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Porthcawl Museum

Museum

Porthcawl Museum — Photo: Alan Hughes, Wikimedia Commons · Original Geograph photograph · Report the wrong picture

Explorer Tom

Porthcawl Museum lives in the town's Old Police Station on John Street, where seaside, railway and local family stories have taken over a building once devoted to keeping order. I would ask the old cells whether they approve, but the exhibits are already doing all the talking. The Porthcawl Museum and Historical Society formed in 1972 and opened this museum in 1977. Its collection grew through local donations and loans to more than 8,000 items, including photographs, documents, household objects, archaeology and military material. Displays cover the town and nearby area, with subjects ranging from railways to the 1947 Samtampa disaster. The setting matters too: the former station has stood on land given for public use in the nineteenth century, close to a town shaped by docks and then tourism. Take a photograph or an ordinary household item and ask what changed around it. A museum this local can pin a huge event to a street, family or familiar bit of coastline. I imagine a stern constable demanding to see my ticket even after all these years; that is my nonsense. The society's years of collecting and its old police-station home are the facts that make the visit distinctive. This is a volunteer-run, ticketed museum in the Old Police Station on John Street, Porthcawl. Its public days are limited and can change, so check its own visitor page before travelling rather than assuming a daily opening. Ask which displays are on view if you are seeking one particular story. The building and collections reward a stop away from the beach, then send you back outside with sharper eyes for the town.

What is recorded here

Map note: Porthcawl Museum is recorded near Porthcawl, Bridgend, Wales as a museum. It made the map, and that is an invitation to be curious.

From OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors) n11914270838

This does not grant access. Check current paths, opening conditions and ownership before entering.

Operator: Porthcawl Museum and Historical Society

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More pictures of this place

Grade II listed Old Police Station, Porthcawl — Grade II listed Old Police Station, Porthcawl · Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Original Geograph photograph

The Old Police Station, Porthcawl — The Old Police Station, Porthcawl · Photo: Alan Hughes · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Original Geograph photograph

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Photo credits

Alan Hughes, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Colin Pyle, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Jaggery, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Mick Lobb, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Nigel Homer, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Betty Longbottom, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Ruth Sharville, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Tony Hodge, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Chris Shaw, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
eswales, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0

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