About us

Courtyard gallery with family

In beautiful Brampton Park less than half a mile from the town centre lies Newcastle-Under-Lyme’s local history museum featuring over 2000 years of borough history.

Set in verdant parkland the museum and art gallery has something for everyone. Alongside our temporary exhibitions programme in The Jim Wain Courtyard Gallery, we have galleries depicting the rich and diverse history of the area using our amazing collections.

Thanks to funding from the National Lottery, new galleries opened in 2022 including 'The borough in 80 objects', telling new stories about our history with an eclectic mix of curious objects and Mrs Mosley’s Parlour - complete with a talking portrait. Another highlight is Brampton Street which allows you to take a step back in time as you discover the wares of Mellard’s the ironmongers, the treasures of the pawnbroker’s shop, the fascinating cures of the chemist’s and the gruesome collection of doctor’s surgical instruments. The toys gallery is a firm favourite with young and old alike with teddies, dolls and games up to 150 years old.

We are a family friendly museum and there is always something interesting for visitors of all ages to see and do, with a varied event and activity programme. We are home to The Little Vintage Tea Room for cakes, drinks and light lunches with indoor and outdoor seating, and a locally made artisan craft shop. We also offer a range of meeting rooms for hire, from our intimate Victorian drawing room to our 70 seater event space. The museum is a community hub with support groups, classes and wellbeing activities happening most days with local expert organisations.

Brampton Museum: what is it video

Brampton Museum is run by Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council and has received funding from a variety of grant makers, business sponsors and through public donation. Grant makers have included:

  • The National Lottery Heritage Fund
  • The UK Shared Prosperity Fund

The National Lottery Heritage Fund

As the largest dedicated funder of the UK’s heritage, The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future as set out in our strategic plan, 'Heritage 2033'.

Over the next ten years, they aim to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to bring about benefits for people, places and the natural environment. They help protect, transform and share the things from the past that people care about, from popular museums and historic places, our natural environment and fragile species, to the languages and cultural traditions that celebrate who we are.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a central pillar of the UK government’s agenda and provides £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025. The Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills.

Find out more about our involvement on the dedicated page on our website.

Helping the environment

  • Our new exhibition space, education room, event space and meeting rooms are powered by solar panels and an environmentally friendly air source heat pump.
  • Our cafe uses locally sourced food and it is always served with crockery and glasses, not single use plastic.
  • Any food waste is recycled - with even our leftover salad feeding the birds in the aviary!