Museums

Ruddington has three museums. As well as the information below, please visit our Diary page and News section for details of events and activities at the museums, or visit their individual websites.

The Village Museum

• St Peter’s Rooms, Church Street (opposite the Co-op)
• Admission £2.50 adults, £1.15 concessions, free for children under 16.
• Tel: 0115 914 6645 or visit www.ruddington-museum.org.uk.

The Village Museum is housed in the former Ruddington Infants’ and Girls’ School. Inside, you’re transported back to Edwardian times with a range of authentic exhibits including the oldest Fish & Chip Shop in the world and items that may bring back memories for some visitors! You can see an old-fashioned pharmacy, telephone exchange, toy shop and schoolroom, along with an ironmonger and cobbler, and a selection of farm implements. You’re also invited to test your observational skills by hunting the toy moles hidden amongst the exhibits.

Please check the website or call for the latest opening times. The museum is wheelchair accessible.

The Framework Knitters’ Museum

• Chapel Street (behind The White Horse Inn on Church Street)
• Tel: 0115 984 6914 or visit www.frameworkknittersmuseum.org.uk
• Visit the museum’s website for the latest opening times and admission prices
  

The Framework Knitters’ Museum is a unique complex of frameshops, cottages and outbuildings arranged around a garden courtyard, together with a former chapel in which many of the knitters worshipped. The site has been restored to show the living and working conditions of the framework knitters who occupied it throughout the nineteenth century. Framework knitting was the basis for the growth of the village of Ruddington and also for the development of machine lace and the East Midlands textile industry.

Ruddington has a long knitting history which ceased commercially at the start of World War 1. In 1971 a trust was established to restore this group of workshops and cottages, the garden courtyard with wash house, pump and privies. Knitting frames and Griswold sock machines are demonstrated and you can even “have a go” on a Griswold. The cottages show life as it was in Victorian times.

Parkers Yard Shop, which stocks a range of crafts and gifts made by local artisans, and the museum’s Tea Room are available to both visitors and the public whenever the museum is open.

In October 2021, the museum reopened further to extensive redevelopment funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. New exhibition and display spaces have been created, the gardens have been extended and redesigned, and the shop and tea room moved into new, larger accommodation in Gun Cottage, which sits between the main museum site and the Chapel. A new visitor route also starts from Gunn Cottage, which now houses the museum’s reception and staff offices.

Nottingham Heritage Railway (formerly GCRN)

• Mere Way, alongside Rushcliffe Country Park
• Tel 0115 940 5705  or visit www.gcrn.co.uk
• Please visit the website for the latest timetable and ticket information

Formerly known as Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre, The Great Central Railway – Nottingham (GCRN) offers almost 10 miles of heritage railway running through the beautiful scenery of South Nottinghamshire and North-West Leicestershire. Heritage steam and diesel services re-create the experience of train travel from when it was more than just a way to travel from one place to another.

Journeys begin at Ruddington and continue through to East Leake and Loughborough, via Rushcliffe Halt. Facilities at Ruddington include a Model Railway, Miniature Railways, a Heritage Transport Collection and railway workshop with full engineering facilities, as well as a cafeteria and gift shop. GCRN hosts various special events throughout the year, including an ‘Easter Egg-spress’, Bonfire Night event and ‘Santa Special’ services.