Swaledale Museum

The Swaledale Museum is an independent Museum run by volunteers with the aims of collecting, displaying and making publicly accessible the local heritage of Swaledale and Arkengarthdale.

Housed in the Methodist Day School built in 1836 the lively displays and hands-on exhibits explain the development of the area from its geological foundations, via early human occupation in the Iron Age, to the growth and decline of lead mining between the 1650s and1950s. You can learn how the stone walls were built, how local crafts flourished, and how people lived.

The Museum is set amidst spectacular scenery in the centre of the busy village of Reeth, the gateway to the most northern Dales. With beautiful walks, good eating and plenty to do, you can even stay with us in our Museum Cottage, an historic building fully modernised, for self-catering weekends, part and whole weeks and longer.