Elizabethan House Museum

Elizabethan House Museum. A National Trust property managed by Norfolk Museums Service.

Experience the lives of families who lived in this splendid Quayside house from Tudor to Victorian times.

The Elizabethan House was built around 1596. Home to merchants and prominent locals, the building has seen several changes to its physical shape over the years leading to the building you can discover today.

Evidence of its development can be seen throughout the building. Wood panelled rooms, richly decorated ceilings and the imposing stairway all help to tell the story of the Elizabethan House.

The House was sold many times before it passed into the hands of the Aldred family, who bequeathed it to the National Trust. The National Trust took ownership in 1949, despite the Borough Council attempting to purchase it with a view to demolishing it to widen the roadway!

Today the House contains fascinating collections from Norfolk Museums Service showing life ‘Upstairs and Downstairs’ in a house during Elizabethan times, right through to the Victorian period. You can learn why the Conspiracy Room is so-called, find out how a Victorian maid would have completed the weekly washing, and get hands on with the Elizabethan past in the bedroom, complete with replica costumes for you to try on.

If you visit on one of our special event days, you may be lucky enough to see the range in the kitchen being fired up and have a chance to look at food created to period recipes; or talk to one of the costumed characters who can be found roaming the House!

The Elizabethan House Museum is now closed and will reopen on 2 April 2017 (Monday to Friday & Sunday 10am-4pm through to 29 October 2017