Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum

Clarence Street
Cheltenham
Gloucestershire
GL50 3JT
England

logo: Designated as an Outstanding Collection

Website

www.cheltenham.artgallery.museum

E-mail

ArtGallery@cheltenham.gov.uk

Telephone

01242 237431

Fax

01242 262334

All information is supplied by the venues or providers themselves and every effort is made to ensure it is correct. Please remember to double check opening hours with the venue concerned before making a special visit.
venue representative image
baby changing facilities icon Food icon Shop icon Library icon Study area icon Hearing disability facilities icon Visual disability facilities icon Wheelchair access icon

In 1898 the third Baron de Ferrieres donated 43 important paintings and £1000 to the town of Cheltenham to build a gallery, which opened a year later. The collections have since grown in number and in quality, with the great majority generously given by the people of Cheltenham.

In 1975 a branch museum was opened in the birthplace of composer Gustav Holst, which was completely furnished from the collections. This became an independent museum in 2000.

The first real increase in space and visitor facilities came in 1989 when HRH The Princess Royal opened an extension to the Art Gallery & Museum. This is the building in which the main entrance is sited. In due course we hope to expand still further: we certainly have the quantity and quality of collections to fill these spaces, not least the last surviving Cheltenham tram!

This museum has a Designated Collection of national importance.

Venue Type:

Museum, Gallery

 Opening hours

Daily 10.00am-5.00pm (April-October), 10.00am-4.00pm (November - March)
First Thursday of each month open from 11.00am
Third Thursday of each month open until 8.00pm

Closed: Bank Holidays

 Admission charges

Free admission

 General services and facilities
  • Brochure or leaflet available with directions to museum
  • Pre-booking service for groups
  • Cafeteria
  • Shop
 Children and families
  • Activities for pre-school children
  • Events and resources for children and families
  • Baby changing facilities
 Disability access
  • Events/teaching/resources for people with disabilities
  • Induction loops in lecture theatres
  • Large print information and/or interpretation
  • Touch exhibits
  • Toilets for disabled
  • Wheelchair access to all public areas
  • Wheelchairs available for loan
 Schools services and facilities
  • Direct teaching services for schools
  • Member of staff available with responsibility for education
  • Primary school education service available
  • Printed/audio-visual information available for schools
  • Secondary school education service available
  • Education facilities available
  • Reception and lunch facilities for educational groups
 Research and adult learning
  • Academic publications and resources available
  • Adult lectures and courses held
  • Loan service
  • Teaching/resources available for HE/FE students
  • Library
  • Research facilities for academics
  • Study facilities
 Commercial and hire services
  • Facilities for private functions and events
  • Meeting room available

Clarence Street
Cheltenham
Gloucestershire
GL50 3JT
England

logo: Designated as an Outstanding Collection

Website

www.cheltenham.artgallery.museum

E-mail

ArtGallery@cheltenham.gov.uk

Telephone

01242 237431

Fax

01242 262334

All information is supplied by the venues or providers themselves and every effort is made to ensure it is correct. Please remember to double check opening hours with the venue concerned before making a special visit.

The Arts and Crafts collection at Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum is a Designated Collection of national importance.

Cheltenham's Designated collection relates to the British Arts and Crafts Movement spanning the 1880s to about 1940. The Cotswolds were an important centre for one of Britain's most inspiring and influential art movements. The collection has a strong local base featuring furniture, silver, metalwork, plasterwork, leatherwork and embroideries by designers such as C.R. Ashbee and Ernest Gimson. Since the 1970s the collection has been developed to give a national overview with work by William Morris, C.F.A. Voysey, Baillie Scott, Eric Gill and many others. Visitors are captivated by the colourful designs and craft skills on show as well as the thought-provoking social message of the Movement with its emphasis on creative manual work.

Cheltenham's history is also well represented, and in addition there are paintings spanning four centuries, oriental collections of pottery and costume, and archaeological treasures from the neighbouring Cotswolds, as well as a programme of special exhibitions changing regularly throughout the year.

Collection details

World Cultures, Weapons and War, Social History, Science and Technology, Personalities, Natural Sciences, Music, Land Transport, Fine Art, Decorative and Applied Art, Costume and Textiles, Coins and Medals, Archives, Archaeology

Key artists and exhibits

  • Arts and Crafts Movement
  • 17th- and 19th-century Dutch and Belgian paintings
  • Designated Collection

Collections services

  • General guide to collections available
  • Object identification and/or written enquiry service
  • Specialist publications on collections available
  • Object study facilities available (enquire in advance)

Clarence Street
Cheltenham
Gloucestershire
GL50 3JT
England

logo: Designated as an Outstanding Collection

Website

www.cheltenham.artgallery.museum

E-mail

ArtGallery@cheltenham.gov.uk

Telephone

01242 237431

Fax

01242 262334

All information is supplied by the venues or providers themselves and every effort is made to ensure it is correct. Please remember to double check opening hours with the venue concerned before making a special visit.
Resources listed here may include websites, bookable tours and workshops, books, loan boxes and more. You may need to scroll down or click on headers to see them all.
 Boxes, objects and other kit

Victorian Life

This popular workshop can be tailored to focus on handling materials that illustrate rural and home life, childhood, education and costume, comparing Victorian life to the present day. This is a unique opportunity to handle original and replica objects and takes the learning experience beyond the glass cases of the museum.

How to obtain

Please e-mail educationoutreach@cheltenham.gov.uk for details of cost and availability.

 Face to face resources

At the Seaside

All children love a visit to the seaside, even if it's located inside a museum! This workshop looks back at seaside holidays in the past, through objects, paintings and photographs. There's an original Mr Punch puppet, and costume for looking at and trying on. Children have the chance to think about the similar ways in which they enjoy the seaside to children in the past, even if the costumes were different!

Evacuation Experience

A joint venture with the Gloucestershire-Warwickshire Railway, the Evacuation Experience sees children in 1940s costume travelling by steam train to the 'safety of the countryside.' At the station, they meet Aunty Doris who talks to them about the War, before being allocated jobs on the farm. Available on certain dates only.

Face to Face

An Art & Design workshop based on our wonderful collection of portraits.

How to obtain

Email faye.little@cheltenham.gov.uk or sandra.ashenford@cheltenham.gov.uk or telephone 01242 775702

Puppet Workshop

This workshop offers children the opportunity to investigate and enjoy the world-wide tradition of puppets. They can try out marionettes, shadow, rod and glove puppets, and can see Punch and Judy, a wartime Mickey Mouse made from blackout material as well as examples of the Arts & Crafts tradition with beautifully carved animals. The children then produce their own shadow puppet performance.

 Resources

Investigating Toys

http://www.cheltenhammuseum.org.uk

Examples of toys from the past, present and other cultures that illustrate forces, movements, energy, sound, light and the use of materials.

Creator

  • Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum, Education and Outreach Service

Publisher

  • Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum
 boxes, objects and other kit

The Tudors

A workshop offering an opportunity to develop historical knowledge and understanding of everyday life in Tudor times. An exploration of objects in the galleries is complemented by hands-on experience of a range of original and replica artefacts and costume.

How to obtain

For details of costs and availability please email educationoutreach@cheltenham.gov.uk or telephone 01242 775702.

 face to face resources

Identity Parade

http://www.cheltenhammuseum.org.uk/Default.aspx?page=107

Every Wednesday 14.00-17.00, bring your mystery objects, from household items to paintings, to Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum and we'll try to help you find out more about them. If we can't help we're sure to know someone who can.

How to obtain

Drop in between 14.00-17.00, free of charge. Contact the gallery on artgallery@cheltenham.gov.uk or 01242 237431 for more details on Identity Parade.

Clarence Street
Cheltenham
Gloucestershire
GL50 3JT
England

logo: Designated as an Outstanding Collection

Website

www.cheltenham.artgallery.museum

E-mail

ArtGallery@cheltenham.gov.uk

Telephone

01242 237431

Fax

01242 262334

All information is supplied by the venues or providers themselves and every effort is made to ensure it is correct. Please remember to double check opening hours with the venue concerned before making a special visit.
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