Ashby de la Zouch Museum

Ashby de la Zouch Museum stands in the centre of the Leicestershire town of Ashby de la Zouch. It occupies a converted building on North Street, a short walk from the market square. The museum opened in 1982 and is run entirely by about seventy volunteers. Its main purpose is to tell the story of Ashby and its surrounding villages. Temporary exhibitions change several times a year, adding new themes to the permanent displays.

The museum’s collections trace Ashby’s past from early settlements to the present day. Artefacts, reconstructions and photographs illustrate daily life in the town and nearby hamlets such as Packington, Blackfordby and Staunton Harold. More than three thousand images record streets, shops and families over the last century and a half. Maps dating back several hundred years show how the town grew around its medieval castle. Old school records, letters and newspaper cuttings fill display cases alongside census microfilms.

Visitors walk through rooms arranged chronologically, starting with Iron Age finds and moving forward in time. Recreated shop fronts and a Victorian classroom bring the past to life. Photographs line the walls, showing parades, floods and market days. Maps hang beside cases of documents, letting people trace their own family or street. The volunteer guides answer questions and point out details in the displays.