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Find out about the North Lincolnshire Museum. Step back in time and explore our free galleries and exhibitions.
North Lincolnshire Museum offers a great day out for all the family. It features a range of galleries and exhibition programmes. Explore history through our collections and interactive displays.
The Museum is currently closed due to Covid national lockdown.
Step back in time through our interactive hands on galleries. Learn more about the areas amazing objects and history.
Galleries include:
Discover the archaeology of North Lincolnshire from the first human arrivals in the early Stone Age to the 17th Century. Explore objects from tiny Iron Age coins to a Bronze Age boat. Come face to face with the Winterton Roman Lady.
Step inside the Ironstone cottage to explore home life in a typical Scunthorpe working class house. All objects in the cottage can be handled.
Investigate the development of North Lincolnshire from the early 1800s to the outbreak of the Second World War. Find out about local folklore and customs, such as the Haxey Hood and Plough Jags.
Experience life in North Lincolnshire during the Second World War. Find out what life was like for those left behind when the men went to war. Step inside an Anderson Shelter and listen to an air raid siren.
Explore life in 1950s, 60s and 70s North Lincolnshire. Investigate the modern gadgets in the 50s style kitchen and 60s living room.
Explore life in the Jurassic period, when North Lincolnshire was under the sea, the Frodingham Ironstone was formed and sea dragons roamed. Discover the weird and wonderful creatures that lived in the sea. Handle real fossils from the museum’s collection.
Discover the history of the iron and steel industry in Scunthorpe from 1858 to the present day. Find out about the role of women in the industry, working conditions and hear fascinating stories from steelworkers. Explore the impact the industry has had in transforming Scunthorpe from a sleepy village into a large town.
Our collections feature a wide range of objects and archival material reflecting the geology, natural history, archaeology and local history of the region in and around North Lincolnshire.
For any queries about the collections please contact the relevant member of the Collections Team below:
North Lincolnshire has a rich heritage that is reflected in the size and quality of the archaeological collections. All periods of the past are represented – from the Palaeolithic to the modern day. The collection includes archives from major excavations and field projects as well as a number of large metal detected collections and stray finds.
The geology collection includes rocks and minerals and a large collection of fossils, mainly from the local area and including fossils from the Frodingham ironstone. The biology collection includes mounted specimens, insects, shells and herbarium sheets
The local history collection features objects, photographs and ephemera telling the story of North Lincolnshire and it’s people from the post-medieval period to the modern day. The regionally important photographic archive can be viewed online as the North Lincolnshire Image Archive.
The Decorative Arts collection includes male and female costume and accessories, decorative homeware, including furniture and soft furnishings, and works of art. Items from the collection can be seen on display at Normanby Hall. The costume collection is displayed through changing exhibitions in the costume galleries at Normanby Hall and Brigg Heritage Centre, and in the exhibitions and changing case at North Lincolnshire Museum.
North Lincolnshire Museum is a regional partner in the national Portable Antiquities Scheme. This is a voluntary scheme for archaeological objects found by members of the public. Many of these are found by metal detector users, but others are chanced upon by people while at work, gardening or out walking. Archaeology is a limited resource. It is important to record these finds and their locations before the information is lost.
North Lincolnshire’s Finds Liaison Officer is available to record your finds, whether it’s a single item or a small collection. Perhaps you have had a few things in a ‘scrap box’ for a few years which you think may be interesting. If so, bring them in. The Finds Liaison Officer will book in the finds and give you a receipt. You will be given a realistic estimate of how long it will take to identify and record the finds. The finds will be photographed and the details entered onto the Portable Antiquities Scheme’s database. The find will then be returned to you.
The safety of our staff and visitors is our top priority during this time. We have therefore changed the way we accept
All donations to the museum must be via a pre booked meeting with a member of the Collections Team. Please call
We have had a 3D tour of the Museum created – sit back and take the tour.
This exhibition will be opening in April. Discover the stories told by maps.
Maps have always been used to make sense of and bring order to the world around us. They help us understand not just where we are, but also who we are. This exhibition will use maps to tell stories of war and conflict, power and control, our changing landscape, and our priorities and identities.
Working alongside the museum, the On the Map exhibition programme also features artists’ responses to maps curated by Common Ground, a local young curators’ group.
The three featured artists are Heidi Flaxman, who takes inspiration from landscapes to create in textiles, Molly Richards, who works with photography and interactives, and Joseph Mckenna, whose work involves adding illustrations to maps and charts. View the exhibition online.
We will soon be welcoming an exhibition telling the story of William ‘Strata’ Smith and the first geological map of England, Wales and parts of Scotland. Featuring an 1815 copy of Smith’s Map, the exhibition looks at Smith’s life and times, how he created the map and why he is remembered as the ‘Father of Geology’.
I think we can all agree that 2020 has been one of the strangest of recent years. But for future generations looking back, it will be a unique period worthy of study as people try to understand what it was like to live through a pandemic.
We would love to be able to add photographs to our Image Archive collection that show how North Lincolnshire’s communities got through Covid-19 and periods of national restriction.
We need your help. Do you have photographs of roads empty of cars, deserted high streets, support the NHS banners, discarded face masks? Do you have any photographs of what you and your family got up to? Did you take part in any of the museum craft activities? What things did you do to pass the time? Did you play board games? Did you take part in one/ many of the Zoom quizzes that seemed to be everywhere? We are interested in any images that you feel sum up 2020.
Firstly, the images we receive will be compiled into an online exhibition that illustrates 2020: The Year that Was. We will also add a selection of the most representative photographs to our Image Archive to be shared with future generations.
We hope you will help us with this. Please email your images to museum@northlincs.gov.uk
The artist was inspired by the steelworker’s cottage in the Museum and she wondered what
The Image Archive is a service for anyone interested in historic photographs of North Lincolnshire. It is available through the dedicated terminal at Brigg Heritage Centre.
Between them, the council’s museums service and the library service have over 25,000 photographs. Of these, more than 9,000 have already been entered into the computerised image archive, with new photographs being added continually.
Material ranges from views of the largest towns to the smallest villages, as well as covering a variety of themes such as agriculture, industry, leisure, religion and sport.
The archive provides a comprehensive visual record of the history of North Lincolnshire from the middle of the nineteenth century right up to the present day, and everyone is welcome to use it.
Prices per image are:
A4 photo quality – £12 per print
A5 photo quality – £8 per print
Reproduction fees – please contact us for further details
Our collections are by no means complete and you may have photographs of the region that you think we may be interested in. If so, please bring them to any of the sites listed above. We will always be pleased to have a look at them.
We are an award winning museum learning service providing hands-on and engaging learning experiences for foundation, primary and secondary school pupils.
To find out more about our full range of school workshops read our Inspired Learning Primary Schools Programme [PDF, 4Mb]. (If you would like this programme in a more accessible format, please let us know using the contact details below.)
We offer a unique learning experience to schools across three different learning venues in North Lincolnshire:
Benefits include:
The loans collection consists of over 3,000 real and replica objects.
You can borrow a box for a week or half term term and order them at any point during the term.
Please enquire if there is something specific you require, as we may be able to put it together for you.
Please note: during the loan periods the boxes and contents are the responsibility of the borrower. Lost or damaged objects will have to be paid for.
To make sure you have the best experience with your class, the maximum group size is 36.
The number of adults that we require varies with each workshop, so please ask when you book your visit.
Once you have booked, you will receive a resource pack for your chosen workshop with your booking confirmation. The resource pack includes information about your workshop, risk assessments and suggested activities for after your visit.
Please sign and return the booking confirmation at least two weeks before the date of your visit. You will receive an invoice after your workshop once final pupil numbers have been confirmed.
Booking for our workshops is essential. A free teacher pre-visit is strongly recommended to discuss any special requirements or additional learning outcomes.
For more information or to discuss bookings please email inspiredlearning@northlincs.gov.uk
Sat Nav postcode DN15 7BD
You can use the zoom function on our interactive map to show the principal routes into Scunthorpe. There is a free car park for visitors behind the Museum. The car park is open from 10am to 4pm.
The railway station is just a two minute walk from the Museum. Turn left out of the station, walk up to the road junction and the Museum is in the gardens on the opposite corner.
The bus station is in the town centre. Walk through The Foundry to the High Street. Turn onto the High Street. Continue up the High Street until you reach the traffic lights. Turn left onto Oswald Road. The museum is approximately a five minute walk away on the right, just before St. Lawrence’s Church.
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North Lincolnshire Museum
Oswald Road
Scunthorpe
North Lincolnshire
DN15 7BD