Next Steps
We are delighted to have recieved initial support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund for our project. Development funding of £300,748 has been awarded to help us progress plans for the project.
Between autumn 2023 - summer 2025, we will be developing plans for revitalising the Assize Court building and transforming it into an iconic new home for the Museum.
We will be holding community days, including ‘pop-up’ exhibitions and events to seek the views of our community on plans as they progress. These ideas will be developed with Purcell, our appointed architects, along with adjoining owners, Wiltshire Council and Devizes Town Council.
Our aim is to apply for a full National Lottery grant in 2025 for the project's 'Delivery Phase'. If successful, work would start on the Assize Court building in four years’ time, with a target opening date of 2030.
What will we do?
During the Delivery Phase (likely 2026-2030) we will:
- Conserve and restore the Grade II* listed Devizes Assize Court, including extensive repair work.
- Design new and accessible facilities within the building, including a designated learning space and a multi-use event and community space.
- Reach out to and work with new and existing audiences to co-produce displays and activities, which will shape the new museum offer.
- Deliver a exciting programme of activities, volunteering and health & wellbeing courses to Devizes and wider Wiltshire.
- Develop interactive new permanent galleries that innovatively showcase the Museum's world class collections and Wiltshire's incredible stories.
- Create a vibrant temporary exhibition space to host a dynamic exhibition programme of a national standard.
- Work with stakeholders, including Wiltshire Council and Devizes Town Council, to support the regeneration of the wider Devizes Wharf area.
Why is the project needed?
Wiltshire Museum is in desperate need of a new home.
- The Museum has Designated collections, meaning they are identified as one of the best collections held in museums, libraries and archives across England.
- It is a much-loved community and learning resource, accessed by thousands of people each year.
- But, the Museum's current site (multiple Georgian town houses in the residential Long Street, Devizes) is inaccessible to many and severely limits how the Museum engages audiences.
- A new home, built with access and the needs of audiences in mind, will be transformative to the Museum. It will enable the creation of new facilities and galleries that truly showcase these outstanding collections and inspire creativity and curiousity in generations to come.
The Devizes Assize Court is running out of time.
- The Devizes Assize Court was built in 1835. It has been derelict and decaying since the 1980s. The Grade II* building has been on Historic England's ‘Heritage At Risk register’ since the scheme’s inception in 1988.
- Repairs overseen by the Devizes Assize Court Trust have stabilised the building to stop it falling into even worse condition.
- These temporary repairs will not last forever. If a viable future for the building is not secured soon, this important part of Wiltshire's history will be lost.
- We want to breathe new life into the neglected site and the wider Devizes Wharf, creating a bustling community and cultural area.
- Our project aims not only to save the building, but to celebrate the court's long history of justice and injustice.
Gold from the Bush Barrow burial -the richest early bronze age burial in Britian.
Consultation exhibition - September 2020
We showcased our initial ideas in an exhibition held at the Assize Court in September. We are now looking at the results of the consultation and planning our next steps.