Childhood Museum

The museum is curated through child-related themed rooms demonstrating how children lived, played and worked. The Victorian Schoolroom, with its tip-up desks, brass inkwells and maps showing the world as it was 125 years ago, is a fascinating delight to children and adults alike.

The day nursery and the night nursery hark back to a time when children lived their lives apart from their parents and only joined them in the main part of the house on special occasions. Perhaps the use of a double-seated rocking horse and magnificent dolls made up for the distance from their parents.

The development of toys for children comes through in the Barry Elder Dolls Collection covering dolls from the eighteenth century up to the fashionably dressed dolls of the Victorian era, and is supplemented by toys and dolls from the present day.

The Museum of Childhood also includes a temporary exhibition which changes each season so there’s always something new to visit!

Read about the fascinating Gillows furniture on display – Gillow Furniture Gallery