Museum Restoration

Last updated 13 October 2025

Topsham Museum has been closed for more than a year because of substantial structural work to be undertaken by our landlord, Exeter City Council.

The Trustees would like to share with you information issued by Exeter City Council (ECC) relating to Lower Shapter Street. We have set out where this sits in context of wider works on the Museum.

A letter from the Asset Maintenance department of ECC has been received by residents living close to the Museum, stating: “I am pleased to confirm that work at Topsham Museum will resume in November 2025. The work, over a period of 12 weeks completing in February 2026, will include render repairs to the Lower Shapter Street elevation and all roof repairs. Upon completion, this will enable scaffolding to the removed from Lower Shapter Street and the road reopened.”

We have checked with the council and this work is strictly limited to just render and roof repairs on that part of 25 Strand, to allow the road to be reopened. It is funded from an existing ECC budget.

It is not part of the much more substantial work that ECC has to undertake on the Museum as a whole. The council says it is still seeking possible funding for this more substantial work, which has to be secured before it can begin.

Unfortunately, the council adds that the process of securing that funding is now very likely to stretch into 2026.

We will provide more information when we know more, but in the meantime we thank the community and the public for their patience and support.

Unfortunately this will affect our re-opening in 2026. Of course we are disappointed but we will be stepping up our outreach programme of lectures and special events, and keeping the Museum at the forefront of community activities.

Do please check our website for updates on our future activities and progress on the building project.

The Museum, Tea Room and Garden, will be closed for several months to undergo extensive repair works. Work in late 2024 to replace the external render revealed substantial problems with the structure of the building. These pictures of two of the roof trusses and of a floor joist give some idea of the problems that have been discovered.

Museum President, Rachel Nichols, said: “We’re extremely grateful to the council for taking such care with the building, which is of huge historic interest. It was built in 1688 and left to the council in 1983 to hold in trust as a museum for the people of Topsham.

We normally have around 10,000 visitors a year and it’s a great pity that it will not be able to open as usual in April. However, we’re seeing this as a golden opportunity to take stock of our collections, refresh the Museum and reopen with an even better story of the town’s history, its maritime traditions and the importance of the Exe Estuary.”