Discover Stamford

Stamford Museum stood in a Victorian building on Broad Street in Stamford, Lincolnshire. The building itself dates from 1895, when it served as a technical school. John Charles Traylen, a local architect, designed it in oolitic limestone, and the words ‘School of Art’ and the town crest appear above the doorway. The museum moved here in 1980 after opening in the High Street library in 1961. Stamford was declared England’s first Conservation Area in 1967, and the town preserves traces from Anglo-Saxon and Viking times. The museum told the story of Stamford through local collections. Exhibits included Stamford Ware Pottery, the 18th-century figure Daniel Lambert, a Blackstone oil engine and the only known fragment of the Stamford Eleanor Cross. An upper gallery held displays on archaeology and social history, while the lower galleries showed temporary exhibitions. One highlight was the Stamford Tapestry, which took seventeen years to make and was hung in 2000. A research collection of photographs and files was also available by appointment. The building now houses Wildcats Theatre School after the museum closed in 2011. Some exhibits were moved to the Discover Stamford area inside the town’s library. The former museum building still carries the carved words ‘School of Art’ above its entrance, marking its origins as a place of learning.