About
Wiltshire Museum in Devizes holds one of the finest prehistoric archaeology collections in Europe, illuminating the extraordinary civilisations that created Stonehenge, Avebury, and the dense concentration of ancient monuments that make Wiltshire's landscape unique in world archaeology. Founded in 1853 as the museum of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, the museum has been collecting, researching, and interpreting the county's heritage for over 170 years, building a collection of national and international significance that draws scholars and visitors from around the world.
The prehistoric galleries are the museum's crowning achievement, displaying Bronze Age gold treasures that rank among the most important in Britain. The Bush Barrow gold finds, excavated from a burial mound near Stonehenge in 1808, include a spectacular gold lozenge breastplate, gold belt hook, and ceremonial dagger with a handle of thousands of tiny gold pins, believed to have adorned a chieftain of extraordinary status. The Monkton Farleigh gold barbed and tanged arrowhead and the Clandon gold lozenge further demonstrate the remarkable metalworking skills of Bronze Age communities in the Stonehenge landscape. These objects fundamentally change perceptions of prehistoric Britain, revealing sophisticated societies capable of producing artwork of stunning technical accomplishment.
Beyond prehistory, the museum charts Wiltshire's story from Roman occupation through Saxon settlement, medieval prosperity built on the wool trade, to the agricultural and industrial developments of more recent centuries. Galleries explore everyday life across the ages through domestic objects, costumes, coins, ceramics, and locally-made goods. The natural history collection documents Wiltshire's geology, wildlife, and landscape. The museum occupies a handsome Georgian building on Long Street in the heart of Devizes, a market town whose own history stretches back to Norman times. Regular exhibitions, educational programs, and community events ensure the museum serves as a vibrant cultural hub for the county it documents.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
📅 Best Times to Visit
Quietest: Monday, Tuesday
Busiest: Saturday
💡 Combine with a visit to Stonehenge or Avebury to see the objects in context with the monuments
💡 Visitor Tips
- The Bronze Age gold collection alone justifies the visit - allow at least 30 minutes in the prehistoric galleries
- Combine with a visit to Stonehenge or Avebury to see the actual monuments whose artefacts are displayed here
- The museum is in Devizes town centre with no dedicated parking - use the nearby Wharf car park
- Children under 18 enter free, making this excellent value for families interested in archaeology
- The museum shop stocks specialist archaeology books and reproduction jewellery based on the Bronze Age gold
- Allow 2 hours for a thorough visit covering all galleries from prehistory to modern Wiltshire
- Visit Caen Hill Locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal, a 15-minute walk away, for a complementary attraction
- The National Art Pass provides free entry for cardholders
Highlights
Bush Barrow Gold Treasures
The Bush Barrow finds represent one of the most spectacular Bronze Age discoveries ever made in Britain, excavated in 1808 from a large burial mound within sight of Stonehenge. The grave of this presumed chieftain contained a magnificent gold lozenge breastplate with precisely incised geometric decoration, a gold belt hook of exceptional craftsmanship, and a ceremonial dagger whose handle was studded with thousands of tiny gold pins arranged in a zigzag pattern of astonishing precision.
These objects, dating to approximately 1900 BC, reveal that the communities who built and used Stonehenge were capable of metalwork of extraordinary technical sophistication, challenging assumptions about prehistoric society and establishing Wiltshire as a centre of Bronze Age power and wealth.
Stonehenge Gallery
A dedicated gallery explores the rich archaeological landscape surrounding Stonehenge through artefacts recovered from centuries of excavation and fieldwork. Objects from barrow burials, settlement sites, and ceremonial monuments scattered across Salisbury Plain reveal the beliefs, technologies, and daily lives of the communities who created and maintained the great stone circle over millennia.
Flint tools, pottery, antler picks used to dig the monument's ditches, and skeletal remains tell the human story behind the famous stones.
The gallery contextualises Stonehenge within its wider landscape of barrows, henges, cursus monuments, and processional avenues, showing that the stone circle was just one element of a vast ceremonial complex spanning thousands of years.
Bronze Age Gold Collection
Beyond the Bush Barrow treasures, the museum holds an exceptional assemblage of Bronze Age gold objects from across Wiltshire that collectively form one of Europe's most important collections of prehistoric goldwork. The Monkton Farleigh barbed and tanged arrowhead in gold, a miniature masterpiece replicating a functional flint arrowhead entirely in precious metal, demonstrates extraordinary craft skills.
The Clandon gold lozenge, decorated with fine incised patterns, echoes the Bush Barrow lozenge's geometric precision.
Gold beads, buttons, and ornaments from other barrow burials reveal the extent to which gold was used to mark status and power in Bronze Age Wiltshire, suggesting the area's communities maintained wide-reaching trade networks accessing gold sources in Ireland and Cornwall.
Avebury and North Wiltshire Archaeology
Significant collections from Avebury and the surrounding North Wiltshire landscape complement the Stonehenge material, showing that the county contains two of the world's most important Neolithic and Bronze Age ceremonial complexes. Objects from Windmill Hill, one of Britain's earliest Neolithic enclosures, include pottery, animal bones, and flint tools that illuminate the transition from hunter-gathering to farming.
Material from the Avebury stone circle, West Kennet Long Barrow, and Silbury Hill reveals the engineering ambition and spiritual beliefs of communities who reshaped their landscape on a monumental scale.
Together with the Stonehenge collections, these galleries establish Wiltshire as the epicentre of prehistoric Britain's most remarkable achievements.
Collections
Prehistoric Wiltshire
Stonehenge, Avebury, and Bronze Age gold including the Bush Barrow treasures
Roman to Medieval
Romano-British, Saxon, and medieval collections from across the county
Natural History
Wiltshire's geology, fossils, and wildlife
Devizes and Local History
The market town's story and the Kennet and Avon Canal
Themes
Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.