The Wilson Museum Reopens, Shaped by 58,000 Voices

The museum wing at The Wilson on Clarence Street is open again. It reopened on Saturday 24 October after a refurbishment the museum says took four years, with new galleries that tell Cheltenham’s story through objects chosen with the help of the people who live here.

Entry is free, with a suggested donation of £5. (The Wilson, visiting)

What has changed

The Cheltenham Trust, which runs The Wilson, put the question of what the new museum should show to the town. Its Big Museum Project collected more than 58,000 responses through a Museum on Wheels, a Test Space exhibition, workshops, library sessions and voting stations. The Trust says the answer was clear: “local history matters most”. (The Cheltenham Trust, 23 September 2026)

So every object on display in the museum now tells a story about Cheltenham. They are picked from a collection of more than 250,000 objects, spanning art, nature, history, costume and science, from the Stone Age to today. The Trust says the galleries cover the well-known moments in the town’s history as well as “hidden stories, overlooked voices, and the everyday lives” that shaped it.

The project was funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Lisa Edgar, The Wilson’s director of arts and heritage, said the responses had “brought new ideas, new stories and new ways of thinking about the many histories that shape our town”.

The Wilson opened in 1899, after the third Baron de Ferrieres, a former mayor and MP for Cheltenham, gave the town 43 paintings.

Nine local artists in the new exhibition

A second show opened alongside the museum. We Are Creators 2026 brings together The Wilson’s nine resident artists from Cheltenham and Gloucestershire, working in painting, printmaking, textiles, fashion, photography, sculpture and film. (The Wilson, We Are Creators)

Several of the works are about the town itself:

• Richard Woods shows nine large linocuts of Cheltenham’s landmarks and legends, printed in The Wilson’s studios, and A Chair for Cheltenham, a carved and painted chair whose imagery came from residents’ ideas.
• Jennifer Hughes draws on overlooked objects by women makers in the collection.
• Katie Mary’s CUDA Forest: Lore of the Land starts from an ancient carving linked to Cuda, a Cotswold goddess whose story is lost, and asks visitors to invent new folklore for her.
• Steven Tatlow’s Soulscapes is a series of staged film portraits of local people.
• Sarah Fox turns drawings from public workshops into looping animations.

The other artists are Albert Chung, Atul Bhunkal, Eddie Langham and Alice Biggadike. (The Cheltenham Trust, 26 October 2026)

What it means for you

• Opening times: Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm, Sunday 10am to 4pm, closed Mondays. Last admission is 30 minutes before closing.
• Curator-led tours at 3pm this week, each on part of the new galleries:
  • Tuesday 27 October: work, play and nature, through Gallery 3, Together We Are Nature
  • Wednesday 28 October: the people behind the paintings
  • Thursday 29 October: design and making
  • Friday 30 October: Edward Adrian Wilson (The Wilson, curator-led tours)
• This half term: the Halloween Trail runs to Sunday 1 November during gallery hours, at £5, with a treat at the end. A Halloween craft party runs on Friday 30 October, 2pm to 4pm, at £10. The Play Cafe and The Wonky Workshop, a hands-on Arts and Crafts play space, are free all day. (The Wilson, Halloween Trail; The Cheltenham Trust, October half term)
• Getting there: there is no car park. The nearest are Chelt Walk (GL50 3PR) and High Street (GL50 3HQ); see our parking in Cheltenham page for prices. Blue Badge holders can park for up to three hours on the double yellow lines in front of the building.
• Check before a special trip: The Wilson’s visiting page still carries a notice, first posted in June, that its Arts and Crafts Gallery is closed for works. If that gallery is what you are going for, ring or email first.

More things to do this week are on our Cheltenham Halloween and what’s on pages.