Burford Tolsey Museum and Archive

The Burford Tolsey Museum is situated in the Tolsey, a building located in Burford High Street where the medieval road between London and Bristol crossed the High Street. It was built in the early 1500’s as the market house where traders came to pay tolls for the use of market facilities, and where the Borough Court met. 

Since the 1960s, it has saved and displayed a wonderful collection of fascinating local artefacts, including civic maces and plates, medieval scrolls, a doll’s house modelled on the Great House in town, and a glimpse at the many local industries that Burford used to have in years gone by. These include a bell foundry, gunsmith, a clarinet maker and more.

The museum is also commissioning an Archive centre in nearby Swan Lane to preserve Burford’s written and oral stories and images ranging from medieval times to the present, plus fascinating accounts of human experiences over the centuries.