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What’s On

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Our new Long Bridge Wing includes a high quality temporary exhibitions gallery, community gallery and Learning Room.  This means we can borrow important objects from national and regional museums.

We aim to borrow significant objects each year, combining them with items from our own collections to create exhibitions about North Devon’s people and places, demonstrating our part in our country’s cultural life.  This year we are focusing on dyer and weaver Ethel Mairet.

Recent exhibitions have included An Eye For Life: James Ravilious and paintings by Barnstaple’s only Royal Academician F. R. Lee, including works borrowed from the V&A Museum, Tate and Royal Academy.

Our permanent exhibition galleries display a cross section of the 80,000 objects in the collections, from the formation of the North Devon’s rocks to 20th Century life.

Highlights include the regimental collection of the Royal Devon Yeomanry, North Devon Art Pottery and the arts and crafts furniture of Shapland and Petter.

Temporary Exhibitions

Wilfred Avery and the Unpredictable Image (1926 – 2016)27/01/2024

14/10/2023  -  27/01/2024

Devon-born Wilfred Avery (1926-2016) tackled just two subjects in his career: landscape and the male body. The inspiration he found in his childhood landscape became…

Barnstaple Prisoners: unveiling Barnstaple’s Victorian underclass 1867- 187717/02/2024

02/12/2023  -  17/02/2024

Come and explore Barnstaple’s hidden underclass at the Barnstaple and North Devon Museum. Life was very hard for working-class people during the 19th century. This…

Documentary Photography Open 2024 – Speaking Out: Changing Times13/04/2024

10/02/2024  -  13/04/2024

The Museum's annual photography competition is now open, with the theme for this year being 'Speaking Out: Changing Times'.

Events

FREE Covid Quilt Workshop – Drop In

13/12/2023

Costs: FREE

Join us for a FREE Drop In Covid Quilt Workshop at the Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon, taking place on Wednesday 13th December 2023,…

Christmas in Devon, 1600-2023 – a talk by Dr Todd Gray

16/12/2023

Costs: £3 per person £2 concessions

This talk by Dr Todd Gray will explored Christmas in Devon over the last 400 years.

FREE Moon Making Workshop – Drop In

16/12/2023

Costs: FREE

Join us for a FREE Drop In Moon Making Workshop at the Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon, taking place on Saturday 16th December 2023,…

FREE Christmas Craft Workshop – Drop In

20/12/2023

Costs: FREE

Join us for a FREE Drop In Christmas Craft Workshop at the Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon, taking place on Wednesday 20th December 2023,…

Riverwoods – Film Screening

13/01/2024

Costs: FREE

Join us for a film screening of 'Riverwoods - An Untold Story'. The screening will start at 2pm on Saturday 13th January 2024.

Victorian Barnstaple Symposium

27/01/2024

Costs: £10.00

A day of talks, led by Dr Todd Gray and Dr Sadru Bhanji to accompany the museum’s exhibition Barnstaple Prisoners: Unveiling Barnstaple’s Victorian underclass 1867-…

Permanent Displays

North Devon Art Pottery

Permanent Display

The museum holds one of the countries finest collections of North Devon Pottery from the medieval period to present day.

North Devon in the 20th Century

Permanent Display

The 20th Century gallery features local iconic objects and people’s personal experiences living in North Devon.

Shapland and Petter

Permanent Display

Barnstaple's largest employer of the 20th century, the S&P gallery includes some of their finest Arts and Crafts furniture.

Military Rooms

Permanent Display

Commemorating the Royal Devon Yeomanry and Devonshire Regiment's roles in both World Wars.

Railway Room

Permanent Display

Featuring the award winning 'Somweir Junction' model railway, the room tells the history of local scenic railways.

North Devon Biosphere

Permanent Display

The gallery celebrates the 55 square mile UNESCO Biosphere Reserve including Braunton Burrows and Lundy Island.

Pre-History Rocks

Permanent Display

Significant geology and mineral collections feature among the oldest inhabitant of the town, Barney the Elephant.

Welcome Hall

Permanent Display

The Welcome Hall features paintings of local scenes and notables of the past with some of the best of Brannam's pottery.

Athenaeum Library

Permanent Display

The Athenaeum Library holds original objects and publications from the museum's earliest collections.

Google Arts & Culture

Explore online exhibitions, highlighted collections and object focused stories on our Google partner page.

Keith Abraham Community Gallery

The community gallery provides groups and organisations the opportunity to showcase a project, celebrate local heritage or commemorate an anniversary.

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