Lawrence House Museum

Lawrence House Museum 9, Castle Street, Launceston PL15 8BA (Lawrence House closed for refurbishment). Launceston Pop up Museum Merchant House Launceston Town Square. free entry.

Monday - Friday 10.30am - 3.30pm Saturday 10.30am - 1pm. Last entry 30 mins. before closing. Launceston's local museum is situated in a fine Georgian house built in 1753, located in a street which John Betjeman described as "having the most perfect collection of 18th century townhouses in Cornwall"

10/03/2026

Museum face book notes- March 26th.
Time for a brief catchup on museum news:
The year began with the annual FLHM lunch at Launceston Golf Club. Work is ongoing at the storage unit with conservation and preparations for forthcoming exhibitions.
On the 18th of February Falmouth University Costume team visited the LHM Stores to photograph a Victorian wedding dress for their pilot ‘Uncovered Project’. Their online catalogue.
The LHM Pop-Up reopens on 31st March – ‘Agriculture in the Launceston Area’. The following exhibition will open at the end of July and will be about the Normans, who founded Launceston. The Bayeux Tapestry is scheduled to be on display at the British Museum from September, this hopefully will generate publicity for our exhibition. Prof Levi Roach of Exeter University, author of ‘Empires of the Normans’, will give a talk on 1st July in Launceston Town Hall.

In December a visit was made for Falmouth University Costume Department to LHM Storage Unit - Di Downs and Lucy Jenner-B...
14/01/2026

In December a visit was made for Falmouth University Costume Department to LHM Storage Unit - Di Downs and Lucy Jenner-Brown, to select a costume for their pilot project. A navy blue Wadding Dress was much admired. The dress had belonged to Sarah Chapman nee Tucker, Sarah Tucker married Amos Chapman in1878. Her father was a blacksmith at Stockland about 6 miles northeast of Honiton, Amos Chapman was a carpenter – a seaman RN living in Devonport. Amos Chapman senior was a carpenter in Five Lanes .

04/12/2025

Our Pop-up Museum in the Town Centre’s Merchant House has been updated to include items from our Victorian Christmas collection.
We will close for our winter break on Saturday December 20th, when a new exhibition ‘Agriculture in Launceston’ will be researched and prepared for our reopening on Tuesday 31st March 2026 using some of the many fascinating agricultural artefacts in our collection.

The Merchant House is a mid-16th century town house on Launceston’s Town Square . Where Laurence House Museum is now lo...
17/11/2025

The Merchant House is a mid-16th century town house on Launceston’s Town Square . Where Laurence House Museum is now located, built, it is believed, on twelfth century foundations and therefore the oldest house in Launceston. The story of David Scott’s purchase of the house and its subsequent Phase 1 restoration won him a prestigious design award from the Cornish Buildings Group. Further information about the restoration and history of the Merchant House can be found in the Pop Up Museum and the Autumn LHM Polyphon publication.

The Educating Launceston exhibition in the Pop up Museum is attracting a lot of interest, a timely opening for half ter...
27/10/2025

The Educating Launceston exhibition in the Pop up Museum is attracting a lot of interest, a timely opening for half term. The young people of Launceston will be ably to get an idea of the history of education in Launceston.

02/09/2025

16th September. Today the pop-up museum opens the door on a new exhibition: ‘Educating Launceston’s Children’. The monograph giving the history of ‘Educating Launceston’’ has been completely revised and will be on sale in the Pop-up to complement the new exhibition.

After much hard work the new exhibition, ‘Launceston People and Places’ opened today in the Pop-up Museum in the town ce...
01/04/2025

After much hard work the new exhibition, ‘Launceston People and Places’ opened today in the Pop-up Museum in the town centre’s Merchant House. This exhibition will be refreshed throughout the year with different items from the Museum’s extensive collection. With 2025 being the 80th anniversary year of VE Day and VJ Day, there will be special mention of the men and women of Launceston and what happened in our town during World War 2. Thank you if you have visited today! If not please come along whenever you can to have a look at a significant period in our history as well as learning more about the people and places which made it what it is today.

The Pop-up will be open from 10am to 4pm on Tuesdays to Fridays and 10am to 1pm on Saturdays, staffed by our loyal band of volunteer stewards, without whom there would be no Museum in Launceston. We can always do with more support so if you would like to volunteer with us or join the Friends of Lawrence House Museum, please get in touch.

Address

9 Castle Street
Launceston
PL158BA

Telephone

01566 773277

Website

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