Dorset County Museum Museums

Welcome to the Dorset County Museum, where the story of Dorset's rich landscape unfolds in a range of fascinating displays. The Museum was founded in 1846 to help protect and record the county's unique historical and natural environment.

Today visitors to the Museum can find out about local writers,history, archaeology, geology and the natural sciences in one of the Museum's many galleries. There are also video displays, activity carts for children and an audio-guide to take you round the exhibits.

The Museum is housed in a beautiful, gothic-style building, which dates from 1884. Its diverse collections include Roman mosaics, original Thomas Hardy manuscripts and fossilised dinosaur footprints. And behind the scenes there is a great deal more

The Museum is an ideal place to come if you are visiting Dorset, and a great place for local people to find out more about where they live. This web site will give you a taste of what is in the Museum, but we hope you will want to come and see it for yourself.

Looking at the street frontage of the Dorset County Museum, you could be forgiven for not realising just how much is contained inside. The Museum has an array of fascinating galleries, dealing with a wide range of subjects from the natural sciences and geology to art, history and literature. The galleries include many video displays, interactive exhibits and activity carts for children. .