Maritime Heritage Centre Museums

The museum has an unrivalled collection of Bristol industrial and maritime objects, a total of over 3000 objects and over 100,000 photographs and drawings. Most of these are housed at the Industrial Museum in the City Docks, fittingly a former transit shed! See the Industrial Museum pages for information about the displays and working exhibits.

Much of Bristol's wealth was provided by a few select industries - printing, engineering, tobacco - and its role as a major port for incoming goods, but there were very many smaller industries at work in the background. At one time, Bristol boasted 300 separate trades, and the Industrial & Maritime History collections contain material from a great many of them.

The collections are rich in transport-related items, many of them built in the city. Backing up the extensive displays are archives of drawings and plans, publicity and maintenance brochures and photographs for most aspects. Held in reserve are more horse-drawn and motor vehicles, and a large collection of bicycles, all illustrating the story of transport more generally. .