Holmesdale Natural History Club

We are sorry we can't welcome you at the Museum, but I hope you will enjoy these online stories about the Museum and our collections

The Holmesdale Natural History Club was founded in 1857, but for many years we didn't have our own premises and rented space in a number of places, including the upper floor of the old town hall - now Cafe Nero.

We have been at our current site since 1910 when we bought a building that had previously been the laundry and billiards room of a big house called Great Doods. This stood at the corner of Croydon Road and Reigate road. It has long since been demolished but you can still see part of the garden, which is now a small park on the corner by the traffic lights, and some of the old garden wall along Croydon Road.

In 1919 one of our members, Mr J B Crosfield, gave us the two worker's cottages that adjoined our premises. Today the laundry is our lecture room, the billiards room is our main museum and one of the cottages houses our library and local history collections.

A tour through the Museum Come on in and have a look around.

 

Our Lecture Room Our Lecture Room used to be a laundry and is where we hold our meetings. We also use it to display some of our natural history. local history and archaeology collections. Take a look at the exhibits

 

The Museum: Natural History Upstairs at the Museum, in what used to be the billiards room if a large house called Great Doods, we display and conserve most of our natural history collections. There's more to see than you might think, come and have a look.

 

Archaeology: History in artefacts Find out more about Roman and Medieval Reigate through our archaeological exhibits. Look into the past.

 

 

 

Local history Most of our local history collection is in the form or paper archives, but we also have many fascinating objects on display. Take a closer look.

 

 

The library Join our librarian for a rummage in the archives Turn the pages.

 

To find out more about the Holmesdale Natural History Club and our collections, or if you are interested in joining, please email us at Holmesdale Natural History Club