Louth Museum to offer free repeat-visit cards for 2026 season

For the first time, it is offering free repeat-visits on every occasion you go along to the Broadbank attraction from when it opens its doors again on Wednesday, April 1.

When visitors pay their normal admission fee, they will be given a special card, which will allow them unlimited further visits to the museum until it closes for the year on Saturday, October 31.

Nigel Christmas, chairman of the Louth Antiquarian, Naturalists and Literary Society, which runs the museum, says: “There’s so much fascinating local history and wonderful storytelling here, that one visit simply isn’t enough.

"So we want to make it as easy as possible for visitors, especially local people from Louth and its surrounding villages, to really get to know the museum and the story of the town.

"Also, many of our visitors tell us that one visit to the museum only whets their appetites to come back again and find out more. Now everyone can for free, and as often as they like.”

The museum has four galleries, a library, which doubles as a space for exhibitions, and a gift shop.

Throughout the long winter, a team of volunteer curators has been busy putting in new displays and researching and writing up their stories.

This year sees new displays on the role of the town crier in Louth, complete with costumes, artefacts and a video.

High fashion comes to the museum with an eyecatching display of marvellous millinery. And another new display unearths the hidden story of slum clearances in Louth and how hovels were replaced with new homes.

If creepy crawlies don’t give you the heebie-jeebies, the museum will be putting bugs, butterflies, moths and more under the magnifying glass as it celebrates and explores the natural history scene in our little corner of Lincolnshire.

Once again, the upstairs space will be given over to hosting two new exhibitions. Firstly, ‘Louth Photographic Society – 70 years – A Celebration’ features mounted photographs of Louth down the decades as well as photographs of scenes that have inspired the society’s many amateur photographers over the years. It runs from the opening day on April 1 to Friday, June 26.

Secondly, ‘Waging Peace In Lincolnshire’ has been curated by Richard Keeble, a professor at Lincoln University, and traces the largely untold story of how Lincolnshire has played a dramatic role in fighting for peace and supporting the anti-war movement from the First World War to the present day. It runs from Wednesday, July 1 to Saturday October 31.

Visitors can also walk in the footsteps of Louth history with a programme of guided tours of the town and special talks given by expert volunteers.

They include a guided walk around Louth Cemetery on London Road, visiting the resting places and memorials of a few well-known and some not-so-familiar Louth residents, and looking at the intriguing symbols, superstitions and rituals associated with Victorian burials.

The museum will be open on Wednesdays to Saturdays from 10 am to 4 pm every week from April 1 to October 31. First admission, which includes the free repeat-visit cards, is £5 for adults, £4 for concessions and free for under-14s.