Photo: Chensiyuan (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons
Museums & Galleries in Swanage
Rainy day or culture fix, the museums and galleries around Swanage have you covered — think Swanage Museum & Heritage Centre, Durlston Castle and Langton Matravers Museum of the Stone Industry — many are free, and the distances below help you pick the closest.
Museums & Galleries
0.1 mi from Swanage
Swanage Museum & Heritage Centre
Swanage Museum & Heritage Centre tells the story of Swanage and the wider Purbeck area, from the Victorian stone trade that built the town through to its transformation into a seas...
1 mi from Swanage
Durlston Castle
Durlston Castle stands within Durlston Country Park, a 1.13 square-kilometre (280-acre) country park and nature reserve stretching along the coastline south of Swanage, on the Isle... — Wikipedia
1.9 mi from Swanage
Langton Matravers Museum of the Stone Industry
Museum in Langton Matravers, Dorset, England, UK
3.5 mi from Swanage
Museum, Fossils & Local Finds
This small museum at the Square and Compass pub showcases over 60 years of fossil and archaeological collecting from the Purbeck area. You'll see marine reptile fossils such as Ich...
5.1 mi from Swanage
Purbeck Mineral and Mining Museum
The Purbeck Mining Museum tells the story of Purbeck Ball Clay mining and its narrow gauge railways, housed in the last underground mine building that worked in Purbeck. You can st...
6.5 mi from Swanage
Blue Pool
The Blue Pool is a nature reserve and tearooms set within the 300-acre Furzebrook Estate near Wareham on the Isle of Purbeck. Once a 17th-century clay pit, it filled with rainwater...
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7.1 mi from Swanage
Museum of Jurassic Marine Life
The Museum of Jurassic Marine Life, home to The Etches Collection, is a modern museum showcasing amazing fossils of the marine life that lived in Jurassic Dorset's seas 157 million...
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7.3 mi from Swanage
Poole Museum
Poole Museum is a maritime museum, gallery and cultural centre, situated on the Lower High Street in the Old Town area of Poole, Dorset, and is owned by Bournemouth, Christchurch a... — Wikipedia
7.3 mi from Swanage
Scaplens Court Museum
15th century Grade I listed house in Poole, Dorset, England, UK, used as a museum
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8.4 mi from Swanage
Russell Cotes Art Gallery & Museum
The Russell-Cotes Museum is an art gallery and museum in Bournemouth, England. A Grade II* listed building originally known as East Cliff Hall, it is located on the top of the East... — Wikipedia
8.5 mi from Swanage
Wareham Town Museum
Wareham Town Museum tells the story of the Wareham area of Dorset in southern England from prehistoric times to the present day, with a special exhibition on Lawrence of Arabia, wh... — Wikipedia
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9.3 mi from Swanage
Tyneham
Tyneham is a ghost village abandoned in 1943 and former civil parish, now in the parish of Steeple with Tyneham, in the Dorset district, in the south of Dorset, England, near Lulwo... — Wikipedia
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9.5 mi from Swanage
Museum Of Design In Plastics
The Museum of Design in Plastics sits on the first floor of the Arts University Bournemouth library, reached by lift, and houses a specialist collection tracing plastics design fro...
Where to stay near Swanage
Places to stay within easy reach of these days out.
More around Swanage
Itineraries
- A weekend in Bournemouth: an accessible itinerary · 2 days
- A weekend in Bournemouth with the kids · 2 days
- A weekend in Bournemouth · 2 days
Haunted Britain
Make a day of it
Lots of UK museums are free with a suggested donation, and paid ones often do annual passes for little more than a day ticket — worth it if you're local or returning.
See everything on one page with things to do in Swanage, or turn the day trip into a break with places to stay in Swanage.
Frequently asked questions
How far are these from Swanage?
Every attraction shows its distance from Swanage — most families find up to 30 miles workable for a day out, and the list is sorted nearest first.
More ways to explore
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