rather regrettably, because it concerns a loss of life. The fact it sank on its first journey has, I think, that tragic romance around it.
“It’s the personal stories – the heroes, the villains, why it went down – that fascinate people, and the fact science and technology are still trying to understand what were the pressures around the ship’s journey, what were the pressures on the individuals, and what happened not only to the 1500 people that lost their lives, but also the other ones that survived.
“And, there are so many different ways of telling the story. I suppose that’s what we try and do here in Titanic Belfast.”
Top image: Museum of Making
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