Keep us going!

Louth Museum is a little gem. It is in a relatively small building located on the southern side of the river Lud in Louth, a town close by the Lincolnshire Wolds.  

We need your help. The museum is run entirely by volunteers who work tirelessly to preserve and make publicly available a range of unique and important artefacts. We receive no grant aid or regular income other than the modest admission fees we charge. The Covid pandemic has seriously affected footfall and income. 

But let us tell you more about the museum. We have three galleries with permanent and temporary displays together with a catalogued library of more than 2,000 volumes and many other fascinating items. We normally present three specialist exhibitions each year. The current one commemorates the 1920 Louth disaster, marking the centenary of the catastrophic flash flood that claimed the lives of 23 people and made over 800 people homeless in the town. 

Two of our most popular and unique displays are William Brown’s Panorama which records in detail what the town looked like in the 1840s and the nationally-acclaimed collection of wood carvings by Louth sculptor Thomas Wilkinson Wallace. The town also has a long history and much of which is captured in the museum including a Roman presence, agricultural and industrial revolutions, civil war and religious and political divides, as well, of course, the flood of 1920 itself.  

Our museum collection was founded in 1884 and comprises of many thousands of items.  We have records and photos of all holdings and maintain a comprehensive database detailing where everything can be found. This enables us to rotate displays (we can only show around 10% of the total stock at any one time) and cater for people wanting to research particular topics. 

In normal years, the museum is open April to October; this year we re-opened, after the Covid lockdown, in August and hope to continue until the end of November.  The museum offers visits for schools and youth groups, as well as accepting pre-bookings for groups of adults and accommodating causal visitors. We have an interactive website (www.louthmuseum.org.uk) where it is possible to enjoy a virtual tour of the museum. 

Our museum team comprises entirely of volunteers who, as well as welcoming visitors, have a vast array of knowledge about the exhibits and locality which they gladly share.  Many queries arrive throughout the year by post, phone and email, and our archivists do their very best to respond to these too.  We know how much people appreciate the museum from the comments made by those who visit and otherwise contact us. 

The museum is fully accredited, and is part of a charitable company – the Louth Naturalists’, Antiquarian and Literary Society (known as the ‘Ants & Nats’).  The society also runs a series of lectures and visits on matters of local, regional and national interest. 

As mentioned above, the society and museum receive no regular grant aid or other funding and we depend on the help of the public to support our work. Outlay for running the museum is considerable even though no one is paid for the work that they carry out.  The cost of insurance alone is more than £6,000 each year.  Although we charge an entry fee this is insufficient to cover the expenses involved, Numbers of visitors have, of course, dropped since the start of the current pandemic.  

Can you help keep this unique and important museum going?  

Whatever you can afford and however it may be given – one-off donation,  regular contribution or legacy – will be gratefully received and put to very good use preserving and developing this important facility for generations to come. 

You can donate here or contact the museum at: [email protected] . 

Thank you in anticipation. 

The Louth Museum team