The British Museum and the Natural History Museum tend to steal the headlines when it comes to an educational day out. But the UK is also home to many more eclectic offerings. Here are some of our favourite museum oddities across the country.
The Crab Museum, Kent
This Margate museum bills itself as “Europe’s first and only museum dedicated to the decapod”. It’s also one of the UK’s “most bizarre institutions”, said Amy Houghton in Time Out. Founded in 2021, the space is “crammed with crab trivia” and “hilarious tongue-in-cheek information panels”. The exhibits not only celebrate crustacean culture, but humans too. “For instance, there’s a slipper lobster dressed as a suffragette” and a “spotted reef crab dressed as a trade unionist in a diorama depicting the 1926 General Strike”.
crabmuseum.org
British Lawnmower Museum, Southport
“The grass is always greener in Merseyside”, said Etan Smallman in The Telegraph. In this Northwest museum, lawnmowers are “honoured as the revolutionary gadgets they truly are”. Visitors can walk through the history of the machine first patented in 1830 – English engineer Edward Budding tested the prototype at night to avoid the ridicule of his neighbours – and a “plethora of Victorian and Edwardian models”. One of the highlights is the “ever-expanding” showcase of “Lawnmowers of the Rich and Famous”. Old contraptions owned by King Charles, Princess Diana, Alan Titchmarsh and Brian May all feature.
lawnmowerworld.co.uk
The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, Cornwall
In Boscastle for more than 70 years, this has been “one of Cornwall’s most popular museums”, said BBC Countryfile. Look out for signature exhibits including a “bellarmine jar found hidden in a house near Plymouth – complete with hair, nail clippings and pins”. You can find out about occult practices from British folklore and around the world, and “investigate examples of curses, spells and charms”. At a safe distance, of course.
museumofwitchcraftandmagic.co.uk
The Morbitorium, Wales
This certainly makes for a “peculiar day out”, said Lizzy Reece on Rest Less. It may only consist of three rooms but it is packed with a “huge range of oddities and curiosities”, spanning everything from “antique lobotomy tools and Ouija boards to mummified cats and Victorian sex toys”. There are special “after-dark” tours, and the site offers workshops and you can book a “private tarot, oracle, or rune reading”. “It’s sure to be unforgettable!”
morbitorium.co.uk
The Dog Collar Museum, Kent
This museum is devoted to “canine neckwear, not canonical uniform, by the way”, said The Londonist. Located within the grounds of Leeds Castle, near Maidstone, the museum is home to the largest collection in the world, though it would be hard to imagine “too much competition”. It displays more than 130 collars, spanning an “impressive” range from five centuries.
leeds-castle.com