Clare Ancient House Museum – The Tiny Museum with the Big Heart!

‍Our 2026 Exhibition opened on 4 April and runs until 28 September 2026.  ‘UNEARTHED:WHAT TIME LEFT BEHIND’  is an exhibition of things found in Clare from fossils to arrowheads, Victorian pop bottles to 800 year old coins together with a replica of the Clare Reliquary Cross (photo below) probably belonging to Cecily Neville, Richard III’s mother, lost in Clare Castle and rediscovered when the railway was built through the Castle in the 1860’s.

We are open on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays from 12.00 to 16.00 and by special request. Entry is free. We are run entirely by volunteers and rely on donations to keep open. In order to raise funds we sell a wide selection of jams, jellies, chutneys and marmalades homemade by volunteers in Clare and (except for the marmalades) from fruit grown in Clare.

Our Previous Exhibitions

2025 THE ANCIENT HOUSE: PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE 

Information boards included: ‘The Construction’ and ‘Past Uses & Owners’ of the Ancient House and ‘A History of Pargetting’.

The Ancient House was originally built with timber and was most likely a box-framed building – a type very popular in East Anglia. Past uses include a workhouse and bakery, and perhaps the house’s most well known past owner was Charles Byford who gave the Ancient House to Clare Parish Council in 1938.

The pargetting on the Ancient House is some of the finest in England. Our exhibition included pargetting tools and pargetting stamps and a video recording of Johanna Welsh, a Suffolk based pargeter, who spoke to the museum about her craft.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2024 CELEBRATING CLARE

This exhibition celebrated our town – its carnivals, fetes, musical events and our community groups & organisations.

We created 3 separate exhibitions for this theme and for each one we produced a video of local people recalling their fond memories of events and organisations in Clare.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2023 CLARE SHOPS: PAST & PRESENT

This exhibition told the history of over 40 shop premises. Around the town we displayed individual posters detailing historical facts about each premises, with photos too. The posters were also available to view as part of our exhibition.

ABOUT OUR MUSEUM

The Ancient House is a Grade I Listed Building, and is recognised as having national importance. The West wing, on the High Street, is believed to date from the 14th century and the more heavily decorated East wing may have been built in 1473, the date which appears in the plasterwork of the house. This important timber-framed building is especially noted (and often photographed) for its decorative pargeting.

The House was given to the town of Clare in 1938 by a local businessman Charles Byford, to be put to a “useful public purpose”. In 1979, a museum was established. Subsequently, with the help of grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund and from St Edmundsbury District Council it was entirely re-designed, and re-opened in 1999.

Since 2023 we have staged a new themed exhibition each year. We work closely with the residents and businesses of our community who very kindly assist with our research and loan us items to exhibit.

The museum is entirely run by volunteers and its trustees.

We also have a permanent exhibition about Clare’s important place in medieval history.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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ITEMS ON PERMANENT DISPLAY

Please note that as we now run a new exhibitions each year some of the more ancient items that were previously on display are now held in our archives. Please email us at: info@clare-ancient-house-museum.co.uk if there is a particular item you are interested in. 

We are open from Easter through September. Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays. Noon to 4 pm

Entry is now free! Your donations are very welcome as we are entirely run by volunteers. We do not receive any external funding.

Wheelchair access to all parts of our museum is now available.