Colin Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Things to do · Charlbury
Charlbury Museum
Charlbury's volunteer-run museum beside the Corner House on Market Street: five rooms on the town's history, from Stone Age arrowheads to gloving, open at weekends from April to October.
Rainy days · Car-free
A small, well-kept town museum, worth half an hour on a Saturday when the market is on. Its hours are short and seasonal, so check before you come.
- Good: Five rooms on the history of a market town
- Good: A restored Victorian wagon and a small garden
- Good: A walk up the hill from the station
- Good: Accredited by Arts Council England
- Worth knowing: Open only at weekends, April to October
- Worth knowing: Closed for the winter after 25 October 2026
About
Charlbury Museum is the town museum of Charlbury, in a group of small buildings beside the Corner House on Market Street. It is run entirely by volunteers and is a registered charity, and Arts Council England has given it museum accreditation after three years of work by its volunteers.
Five rooms tell the story of the town: Stone Age arrowheads, the charter of 1256 that gave Charlbury its market, the royal forest of Wychwood that once surrounded it, centuries of farming, and the gloving trade that filled the town in the nineteenth century. Among the larger pieces are a restored Victorian wagon in the extension of 2002 and a model of the old Market House, demolished in the 1870s, which was one of the first gifts to the museum. Behind it is a small garden, made in 2003 in memory of Gillian Naish.
The museum grew out of an exhibition of 1949 in the Corner House, which drew more than 650 visitors in three days. The Charlbury Society formed three months later and started the collection, first in the attics and from 1962 on the ground floor. Its 2026 season, which opened on 4 April and ran a month longer than before, showed an exhibition on the Playing Close through the centuries, with an added display of metal-detecting finds.
It opens from April to the end of October on Saturdays from 10.30am to 12.30pm and 2.30pm to 4.30pm, and on Sundays and bank holiday Mondays from 2.30pm to 4.30pm, and the 2026 season ended on 25 October; the museum says it reopens at Easter 2027 with a new exhibition. Half an hour to an hour is enough. Outside those hours the volunteers will open by appointment for a donation of £20 a session for up to four people. Sunday afternoons are quieter than Saturday mornings, when the market brings people into the town. From the station, walk up Dyers Hill, and see St Mary's and the Evenlode on the way back down.
Opening hours and season
| Monday | Closed |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | Closed |
| Wednesday | Closed |
| Thursday | Closed |
| Friday | Closed |
| Saturday | 10:30 to 12:30, 14:30 to 16:30 |
| Sunday | 14:30 to 16:30 |
April to the end of October only (the 2026 season ended on 25 October, and it is closed until Easter 2027). Also bank holiday Mondays 2.30pm to 4.30pm. Run by volunteers.
Facilities
- Museum shop
- No car parkSpendlove car park, free, is nearby
The details
- Time to allow
- Half an hour to an hour
- Features
- Shop
- History
- Founded after a town exhibition of 1949; on this site since 1962
- Parking
- No car park of its own: Spendlove car park, free, is a short walk away in the town.
- Without a car
- Charlbury station, on the line from London Paddington, is a walk up Dyers Hill. Buses run to the town every day except Sunday.
Photos
The museum entrance 
The gloving display 
Pewterware in the collection 
The restored wagon outside the museum
Location
Places to stay nearby
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Amarelo Apartments
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Two one-bedroom holiday apartments for two above a restaurant at 8 Market Street, Charlbury, a short walk from the station.
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Verified Nov 2026
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Cotswolds Camping
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Banbury Hill Farm
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Dog-friendly · Walker-friendly · EV charging
Verified Nov 2026
Nearby walks, places and things to do
- Amarelo Apartments
- The Rose and Crown 0.0 km away
- The Bull, Charlbury 0.0 km away
- The Missing Bean, Charlbury 0.0 km away