The Alderney Society Museum

Opening Hours
(From April to October)
Monday to Friday: 10.00 - 12.00 and 14.00 - 16.00
Saturday and Sunday: 10.00 - 12.00

The Museum
The Alderney Museum collections consist largely of objects that reveal a small community surviving over the centuries on subsistence agriculture, fishing and trading.

Over the millennia, Alderney has been subjected to long uneventful periods punctuated by very short ones of frantic activity such as the loss of Normandy in 1204, the Hundred Years War, the Reformation, the Armada and the French religious wars, the English Civil War, the Napoleonic and French Revolutionary Wars, the building of the Victorian harbour and forts and the First & Second World Wars.

During the 18th century, privateering and smuggling brought a period of sudden and spectacular prosperity. Streets were created and paved, and new houses were built.
Since 1945, there has been a gradual increase in building, agriculture has all but disappeared and the island’s economy has completely changed.

A Brief History of the Museum
The Alderney Society Museum first opened in 1966, in the basement of the Island Hall.. However, flooding was a regular problem and in 1969 the States of Alderney offered the Society use of the old St. Anne's Public School building for a peppercorn rent.

The Governor of Alderney had built St. Anne's Public School in 1790, at a time when money was plentiful in the Island. The war between Britain and France saw the growth of a thriving business in smuggling and privateering on the Island, and this newfound wealth brought about a boom in building, which included the School.

With only a miniscule budget, and the help of a handful of dedicated volunteers, the old school building was redecorated, the first displays were created, the new Alderney Society Museum opening to the public in 1970.

The Maritime gallery and upper rooms were added in 1984, and in 1993 the Museum achieved Fully Registered status. The addition of stores and workrooms in 1996 brought the museum up to the standard of any of the best small museums - a standard that was recognised in 1999 by the presentation, in the Salisbury Wing of the National Gallery, of the Gulbenkian Prize for achievement by museums with access to limited resources.

In 1989, the Alderney Society decided to inventory its Museum collection, a massive undertaking, which involved the recording of artefacts, documents, and photographs, in a museum documentation database. By the time retrospective documentation was complete in 1999, the Museum collections had risen from an original 6,000 pieces to more than 12,000.

An Administrator runs the Museum, together with a small group of dedicated members of the Alderney Society who volunteer their time to maintain the Museum displays, set up exhibits, and deal with documentation and conservation.

The Alderney Society Museum
The Museum, High Street
Alderney GY9 3TG
Channel Islands
Tel: +44 (0)1481 823222 Fax: +44 (0)1481 824979

Museum Administrator
Don Oakden

Legal Information
The Alderney Society Museum is wholly owned and administered by The Alderney Society. The copyright of the digital images and data created for this website rests with The Alderney Society. In some cases the images carry copyright and intellectual property rights belonging to third parties. The images have been created and made available for personal consultation and study by members of The Alderney Society and its guests. Printing illustrated records and information for the purpose of personal study and leisure is acceptable. Copying and further reproduction of the images or image files, particularly for any commercial purpose, is not sanctioned without further permission from The Alderney Society.