About
Combe Martin Museum tells the remarkable story of one of England's most unusual villages — a long, linear settlement that follows the course of a narrow combe down from Exmoor to the sea, its single winding street extending for almost two miles and claiming the distinction of being the longest village main street in England.
The museum's most distinctive collections centre on Combe Martin's extraordinary mining heritage. Silver and lead were extracted from the hills around the village from at least the thirteenth century, and at its peak in the medieval and Tudor periods, Combe Martin's silver mines were among the most productive in England. Edward I drew on these mines to help finance his Welsh and Scottish campaigns; in later centuries, silver from Combe Martin contributed to the Royal Mint. The museum documents this rich industrial past through geological specimens, mining tools, maps, and interpretive displays that bring the underground world of medieval miners to life.
Beyond its mining story, the museum explores the full sweep of Combe Martin life across the centuries. Agriculture shaped the valley for millennia — the surrounding hillsides were farmed long before the mines opened, and the museum's collections include farming implements, photographs of working farms, and records of the annual rhythms of rural North Devon life. Fishing from the small harbour at the village's seaward end provided another source of income, and the museum documents the fishing boats, gear, and families that made their living from the Bristol Channel.
The Victorian and Edwardian periods brought a new chapter as Combe Martin began attracting visitors drawn by its dramatic scenery within the North Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The museum charts this transition from working village to tourist destination, with historic photographs, postcards, and memorabilia evoking the atmosphere of early seaside holidays and the gradual transformation of the community.
Housed in a building at the heart of the village, the museum is entirely volunteer-run and maintained by the Combe Martin Local History Society. It offers a warm and personal introduction to a community with a history far richer than its quiet appearance might suggest — a village where royal silver once flowed from the hillsides and where the echoes of medieval industry lie just beneath the surface of everyday life.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
📅 Best Times to Visit
Quietest: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Busiest: Saturday, Sunday
💡 Weekday mornings in June or September for calm atmosphere and easy parking
💡 Visitor Tips
- The museum is seasonal — open Easter to October — so always check opening times before visiting, particularly at the beginning and end of the season when volunteer staffing may vary.
- Combine your museum visit with a walk along the village's famous long street, which runs almost two miles from the medieval church at the top down to the small harbour. The contrast between the deep valley and the surrounding Exmoor hillsides is dramatic.
- Parking in Combe Martin can be very limited in July and August. Arriving early — before 10am — or using the village car park at the top of the street and walking down gives you the best experience of the village's extraordinary linear layout.
- The volunteer staff are knowledgeable enthusiasts who often have personal connections to the families and histories documented in the collections. Don't hesitate to ask questions — local knowledge here goes far beyond what's on the labels.
- Combe Martin's silver mining history is genuinely remarkable and often surprises visitors who had no idea of its medieval industrial importance. Allow time for the mining gallery; the connection to Edward I and the Royal Mint puts the village's history in a national context.
- The village sits on the edge of Exmoor National Park with excellent walking on the surrounding hills. The museum can suggest local walking routes that pass by some of the old mine workings visible in the landscape above the village.
- Nearby Ilfracombe (4 miles) has the Ilfracombe Museum, which covers the wider North Devon coast — the two museums complement each other well for a full day of regional heritage.
- The museum shop sells locally produced books on Combe Martin and North Devon history that are not available elsewhere — worth picking up if you want to explore the area's heritage more deeply after your visit.
Highlights
Medieval Silver Mining Displays
The centrepiece of the museum's industrial heritage collection, these displays reveal how Combe Martin's mines supplied silver to the English crown from the reign of Edward I through to the Tudor period. Detailed maps show the network of mine shafts cut into the surrounding hills, while original tools, geological samples of silver-bearing ore, and interpretive panels explain the dangerous and highly skilled work of medieval miners.
The connection to the Royal Mint — silver from this valley becoming English coinage — gives these displays a resonance that extends far beyond local history.
The Village Street Story
Combe Martin's claim to have England's longest village main street — nearly two miles from the church at the top to the harbour at the bottom — is explored through historic photographs, maps, and oral history recordings. The display traces how the village's unusual linear geography shaped its development: houses strung along the valley floor, farmsteads climbing the hillsides, and a community stretched across a distance that made it feel more like a small town than a village.
Visitors see the street in Victorian photographs, early tourist postcards, and contemporary images that reveal how much — and how little — has changed.
North Devon Farming Life
Agriculture underpinned Combe Martin's economy for centuries before and after the mining era. This collection of farming implements, harness, dairy equipment, and domestic tools paints a vivid picture of working life on a North Devon smallholding. Seasonal photographs show haymaking on the valley sides, harvest gatherings, and the cattle and sheep that grazed the surrounding Exmoor commons.
Personal accounts collected from local farming families add human depth to the material culture on display, conveying the rhythms of a rural life closely tied to land and season.
Harbour and Fishing Heritage
At the seaward end of the village, Combe Martin's small harbour once sheltered fishing boats working the Bristol Channel. This display documents the fishing families, their vessels, and their catch — herring, mackerel, and lobster — through photographs, models, and fishing gear. The hazardous nature of Bristol Channel fishing, with its extreme tidal range and unpredictable weather, is reflected in records of losses and rescues.
The harbour's later role as a pleasure-boat mooring and visitor attraction is also documented, marking the transition from working port to holiday amenity.
Collections
The Combe Martin Museum's collections are built around the twin pillars of the village's industrial and rural past. The mining archive is the most historically significant component, encompassing documents, maps, geological specimens, and tools relating to the silver and lead mines that operated in the surrounding hills from the medieval period through the seventeenth century — mines that supplied the English crown and contributed silver to the Royal Mint.
Alongside this industrial core, the museum holds extensive agricultural collections reflecting centuries of farming life in the North Devon valleys, together with material relating to fishing from the village's small harbour.
Photographic archives, personal memorabilia, and oral history recordings document the social and community history of Combe Martin from the Victorian era to the late twentieth century, capturing the village's transition from working community to tourist destination within the North Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Silver from the Hills: Combe Martin's Mining Heritage
Permanent exhibition covering the full history of silver and lead mining in the combe, from medieval crown mines to Victorian industrial operations
Village Life: Farming, Fishing and Community
Agricultural and social history displays spanning four centuries of rural life
England's Longest Street: The Story of a Village
Photographic and documentary history of the village's unusual geography and development
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.
Nearby Museums (2 within 6 miles)
Arlington Court and the National Trust Carriage Museum
Historic Houses
Barnstaple — ~106 min walk (5.5 mi)