Clun Museum

Clun Museum stands in the Grade II* listed former town hall in The Square, Clun, Shropshire. The building replaced a decaying 16th-century courthouse in 1780 under Edward Clive, 2nd Lord Clive. Designed in neoclassical style with limestone rubble masonry, it originally featured a symmetrical frontage, Diocletian window, and a wooden cupola with clock faces. By the late 19th century the central gable was removed and the Powis coat of arms moved to the western wall. After markets left in the 1920s, George Herbert, 4th Earl of Powis gifted the building to the parish in 1928. The museum opened in 1932 on the ground floor and expanded to the first floor in 2004. It holds around 6,000 ancient tools discovered on nearby Caer Caradoc, dating back to the Mesolithic period. Artefacts from the former borough include two Elizabethan ceremonial maces. The assembly room served as a magistrates’ court until 1949, and the building underwent restoration in the 1990s with English Heritage support. Visitors find displays of prehistoric tools and local history in rooms once used as a market hall and assembly space. The first-floor chamber retains its role as a meeting place for Clun Parish Council. Outside, The Square provides a quiet setting beside the medieval castle remains. The museum’s collections and the building’s neoclassical architecture offer a glimpse into Clun’s past.