Exhibitions
What is on now, what opens next and what has toured. All exhibitions are included with admission.
Now open
Rivers of Clay
Gallery 2, until 1 March (sample)
Pottery tells the valley’s story better than any book: what people stored, cooked, traded and buried. The exhibition brings together 140 pieces from our stores and three partner museums, with films of potters at work today.
Storage jar
Valley ware, about 1400 BC
Fired clay with burnished slip
1987.214
Now open
Faces of the Valley
Gallery 4, until 12 April (sample)
Thirty portrait busts from Roman villas to Victorian town halls. Who paid for them, who carved them, and who was left out.
Portrait of a magistrate
Roman, 3rd century AD
Marble
1928.017
Coming next
Drawn by Hand
Gallery 1, 14 May to 30 September (sample)
Maps of the valley from 1600 to 1900, drawn by surveyors, farmers and one very lost bishop. Bring your own story of a place for the community map.
Past exhibitions
Some of our exhibitions travel to other museums afterwards (sample).
2025
Mill Street: a pottery town
Toured to two museums
2024
Woven Lives
Textiles from the valley
2023
The Lost Bridge
Archaeology of the old ford
2022
Light on Water
Valley painters, 1850–1950
See it for yourself
Open Tuesday to Sunday, late on Thursdays. Under-18s free.