There are nearly 250 museums in London – more than just about any other city in the world. Through London’s Museum Guide I want to encourage others to share my love of London’s incredible museum scene, and help you to discover gems you might not have heard of.
Below you’ll find a full, filterable list of everything the city has to offer. Head to the London Museum Guide homepage to explore bespoke guides.
A complete A-Z of London’s museums by theme & location
How to use this guide: The cards below show an A-Z directory of all 250+ museums in London. Use the filters to the right to show only museums you’re interested in.
‘Primary focus’ splits museums by their broad area of focus. You can click ‘additional themes’ to see more specific categories, such as museums covering World War Two, or modern art galleries. If you prefer to look at a map, visit my London Museum Map here.
Finally, have fun, and if you have any tips, want to leave a review for a museum, or notice an error, don’t hesitate to comment or contact me!
A 17th-century Jacobean manor in Brentford, recently restored and open to the public. Set in a scenic park, it offer s beautifully preserved interiors, including original ornate plasterwork, and community exhibition galleries, often about Hounslow’s modern diverse communities.
A Grade I listed, 16th century manor house, which is also home to the museum of the London Borough of Haringey. Its collection includes artefacts from the past and present of Haringey’s neighbourhoods (including Tottenham, and Tottenham Hotspurs memorabilia!). The former grounds of the manor house are now a large public park. As of 2025,…
A Grade I listed Villa, famous as one of London’s gems of Georgian architecture gems. It features large gardens (the first ever English landscape gardens); while in the house, Neo-Palladian in style and extremely striking, you can explore its ornate details, period rooms and art collection.
A sewage station might not be your average day out – but the Crossness is a masterpiece of Victorian engineering, credited with playing a crucial role in saving London from the Great Stink in 1858 and subsequent cholera epidemics. Architecturally it’s massive in scale and stunning, giving it the nickname ‘the Cathedral of Sewage’. Only…
1760s Georgian mansion in Danson Park with rich interiors. The gardens are free to visit, while the house is only available to visit as part of a guided tour. It is also Bexley’s Registery Office.
A large museum, with over 50,000 items in its collection, focused on the history and culture of West London boroughs Ealing and Hounslow. Features archaeological artefacts from the area; exhibitions on the culture of Ealing and Hounslow and its famous residents; social history; fashion and industry. It’s housed in a former Rothschild mansion, and some…
Hackney’s local museum, exploring over 1,000 years of history. This includes exhibitions on Saxon Hackney all the way through to its modern, diverse identity and rich history of migration. It’s all presented in an engaging, family-friendly way and is know for being an inclusive community resource with plenty of interactive elements for children.
A stunning Tudor country house with exhibitions about its former residents, local history and free to visit gardens. It also has an owls experience, butterfly garden and hosts farmers markets.
The former country home of 18th-century artist William Hogarth, now a small museum about his life. It has a large collection of his work, as well as exhibits on the house, its residents and the local area, as well as a lovely garden.
A historic house in the London borough of Sutton, dating back to the mid-17th century. It reopened to visitors in 2012 after a refurbishment, and is home to exhibitions about the local area and the house itself.
A bit of a hidden gem in South West London, the Grade II listed former home of Frank Dickinson, part fof the Arts and Crafts movement. The house was designed by Dickinson himself, inspired by William Morris.
A hands-on industrial museum at the former Kew Bridge Waterworks. Tells the story of London’s water supply, with interactive exhibits; live steam demonstration; the world’s largest collection of working Cornish steam engines, and a splash zone for kids.
A small museum in a Grade II listed engine hall, featuring a restored Victorian steam-powered beam engine. It offers live demonstrations of the steam engine on certain days.
A small museum, only available by booking ahead and only open on certain days, with exhibitions about the history of the Met Police, its offices, and crimes in the city.
The world’s only museum of the home, exploring home life and how homes have evolved and changed over the past 500 years. Includes ‘Rooms through time’, which features period rooms showing how lives in London have changed – from 1630 to 2049, across different cultures – and ‘Gardens through time’. A unique and thought-provoking museum.…
A unique museum of self-playing musical instrument, telling the story of how music has been recorded and reproduced throughout history. Engineering marvels and inventions, such as self-playing violin and The Mighty Wurlitzer, designed to accompany silent films. There are lots of opportunities to listen to the instruments. Also home to a gallery dedicated to music…
A grand Georgian country house remodelled by the famous 18th century architect Robert Adam. It’s set in a vast park and now run by the National Trust, featuring opulent neo-classical rooms, like the famous and stunning Entrance Hall and its luxurious state apartments. Throughout are paintings, sculptures and tapestries.
The former home of William Morris, stunningly decorated with original furnishings, Pre-Raphaelite art and gardens. Visit to the house is by pre-book only.
The RAF’s flagship London museum, with six aircraft hangers looking at the RAF’s history, present and future. Plenty of interactive exhibitions and aircrafts.
A historic mansion with landscaped gardens, owned by Henry Charles Stephens – an ink businessman. The gardens are free to visit, but the house is by guided tour only.
The oldest house in Hackney and one of the only remaining Tudor houses in London. Originally built for Sir Ralph Sadler, who you may know from Wolf Hall. Features authentic oak-paneled rooms and a peaceful garden in the heart of East London.
A quite simply stunning Grade I listed stately home, former residence of the Duke of Northumberland. It has many layers of history, but its most famous for its interior, a masterpiece by Robert Adam with exquisite classical-style rooms. Surrounded by 200 acres of parkland and home to a famous Great Conservatory. Overall a relatively uncrowded…
One of London’s strangest museums, describing itself as a ‘Museum of Curiosities & UnNatural History’. A delightfully bizarre cabinet of curiosities featuring everything from two-headed animals, to an exhibition on ‘Fairies Mermaids, Unicorns and Giants’, to magic and the occult, and even an exhibition on Human Hair. An utterly unique museum, also home to a…
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