The Museum collection, which covers the history of the area from pre-historic to modern times, grew from a local exhibition for the Festival of Britain in 1951 and has been housed in a variety of places in Battle, before moving to its current location in 2003.
Fully accredited by Arts Council England, the Museum is completely run by volunteers. It is much larger than it looks from the outside, covering 125 million years of history!
The Museum shop has a range of books about the history of the area and associated topics for both adults and children; a line of bespoke hand-painted pottery, mugs, fridge magnets and badges; and for children, helmets and wooden swords, dinosaur models and eggs, to help keep them occupied during the holidays! There are also maps and guides for the area.
Battle Museum is surrounded by the award-winning Almonry Gardens, which is maintained by Beautiful Battle, a group of some 70 volunteers. The front garden contains herbaceous plants, spring bulbs and traditional shrubs and perhaps most notably, a Judas tree: each May, its blossom is admired by visitors and later in the year, their pods are collected and dried and the seeds are available for sale from the shop. At the back of the Museum, there is a cottage garden, with a herb garden and Elizabethan themed garden, which also houses a loggia where visitors can shelter.