Welcome to our website!
This site offers a sample of our large collection of over 20,000 objects and multiple heritage projects. If you're researching local history or have a specialist interest in photos, costume, paintings, maps, ephemera, oral histories, please contact us to enquire as to what we hold, to arrange a viewing, or if you have an object for donation.
Read on below, or explore via the menu above.
Read on below, or explore via the menu above.
Or explore onwards below...
About Us
Our collections are full of items of interest and tales aplenty, all with a local connection to the picturesque Sussex village of Henfield...
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The collection ranges from prehistoric flint artefacts telling of the earliest human activity in the area to objects from the 20th century. It includes a noted costume collection, the Marjorie Baker and other photographic archives, a wide ranging art collection and oral history collection. Find a medley of vintage farm implements sitting alongside a one of a kind early Victorian novelty change bell set, with items from Henfield's famous lavender nurseries brightening their corner... But we are not only a cabinet of curiosities - each item tells a story of its one time owner, while some have left their mark in other ways. Some of their tales are related in Henfieldians Past and in our blogs.
Our documentary archives include copies of the Henfield, Shermanbury and Woodmancote census records, churchyard memorial inscriptions and the Shermanbury archives. All of these can be viewed without prior appointment. We also have a collection of local historic maps, all of which can be viewed on request. |
Temporary, themed exhibitions are staged three or four times a year, both within and outside the museum via the roving display case. For details of current and forthcoming exhibitions, see the 'Exhibitions' page. Details are also posted on the Museum noticeboard in the High Street bus shelter, in the Library and on the museum's Facebook page.
Heritage projects are run by the museum and Friends, with current projects including Arborea, A Favourite Object, the William Borrer Transcription Project and Those Who Served.
Owned and run by Henfield Parish Council, the museum is supported by volunteers and the Friends of Henfield Museum. The collection began in a small way in the 1930s, moving from a few cases in the old Assembly Rooms to its first permanent site in the new village hall in 1974. The present building was opened in 1994.
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Read more about...
Object in Focus
Would you like to get involved?Become a Volunteer
Do you have time to volunteer in the museum for a two hour opening timeslot or would you like to get involved in another way? Please contact the Curator if you can dedicate some time. Join a Local Heritage Organisation
Established in 2014 to directly support the museum and advance heritage projects and engagement with history in the local area. Membership £10 p/a.
Offering a regular schedule of talks on varied local and broader topics throughout the year with a wide selection of guest speakers. Entry to talks can also be purchased on the door. Membership £9 per person or £18 per couple, per year.
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Local Community Heritage WebsitesHenfield Then And Now is well known Henfieldian Mike Ainscough's long running website featuring numerous past and present views of Henfield, sourced from his own large photo collection, the museum archives and numerous other places.
Hidden Henfield is run by the community partnership and provides a flavour of the village and a view of some of the highlights for a visit! Includes information on shopping and cafés as well as route maps for Henfield's local heritage trails - perfect for enjoying the history and countryside the parish is so lucky to have. Henfield Parish Council have primary responsibility for funding and running Henfield Museum - find news on local services and activities and in-depth museum committee documents here. |
Visit other local museums
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Take a journey and travel back in time to explore the South’s working past, right in the heart of the South Downs. From trains, to radios to brooms & blacksmiths, there is something for everyone at Amberley Museum.
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Horsham Museum & Art Gallery has been collecting objects relating to Horsham and the wider District since 1893. Key collections include costume, photography, artworks, posters and documentary archives.
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Opened in April 2000 to mark the Millennium, the museum houses local archaeology, articles from local churches, domestic history, details of local people, their memorabilia, artefacts and articles from the two world wars.
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As well as a wealth of displays and artefacts on the history of Steyning and its surrounding area, find out more about their outreach to local schools, and very active research and oral history service.
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Cuckfield MuseumCuckfield Museum opened in 1981 as an independent museum, aiming to provide an insight into community, culture and the historic past stretching back to pre-history when dinosaurs roamed the area and where, millions of years later, the settlement of Cuckfield was established. |
Burgess Hill Heritage & History AssociationFounded in 1979 and conducting local history research into this Mid Sussex town - with a regular schedule of talks, visits and a collection focused around the terracotta and ceramic industries of the town. 'To know our history is to safeguard our heritage.'
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