Charlbury Museum and Heritage Centre

Charlbury Museum and Heritage Centre sits in the Oxfordshire town of Charlbury. The building houses five rooms of local life, run by the Charlbury Society since 1949. The collection began the same year and moved into the present site in 1962, with an extra entrance added in 2002. The displays show how glove-making shaped Charlbury for centuries until the last factory closed in 1968. Visitors see a blacksmith’s forge with bellows and an anvil, plus tools from carpenters, farmers, thatchers and watchmakers. Photographs, shop signs and maps line the walls alongside costumes from the 19th century and Romano-British finds. Outside, the garden marks the spot of the Star Inn demolished in 1910. Flowerbeds surround a lawn, offering a quiet place to pause after exploring the rooms. Copies of books by local writers sit among the exhibits, including Vernon Watney’s work on Cornbury and the Forest of Wychwood.