The museum building was built in 1847 and retains many of its original display cases.
Visitors can step back in time to the heyday of the Victorian museum. The collection includes geology, zoology, archaeology (Near East, classical and local), fine and applied art, ethnography (Asia, Pacific, Africa), local history, personalia (particularly 'Thomas Clarkson: Slavery and the slave trade'), coins, manuscripts, maps, books and a temporary exhibition gallery.
