East Grinstead Museum is situated in a purpose built building in the centre of the town, only a few minutes from the historic High Street, the Museum tells the story of East Grinstead and the surrounding area from its early beginnings to the present day. Built with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and money raised by the local community, East Grinstead Museum invites you to discover the old market town and surrounding area.

His collection began with a set of grappling irons, stored at the Church for accessibility. The interest they sparked gave him the idea of a town museum. Its collection was small but included photographs, paintings, tokens and First World War objects, amongst others. Our object collection includes a range of objects relating to the town of East Grinstead and the surrounding villages.

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Plan Your Visit Report

East Grinstead Museum is just behind the town's historic High Street on Old Market Yard, Cantelupe Road. If you are traveling by bus, the nearest bus stops are in the High Street only a three minute walk from the Museum. Alight on the High Street and walk the short distance to Cantelupe Road - the Museum is on the right when coming from this direction.

Learning Report

East Grinstead Museum covers the story of the town from prehistory to the present day and serves as a great local history case study for use in both primary and secondary schools, as well as other educational settings. The Museum has a display dedicated to the story of the Guinea Pig Club and their surgeon Archibald McIndoe.

Collections Report

Our collection contains over 20,000 items consisting of archives, books, photographs and 3D objects. The collection interprets the heritage of our town and the surrounding villages, it people, trades, buildings, institutions and other aspects of life. Visitors can search our collection online, or on the computer in the museum's Research Room and can make an appointment with a member of staff to view items not on display.

Object Collection Report

Our extensive object collection relates to the history of East Grinstead and the surrounding villages. Our permanent displays take you through the town's story from pre-historic times to the present day. Other objects from the Object Collection are showcased in our regularly changing temporary displays.

Image Collection Report

The museum holds a collection of about 14,000 images ranging from glass plate negatives, transparencies and postcards to negatives, photograph albums and individual photographs of all sizes. The Image Collection includes scenes of depicting many aspects of life in East Grinstead through the ages.

These images provide an invaluable pictorial records of the town's streets, shops, businesses, houses, people, events, buildings and organisations amongst many others.The collection features a number of local photographers including Harold Connold and Malcolm Powell. Visitors to the museum can also search the Image Collection on the computer in the Museum's Research Room and make an appointment with a member of staff to view items not on display.

Reviews (10)

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Nicole Barnes

Oct 20, 2021

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Lovely opportunity to hear, read and learn about the local area. This museum really brings history to life. Great exhibitions

Lisa Miller

Oct 19, 2021

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Amazing experience
Amazing staff extremely informative and very friendly

Michael Hilton

Jun 18, 2021

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Excellent museum small but packed with detail and exhibits. Volunteers outstanding and very helpful. Recommend a visit.

Ana Silva

May 31, 2021

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Beautiful town with lovely people. Loved is town Museum . Small but full of information. Thank you for your attention!

Jordan Hannah

Oct 18, 2020

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I traveled down to visited the museum yesterday afternoon.
For a while now I have been going into my family history and finding my Great Grandparents were at the hospital during WW2. Great Grandma a British Red Cross Nurse and Great Grandpa a Soilder in the Irish Guards who was taken to the hospital as he was involved in a road accident and was injured/wounded and at the hospital that is how they met eachother!
The museum history I found very interesting and also the two lovely ladies who worked there, Helen and Sue were extremely helpful with giving me some more ideas that I can do to find out

John Smiles

Aug 25, 2020

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Lovely little museum with a local collection and a dedicated display on Archibald McIndoe and his pioneering reconstructive surgery on badly burnt ww2 pilots aka the 'guinea pig club'.

Sam G.

Jan 02, 2019

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A very nice and interesting museum. Through displays, interactive media and tasks for children, it tells the story of East Grinstead from dinosaur times through to modern day.
The most heart moving and inspiring section is devoted to The Guinea Pig Club, a band of 649 seriously burned airmen in WWII (including my grandfather Dr Sandy Saunders) who allowed pioneering plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe to experiment new techniques and therapies, not just on the horrifically burned and disfigured airmen's bodies, but also fixing their minds. The exhibits bring home how basic medical care was compared

Andy Bayliss

Nov 29, 2017

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The EG museum may be small but it's large with info!!
More people need to support the museum as it brings value to the town.
The online website is also very good, it's great to see all the old photos.

Cheryl Kenyon

Aug 23, 2017

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Absolutely great theme sessions for the kids during the holidays, little one loved it and asked questions about exhibits Thank you to all volunteers

Andres Villalobos Lepiz

Dec 27, 2016

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This museum is really interesting. It has lots of information of local history (of course), but it also displays historical medical equipment that was used in previous years. Very welcoming staff and is actually a lovely place to go.