Museum of Richmond

#174

A civic museum mapping Richmond’s long arc—from the medieval riverside settlement and royal Tudor palace to Georgian spa culture, Victorian bridges and 20th-century institutions. Displays blend archaeology, river trade, court life and suburbia into a clear, walkable narrative.

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Opening Hours

Tuesday: 11:00 – 17:00

Wednesday: 11:00 – 17:00

Thursday: 11:00 – 17:00

Friday: 11:00 – 17:00

Saturday: 10:00 – 16:00

What's not to miss inside?

Richmond Palace & the Tudors

Explores Henry VII’s rebuilding of the old Shene Palace as ‘Richmond’ and the court life that followed.

Tiles, seals and architectural fragments outline a vanished riverside residence where Elizabeth I spent her last days in 1603.

Use the palace plan to orient yourself on the present-day riverside and spot surviving gatehouses.

📍 Tudor gallery

River Thames: Trade & Leisure

Charts the Thames as lifeline—ferries, wharfs, boatbuilding—and as a leisure stage for skiffs, regattas and painting.

Engravings and boat gear show how transport and pleasure overlapped on this gentle bend of the river.

Match a historic riverscape print to the window view for a then-and-now comparison.

📍 River & bridges section

From Spa Town to Suburb

Documents fashionability, new bridges and railways pulling Richmond into the metropolitan orbit.

Tickets, hotelware and health-spa ephemera trace how visitors turned into residents.

Follow one traveller’s route from London by river or rail using the period timetable on display.

📍 Georgian–Victorian cases

🤓 Fun Facts

Henry VII renamed Shene Palace ‘Richmond’ after his earldom in Yorkshire; the new name spread to the whole town.

Elizabeth I died at Richmond Palace in 1603, making the site a bookend to the Tudor era; only fragments of the vast complex survive today.

Successive bridges at Richmond—ferries, a wooden structure, and later a graceful 18th-century stone bridge—reshaped river traffic and the town’s street plan.