Herschel Museum of Astronomy

“I have looked further into space than any human being did before me.” William Herschel

The Museum is housed in the Astronomers' House from which William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus in March 1781. It is a modest townhouse laid out over five floors, typical of the houses lived in be people of ‘the middling sort’, artisans and tradesmen and a contrast to the highly fashionable grand houses rented by visitors for the Bath season.

The Grade ll starred listed house was purchased with the help of Doctors Leslie and Elizabeth Hilliard in 1981, it is now an Accredited museum governed by the Herschel House Trust. In recent years the house has been fully restored in the authentic style of the period details of wallpaper coming from fragments discovered in Bath houses and the carpets are original eighteenth century designs.

We welcome schools to the museum. Teachers are invited to make a free preliminary visit, please contact us to arrange this.

We are particularly able to support your work in ‘Light’, ‘Earth’ and ‘Space’.

‘Astronomy is fun – especially when you’re not an astronomer!’ Brian May, Patron of the Herschel Museum of Astronomy

Children will enjoy an introductory talk, a tour of the museum and see our award-winning film narrated by the late Sir Patrick Moore.  Trails are also available.

Details of workshops are on the Schools Workshops page.

The Herschel Museum and the new Primary Curriculum

One of the more encouraging points of the new Primary National Curriculum –

3.2 The national curriculum is just one element in the education of every child. There is time and space in the school day and in each week, term and year to range beyond the national curriculum specifications.

We hope that you will regard this as encouragement to study two of Bath’s most important residents – Sir William Herschel, astronomer and musician and his sister Caroline.

We can support your work in History at KS1 by focusing on

• Significant historical events, people and places in their own locality.
• The lives of important individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements.

We can support your work in History at KS2 by creating  the focus for a local history study.

We like to provide bespoke visits and workshops that allow schools to follow their own particular interests. Please email or call and we will plan and design a visit that meets your needs.

£3 per child, accompanying adults free.

School visits and workshops take place on Thursday mornings.

Contact our Learning Officer on +44 (0)1225 446865 or [email protected] for bookings and further details.

Handling Collection

Whilst many of the objects on display are precious we do have a basket of handling objects related to Georgian life in the reception area that children are encouraged to use. There are various tools in Herschel’s workshop that are robust enough for handling.

In the kitchen there is a wonderful Replica House based on 19 New King Street designed and built by Frome based artists Corinna Sargood and Richard Wallace.

A Project for Primary Schools

During this academic year the Herschel Museum has been working on a pilot Education Project with a local Bath school.  The project was partly school based and the children visited the museum several times. The children in our pilot group were Year 4. We had great fun studying the Solar System and looking at various astronomical topics back as far as the Antikythera Mechanism up to and including the work of William and Caroline Herschel. There was a very exciting evening looking at the night sky with the help of one our volunteer astronomers.

Pieces of the children’s work formed a special exhibition in the Caroline Lucretia Gallery of the museum entitled ‘Bright Stars’ – this was a  very rewarding experience for the children. The scope of the work included astronomy, social history, science and art work.

We are hoping that another school will be interested in working with us on a similar project next year, the work can be tailored to meet the needs of your school.  We are happy to work with a class or smaller group of children who you feel would most benefit from this unique experience.