Alistair Hardaker
Image: Devizes Assize Court (Wiltshire Museum)
Current site to become Collections Discovery Centre, offering access to 500,000 objects stored on 1.4km of shelving.
Wiltshire Museum has secured £8.5m toward a project to transform the derelict Grade II* Assize Court building into its new home.
The museum opened to visitors in 1874 and has since been based at Long Street, Devizes. It current home comprises five buildings, including two Georgian town houses.
The museum’s move to the Assize Court, the former law courts and county police office, in 2030 will see it retain most of the current Long Street site as a Collections Discovery Centre, offering access to 500,000 objects stored on 1.4km of shelving.
The funding announced today from the National Lottery Heritage Fund means the museum has just over £3m to raise to fully fund the project. A public fundraising campaign will be launched in the near future.
Next year the museum will be working with architects and designers to develop its plans, with work set to start on site in early 2027, and the opening of the new museum by 2030.
David Dawson, Director of Wiltshire Museum said the funding means “we will be able to give the museum’s internationally significant collections a fitting home, while rescuing an important at-risk listed building and providing a focal point for town centre renewal.”
Devizes Assize Court Trust initially saved the building by purchasing it in 2018 with the support of donors. The trust’s chair, Peter Troughton CVO CBE, said the project will “transform the museum, save the historic Assize Court building and give the people of Devizes a community hub like no other. “
Eilish McGuinness, Chief Executive of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said the project will “create a world-class home for Wiltshire Museum and its significant collections”.
In August the Museum announced that Her Majesty Queen Camilla had become the museum’s first Royal Patron, as Wiltshire Council granted Planning Permission for the project.
