Leatherhead Museum of Local History

The Leatherhead Museum of Local History is in Hampton Cottage, a timbered 17th Century house at 64 Church Street, Leatherhead KT22 8DP. The building was purchased by the Leatherhead Museum and Local Heritage Trust in 1976 and after extensive restoration, it was opened as the Museum in 1980.

It is the Leatherhead & District Local History Society’s HQ as well as its showcase for many items of local interest. The Museum's 25th Anniversary year was in 2005. In 2010 the Trust merged with the Leatherhead & District Local History Society as a single charity.

Access is free. We are open to visitors on Thursdays and Fridays from 1 pm to 4 pm and Saturdays from 10 am to 4 pm. Although there is step-free access to the ground floor, the construction of this old cottage means that there is no access to the upper floor other than by stairs. We are now closed until April 2012 for our Winter/Spring break.

 
This year we were very pleased to accept an item once to be seen throughout the district - a milk churn with a local dairy’s name embossed on it.

The photograph shows it temporarily standing in the garden at the rear of the building with the stone swan from the old Swan Hotel in the background. The churn is in need of some TLC to prevent it deteriorating further.

The World Wars display which includes artefacts, and pictures taken from the Leatherhead at War films [DVD available in the shop] continues to be of interest. This is the upstairs front room, with the old telephone exchange from Leatherhead Hospital.

Other cabinets give a glimpse into the extensive range of products made by now defunct manufacturers that were once were the biggest employers in the town. These include Ronson who although probably best known for cigarette lighters and perhaps hairdryers, made many other items that could be operated by gas, including candles!

Another manufacturer, whose site is now occupied by Esso UK's HQ, was BVC - better known as Goblin. Displays show how they first started out vacuum cleaning customers' premises from a van parked outside with hoses through the windows. We have two hand operated hand operated machines with bellows (one is shown on the right) and several rather old electric cylinder machines. We also show various examples of other Goblin products including, clocks, radios and heaters and the Teasmade machines. Of particular interest is the Magneta pendulum master clock which came from a telephone exchange.

Partly under our staircase you'll find a range of old kitchen equipment. Alongside we have the bucket, washing dolly, hard soap and the mangle - the forerunners of the washing machine and spin dryer.

There are also small collections and displays of local Roman and Anglo Saxon finds, Ashtead Pottery and many other items.

This is just a taste of the items of interest to both adults and children crammed into Hampton Cottage which is perhaps the best exhibit of all with its attractive garden with a well and the stone swan from the old Swan Hotel - the one above the entrance to the Travel Lodge in the High Street is a copy.

In 2009, with the help of a generous grant from Surrey County Council towards the cost, we were pleased to provide step-free access from the adjacent footpath to enable visitors with mobility difficulties to enter the garden and the ground floor of Hampton Cottage.

We have a small shop in the Museum run by the Friends of Leatherhead Museum selling souvenirs and the quite extensive range of books published by the Society and others on local and other historical subjects, including the latest by Peter Tarplee, Railways Around Leatherhead & Dorking priced at £10.

There is no charge for entry to this privately owned and funded Museum, which is fully accredited (MLA no.409), but donations are always welcome towards our running costs. Visitors with recollections of the past of the area are invited to enter them in the Book of Memories.

Photo report of accident in which a vehicle crashed into the Museum 6 Jan 2008

BY CAR: Leatherhead Town Centre is about 5 minutes from M25 Junction 9 and the town is an easy run from Kingston, Epsom, Dorking and Guildford. See map for location of car parks which are a short walk from the Museum. TRAIN: From Victoria, Waterloo, Guildford and Horsham to Leatherhead Station which is ten minutes easy walk to the Museum. There is a taxi stand at the station.