Discover Bucks Museum

Discover Bucks Museum sits in the heart of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Its oldest part is Ceely House, a red-brick building from 1473 with a fine porch of Corinthian columns and a pediment. The museum occupies two Grade II* listed buildings: Ceely House and the former Aylesbury Grammar School, built in 1720. The school moved to Walton Road in 1907, and the Bucks Archaeological Society turned its old premises into a museum the same year. The council took over in 1957 and added Ceely House as an art gallery. The museum holds artefacts that tell the story of Buckinghamshire’s past. It displays geological specimens, costumes, farming tools and industrial objects. Changing art shows appear in the Buckinghamshire Art Gallery. A special children’s gallery opened in 1996, named after Roald Dahl. In 2026 an exhibition will feature Saxon items loaned by the British Museum, found in local sites like Wendover, Taplow and Marlow. Visitors walk through rooms that once belonged to a 15th-century guild and a 18th-century grammar school. The coach house behind Ceely House now houses the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery. Changing art exhibits fill the art gallery, while the main galleries show Buckinghamshire’s history in clear displays. The museum’s name changed in 2021, but its purpose remains the same: to show the county’s past in an accessible way.