Ventnor Heritage Centre is the home of Ventnor & District Local History Society, which collects and preserves stories and pictures of Ventnor and the surrounding villages to share with local people and wider communities.
The Society was established in 1980 and is a registered charity – we welcome new members, and look forward to hearing your stories.
Exhibitions and displays
Our many display boards tell this story in words and pictures. There are finely detailed images from glass plate negatives that offer glimpses into vanished lives. There are reproductions of paintings from visiting artists of the time, fascinated as they were with the dramatic coastal scenery of Ventnor and the Undercliff and the people who came to visit. Other displays document the life-worlds of outlying villages in the earlier 20th Century, a time when horizons were limited and the pace of existence altogether different from today.
Visitors will also see showcases of artefacts that recover lost material worlds. There are even models of the town’s vanished railway lines. We play several DVDs that offer voyages back in time. Finally, you can absorb our Victorian kitchen and laundry exhibits, telling of an age when household chores took on a scale that is difficult for many to appreciate today.
Visiting us:
There is no admission charge (children under 16 must be accompanied).
The Ventnor Heritage Museum carries visitors back in time to explore Ventnor’s origins and the way it grew at phenomenal speed to become a premier Victorian resort town.
For opening times please see Ventnor Heritage Centre website home page.
