Devizes Assize Court saved and new home for Wiltshire Museum

  Wiltshire Museum is delighted to announce that The National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded £8.5 million towards the £14.8 million Assizes for Devizes project to transform the derelict Assize Court building into a spectacular new home for the Museum.

The Wiltshire Museum has been engaging visitors since 1874 in its current buildings on Long Street, Devizes and is home to nationally important Designated collections, including stunning treasures from the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site landscape. This transformational project will enable it to do justice to its internationally important collections and provide excellent and accessible facilities for visitors, whilst also bringing this iconic building in the town back to life, which is currently on the Heritage At Risk register. 

On hearing the news David Dawson, Director of Wiltshire Museum said: ‘We are delighted that the Heritage Fund has demonstrated its confidence in our plans to transform the former Devizes Assize Court into the new home for a reimagined Wiltshire Museum. At last we will be able to give the museum’s internationally significant collections a fitting home, while rescuing an important at-risk listed building and providing a focal point for town centre renewal. We are grateful to National Lottery players, our loyal members and our other funders, existing and future, for their commitment and support.’ 

Peter Troughton, CVO CBE, Chair of Devizes Assize Court Trust, which initially saved the building by purchasing it in 2018 with the support of generous donors, said: ‘The National Lottery Heritage Fund award to the Wiltshire Museum is fantastic news! It will transform the museum, save the historic Assize Court building and give the people of Devizes a community hub like no other. It will be an enormous help to the campaign to achieve the vision for the award-winning museum, already supported by the town, Wiltshire County Council and leading charitable foundations.’

Eilish McGuinness, Chief Executive of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “We’re thrilled to support this transformational project that will breathe new life into Devizes Assize Court and create a world-class home for Wiltshire Museum and its significant collections. As the UK’s largest funder for heritage, we understand the lasting benefits that projects like this bring - instilling pride in our communities and the places we call home. Thanks to National Lottery players, this investment will not only save an important historic building but also deliver a vibrant cultural hub that benefits the local community and attracts visitors from far and wide. The impact of this project will be felt for generations to come.”

In August 2025 the Museum announced that it was honoured that Her Majesty Queen Camilla had become the Museum’s first Royal Patron and that Wiltshire Council had granted Planning Permission for the project.

This news from the Heritage Fund, and the support of a range of other funders, means that the Museum has just over £3 million to raise to fully fund the project. A public fundraising campaign will be launched in the near future.  During 2026 we will be working with architects and designers to develop our plans, which means that, assuming success with the remainder of the fundraising, work will start on site in early 2027, with the aim of opening the new Museum by 2030.

Wiltshire Museum is delighted to announce that the Planning Application and Listed Building Consent for Devizes Assize Court have been approved by Wiltshire Council.

Permission has been given for the redevelopment and restoration of the Former Assize Court to provide a new home for Wiltshire Museum and a hub for the community. Relocating to the 19th Century Grade II* Listed building will allow the museum to showcase its nationally important collections, drawn from the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site and from across Wiltshire. It will become an important focus in Devizes for visitors and local people alike, with its own café, dedicated learning space, multi-use event space and gardens and stunning new galleries – facilities that cannot be provided in the current building. The new building will also be fully accessible to all visitors, and will include lifts and a Changing Places Toilet.

The approval of planning permission means that the Museum can now submit funding applications to a wider range of Trusts and Foundations, as well as seeking support from philanthropists and benefactors knowing that all the required permissions are in place for the project to go ahead.

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Imagemakers as Interpretation and Exhibition Designers for the 'Assizes for Devizes: Unlocking Wiltshire’s Stories' project.  

Imagemakers will be working closely with our team throughout the Development Phase of our National Lottery Heritage Funded project to develop plans for our new museum galleries at the Devizes Assize Court. Together, we will be reaching out to our wider community to seek views on what objects, stories and themes are important to share in the new space. We will also be planning creative interactives and installations to really bring the story of Wiltshire and the Devizes Assize Court to life. 

Imagemakers’ work will form part of an application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund in summer 2025. If we are successful, they will work with our wider team to oversee the installation of the new galleries, ready for opening in late 2030.  

We look forward to working with Imagemakers and cannot wait to see their plans take shape!

Wiltshire Museum has received initial support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for our  project ‘Assizes for Devizes: Unlocking Wiltshire’s Stories’.  

Made possible by National Lottery players, the project aims to revitalise the derelict Devizes Assize Court into a vibrant community hub and iconic new home for Wiltshire Museum and its world-class collection.

We have now submitted our Development Stage Application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund. We are expecting to hear the result by early July.

The  National Lottery Heritage Fund have accepted our ‘Expression of  Interest’ and we are now able to submit an application for funding. This  means that the project is now on the first rung of the ladder to going  ahead.

We have 12 months to submit the first round application (c. 250 pages of  documentation) and if we get through that stage there is a 2 year development phase before a second bid. If this is successful there will be substantial funding to enable work on the building to start, perhaps in 2025 or 2026.

This is very good news for the project!