Blaise Castle House Museum

On this page:

Opening hours
What can I see?
History of Blaise
Events
School visits

Blaise Castle House Museum is situated in the beautiful parkland of the Blaise Estate at Henbury. The museum is housed in a late 18th century mansion, and contains most of our social history collections.

Opening hours

Open Saturdays and Sundays, 10.30am to 4pm
30 March to end of June: Wednesday to Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays, 10.30am to 4pm
July to August: Tuesday to Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays, 10.30am to 4pm
September to October: Wednesday to Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays, 10.30am to 4pm
November 2013 to Easter 2014: Weekends only - Open Saturday and Sunday, 10.30am to 4pm

Free admission

Address

Blaise Castle House Museum
Henbury Road
Bristol, BS10 7QS

Getting there

by public transport
Bus numbers 1, 40 and 40a all run from the city centre and stop near the museum.
If you are coming by train you can take the number 1 bus from outside Bristol Temple Meads station. Walk down the station approach, cross over the main road and the bus stop is to your left.

by car
Exit M5 at junction 17 and take A4018 (sign posted West Bristol).
Carry on straight until the third roundabout, then take the right turn into Crow Lane passing a small bank of shops on the right. At the end of this road turn right into Henbury Road. Go over the mini roundabout into the one way system. You will pass 'Blaise Inn' on your right and bend to the right.
Continue straight on to find the public car park about 300 yards on the left.

View a Google map showing Blaise Castle House Museum

Disabled access information

Due to the age and layout of the house, access is restricted.
There is no lift and a staircase to the first floor.
No wheelchair accessible toilet.

Please contact us if you would like more information.

What can I see?

At Blaise Castle House Museum, you can explore hundreds of weird and wonderful objects that show how people used to live in the past. Gaze out of this 18th century mansion house over 400 acres of beautiful parkland and imagine that it all belongs to you and your family. Well it does and visits are free!

The museum houses 50,000 social history items on display and in store, including domestic and community history, dolls and toys, and costume.

The displays illustrate how households have changed over time, from dog wheels to kitchen ranges, rush lights to street lighting, fire grates to gas stoves, and some unusual early cleaning appliances. See why the washing used to take a whole day, and wonder at the unusual risk of a gas heated bath!

Bristol at home galleries

These galleries show some of the cooking, lighting, washing and other household equipment used in Bristol houses over the last three hundred years.

You can see how dogs were used to help with the cooking, what an early vacuum cleaner looked like, and find out why the weekly washing used to take a whole day.

The display includes a collection of baths and china toilets.

Costume galleries

The costume collection consists of approximately 10,000 items dating from the 1730’s to the present day, along with textiles such as quilts and banners, and the entire contents of a Bristol haberdasher’s shop.

On display you can find nineteenth century dresses, gentlemen's waistcoats, and a display of hats, shoes and accessories of the twentieth century, from a 1920s cloche hat to 1970s platform shoes.

Toy rooms

The toy collection ranges from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, including the Bristol pedlar doll and an unusual set of Dionne quints from the 1930’s. You can also see dolls houses and furniture, a selection from our extensive collection of Britains’ lead soldiers, early puzzles and games, and some fine toy train sets.

The picture room

The beautiful picture room with its classical portico and domed glass ceiling was added to the house in 1832-3. The room has been restored to its former glory, its walls decorated with a sumptuous red flock paper and hung with pictures from the fine art collections at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.

The picture room is available for private hire for marriages, civil partnership and naming ceremonies. Find out more about hiring the picture room.

The Victorian school room

The recreated classroom is much used by school groups, but is open to all visitors.

If you especially want to see this room it is best to visit on a weekend. Look out for the dunce hat!

History of Blaise

Blaise Castle House was built between 1796 and 1798 for John Harford, a wealthy Bristol merchant and banker. Some of the original ornamentation remains, such as casts of Classical and Neo-Classical sculptures and reliefs, including a set cast from the parthenon marbles.

The grounds of the house were laid out by Humphry Repton a leading landscape architect, and the Regency architect John Nash added the dairy and the orangery.

On display in the museum is Humphry Repton’s Red Book of 1796, with beautiful watercolours showing plans for landscaping the park in a manner to befit the new house.

You can also find out about some of the people who lived at and helped design Blaise and see a miniature Blaise Hamlet.

Events

There are no upcoming events at Blaise Castle House Museum. See what’s on across Bristol's other free museums view our full listing of museum events.

Sign up to e-news

What’s on at Bristol’s free museums? Sign up to our e-news to receive monthly updates on upcoming exhibitions, events and activities, including family fun events. You may also receive information about competitions, giveaways and special offers in the shop and café.