Booth Museum of Natural History

Booth Museum of Natural History is one of Brighton's most unusual attractions: a Victorian cabinet of curiosities where animals still stand in glass cases much as they did in 1891. It sits in the city of Brighton and Hove on England's south coast, and admission is free.

What is the Booth Museum?

It is a municipally owned natural history museum run by a charitable trust, as part of the Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust, which also looks after other Brighton venues. The main draw is Victorian taxidermy, above all British birds. Alongside it you will find insect collections, chalk fossils, skeletons and botanical material.

Who founded it?

Edward Thomas Booth, a Brighton naturalist and collector with a passion for birds, built a house on Dyke Road and in 1874 added a museum building in the grounds. It began as a private collection, though Booth opened it for charity events. He left it to the town in his will, and it opened under civic ownership in 1891. It only became formally a museum of natural history in 1971.

Why do the dioramas matter?

Booth mounted birds in dioramas: scenes that place animals among plants, rocks and painted backdrops resembling their habitat. These full-size displays were already in place when the museum opened to the public, which makes them among the earliest of their kind in any museum. According to the museum, the bequest came with a condition that the historic cases remain unaltered, so what you see is close to the original. A new diorama was added recently, the first in nearly a century.

What else can you see?

Beyond the birds, the museum shows insects, animal skeletons, fossils from the chalk typical of the region, and botanical collections. It is a good place to see how nature was presented in the nineteenth century and how science of that era worked.

Who is it for?

• families with children who like animals and bones,
• anyone interested in the history of science and museums,
• bird lovers and photographers,
• visitors looking for a free attraction in Brighton.

Frequently asked questions

Is admission free? Yes, entry to the museum is free.

Where is it? In Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, on the south coast of England, on Dyke Road.

Who runs it? The Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust, a charity, while the collection is owned by the city.

What is the highlight? The Victorian dioramas of British birds, plus the insect, fossil and skeleton collections.

Should I check opening times before visiting? Yes. Current hours and any building works are best checked on the Brighton & Hove Museums website.