Eynsham Museum & Heritage Centre (EMHC) is a long-term project which aims to establish a museum in the village, to display the history of this special place, tell fascinating stories of past lives, nurture the pride of the community for its roots and provide an inspiration for future generations. We will involve the community in our plans especially through contacts with the school and village groups.
The historic Market Hall building was refurbished by the Parish Council in 2021 and handed over to EMHC on a 25-year lease on 1 March 2023. We opened the Museum with 2 temporary exhibitions in August 2023 and hope to open fully with a “state of the art” permanent exhibition space in late in 2024 or early 2025.
We are a Registered Charity - Entry No. 1197006. We are entirely volunteer run with no core funding and will rely on fundraising efforts, grants, donations from individuals and regular donations from our “Friends” organisation for our projects, changing exhibitions and running costs.
We are seeking major grants and sponsorships to enable us to create an inspiring new exhibition space. We have been working hard on designs and costings to fit out the spaces for permanent and changing exhibits displaying aspects of Eynsham’s past as an important centre of culture, religion and learning. We are working with museum designers and lighting experts and preparing bids for major funding to make it a reality.
In the interim we have seized on the opportunity to use the spaces for temporary exhibitions. Our very successful exhibition upstairs on “Eynsham’s Lost Railway,” featuring a delightful working model of the railway station in its landscape has now ended but the model remains as part of our new exhibition.
"RURAL EYNSHAM" explores Eynsham’s history and development as a rural community from the Middle Ages through to the 20th century and its impact on the present life of the village. We look forward to welcoming you from Saturday 13 July 2024 until Sunday 27 October 2024 on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays from 11am to 4 pm.
Downstairs we have Eynsham in pictures “Then & Now.”
Over 2500 visitors have visited the Museum from the local area, Oxford, all over the UK and even worldwide. They have been fascinated by the window into a less hectic past that the exhibitions offer and it has stimulated lots of memories and stories from visitors.
If you would like to help as a volunteer in the setting up / running of the Eynsham Museum please email us.