Neil Owen, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Things to do · Dursley
Dursley Heritage Centre
A volunteer-run museum opposite Dursley's Market House, telling the town's story from cloth to Lister engines, with an early Pedersen bicycle, open four mornings a week.
Rainy days · Walker-friendly
A small town museum run with care by volunteers, worth half an hour for the Lister machinery and the Pedersen bicycle. It opens mornings only, so plan round it, and email before a long trip.
- Good: Opposite the Market House, on the Cotswold Way
- Good: Restored early Pedersen bicycle and Lister machinery
- Good: Changing exhibitions on the town's past
- Worth knowing: Open 10am to midday only, four days a week
- Worth knowing: Hours depend on volunteers: email before a special trip
- Worth knowing: Saturdays only in January; closes mid-December
About
Dursley Heritage Centre tells the story of Dursley in one small museum opposite the Market House and St James's church, beside Jacob's House, where the town council sits. Volunteers have run it since the beginning of 2005.
The displays follow the town from its days as a wool and market town to the engineering that replaced cloth: R A Lister's farm machinery and engines, and Mawdsley's electrical machines. The piece people come for is a restored early Pedersen bicycle: Mikael Pedersen came to work for Listers at the end of the nineteenth century and invented its distinctive design in the town. There are books to browse, a large screen showing local scenes and films, and changing exhibitions: from March to June 2026 one looked back at the shops and businesses of Long Street.
It opens from 10am to midday on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from February to November, and in December up to the third Saturday; in January it opens on Saturdays only. Because the volunteers keep it open, hours sometimes change, and the centre asks visitors travelling any distance to email first. The website prints no admission charge, so ask on the day. Allow about half an hour.
Weekday mornings are the quiet time. On the first and second Saturdays of the month the markets under the Market House arches bring more people into the square. The Cotswold Way passes the door, so walkers can call in on the way through.
Opening hours and season
| Monday | Closed |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | 10:00 to 12:00 |
| Wednesday | Closed |
| Thursday | 10:00 to 12:00 |
| Friday | 10:00 to 12:00 |
| Saturday | 10:00 to 12:00 |
| Sunday | Closed |
February to November and December up to the third Saturday. In January, Saturdays only. Hours change with volunteer cover.
Facilities
- Free council car parksCastle Street (3 hours) is the nearest; May Lane is long stay
- Public toiletsAt the May Lane car park
The details
- Time to allow
- About half an hour
- History
- Opened at the beginning of 2005; run by volunteers
- Parking
- No car park of its own. Dursley's council car parks are free: Castle Street allows 3 hours, May Lane (with toilets) is long stay.
- Without a car
- Stagecoach 65 (Stroud to Gloucester) runs about hourly, every two hours on Sundays; the 60 to Wotton runs Monday to Saturday. Cam and Dursley station is 3 miles away by road.
Location
Places to stay nearby
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Woodland House
B&B · Dursley
A seven-room B&B in a quiet cul-de-sac six minutes' walk from Dursley, with a hot tub, a sauna, a guest kitchen and parking for seven cars.
Walker-friendly · Hot tubs · Family-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
-
Downhouse Farm Holidays
Self-catering · Dursley
A Grade II listed farmhouse for ten and a converted granary barn for four on a working family farm at Springhill, about a mile from Dursley; dogs welcome.
Dog-friendly · Family-friendly · Walker-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
-
Forthay Bed and Breakfast
B&B · North Nibley
A late seventeenth-century farmhouse B&B with four rooms for two in the hamlet of Forthay, below the Tyndale Monument at North Nibley, on the Cotswold Way.
Dog-friendly · Walker-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Nearby walks, places and things to do
- India Zones, Dursley 0.1 km away
- The Old Spot Inn, Dursley 0.3 km away
- Woodland House 0.6 km away
- Downhouse Farm Holidays 1.3 km away
Sights nearby
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Tyndale Monument, North Nibley
Sight · Monument · Wotton-under-Edge
The Tyndale Monument is the tower on Nibley Knoll above North Nibley, built in 1866 by S. S. Teulon in memory of William Tyndale, translator of the first printed English New Testament. Grade II*; usually open to climb, free, with a key nearby if locked.
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Brackenbury Ditches hill fort
Sight · Hill fort or barrow · Wotton-under-Edge
Brackenbury Ditches is an Iron Age hill fort in Westridge Wood on a spur of the Cotswold Edge above North Nibley, with a great inner rampart 3m high and a ditch 14m wide, unexcavated when surveyed in 1976 and now among the trees. Beside public footpaths through the wood.
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Jubilee Clump, Wotton Hill
Sight · Viewpoint · Wotton-under-Edge
Jubilee Clump is the walled ring of trees on Wotton Hill above Wotton-under-Edge, replanted in 1888 for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee on a spot said to have been first planted after Waterloo: a landmark and viewpoint on the Cotswold Way. Free.
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St Mary's Church, Wotton-under-Edge
Sight · Church · Wotton-under-Edge
St Mary's is Wotton-under-Edge's Grade I parish church, with late thirteenth-century arcades, a six-stage fourteenth-century tower, the brasses of Thomas, Lord Berkeley and his wife, and an organ bought in 1800. Open daily.