Scarborough Museums Trust: A Brief History
The building first housed and displayed fossil and mineral collections; by the end of the nineteenth century it had become a natural history museum and by the 1950s it was also home to local social history collections. In 1952, the Scarborough Corporation opened a Museum of Natural History at Woodend, the former home of the Sitwell family, and relocated all the geology and natural history to this new museum.
Scarborough Museums Trust is committed to caring for, developing and interpreting the collections, information and assets entrusted to us to understand more about the borough’s past and present in order to help shape the future, encourage participation, provide the best possible experience to their current constituents and leave an enhanced legacy for future generations.
Rotunda Museum
See remarkable 11,000-year-old artefacts as they exhibit some very special items from their Star Carr Collection, including an antler headdress, barbed points, birch bark rolls, flint tools and animal remains.
Come face to face with the wonderful creatures which once called Yorkshire home at the Ancient Seas of the Yorkshire Coast display. See the fascinating collection of fossils and specially commissioned reconstructions of what marine life was like millions of years ago.
Scarborough Art gallery
Houses the borough’s permanent collection of fine art, which has grown through gifts, bequests and purchases since its beginnings in 1947, reflecting the vibrant mix of the community and its cultural heritage.
The Art Gallery hosts regular temporary exhibitions to showcase some of the fine collections they hold, and to display work by local, national and internationally renowned artists, as well as interesting touring work from around the UK.
