Woolpit Village Museum

Woolpit Museum is located on the upper floor of this early 16th century cottage. The entrance is via the white, bricked building to the left in this picture

In the mid 1980s Woolpit History Group started field-walking throughout the parish. After several years three Roman sites and eight Medieval sites had been found and confirmed.
In 1983 the Parish Council asked if it would be feasible to display what had been found and so the Woolpit and District Museum was begun. The History Group took over a store-room on the upper floor of the Woolpit Village Memorial Institute and began to set up the smallest Museum in the county.
Because the room is so small some displays are changed each year, and over the last thirty or so years there have been nearly seventy different exhibitions explaining the history of Woolpit from Anglo-Saxon times to the present day.
There are two permanent displays. The first shows the famous Woolpit Brickmaking Works presented as a 3D model of the site as it was in its later days, with a collection of bricks, tiles, photos and various tools used in the trade. A booklet The History of Woolpit Brickworks is available in the small shop. The second display is a reconstruction of a Victorian Kitchen with artefacts, which might have been used in everyday life up to the 1920s.

New for 2017

• We have a new display about the Green Children of Woolpit. This focuses on how the legend has inspired books, talks, plays and musicals around the world. We have pictures, programmes and other information from as far away as Australia and America as well as details of performances given in Woolpit. The display includes a summary of the story and we have a booklet for sale that gives further information.

• Seven men from Woolpit were killed in 1917 and are remembered on our war memorial and their biographies are displayed alongside the original war memorial board.

• We have extended the display about men who fought in WW1 and survived by adding more names and information about life in the village in the years immediately before, during and after the conflict. This includes extracts from the school log book which make fascinating reading.

Model of brickworks site	The museum roof

The Museum is open every Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday from 2:00pm – 4:30pm from Easter until the last week-end of September. This year it will also open on Wednesdays in August from 1pm-3:30pm. Admission is free.

There is a car park opposite the Church and on street parking.
Refreshments can be bought in the village. There is also a picnic site.

By prior arrangement the museum can be opened at other times, and coach parties are welcome. Talks and tours can be arranged by appointment.
The museum has some information relating to the village and families, which can be made available for visitors to consult.

Contact museum@woolpit.org We look forward to seeing you sometime.