History of the museum
Bexhill Museum was opened in 1914. The Reverend J.C. Thompson FGS and Kate Marsden FRGS were instrumental in the setting up of the museum and the Mr Thompson was Honorary Curator until 1924. The museum was housed in the Egerton Park Shelter Hall, built in 1903. This had been a small entertainments pavilion for the use of visitors to the park. The Bexhill Corporation owned the building and leased it to the museum and also provided a small grant.
Our longest serving curator was Henry Sargent, who started work at the Museum in 1920 and remained in post until his death in 1983. The museum's governing body, the Bexhill Museum Association, was founded in 1923.
The collections built up by Henry Sargent were largely in the fields of natural history, geology and archaeology. Mounted birds were extensively collected and came to dominate the early displays, alongside table cases of stone tools and local fossils. The display and storage conditions were far from ideal because the glass roofed hall suffered from extreme changes in temperature and high light levels, while the basement storage was liable to flood with seawater.
Without sufficient support or funds and with no prospect of a replacement Henry Sargent stayed in post well past retirement age. When Sargent died in 1983 the Museum would have closed had it not been for a small group of volunteers from the Bexhill Museum Association, who kept the building open and persuaded the local District Council to continue to support the Museum.
In 1986 Rother District Council appointed Stella Bellem as a professional curator for the district. Her main task was to begin to reverse the decades of neglect at Bexhill Museum. Improvements were made to the insulation and lighting of the galleries. The toilet blocks on either wing of the building were converted into the Temporary Exhibition space and an environmentally controlled storeroom.
In 1990 Brenda Mason was appointed as Curator of Bexhill Museum, with 
additional responsibilities for the museums within Rother District. The Rother Museums Strategy of 1995 sought to ensure an equitable service for the six independent museums in the district. After a period of negotiation between the Bexhill Museum Association and Rother Council, a management agreement and a lease for the museum building were arranged. Julian Porter, the District Curator, was seconded to Bexhill Museum as Curator.
In 1999 work began on a project to amalgamate Bexhill Museum with the Bexhill Costume Museum, the town's other museum that was founded in 1972. A new company, The Society of Bexhill Museums, was established in 2003 and gained charitable status in 2004. Our goal is to extend the Egerton Park site to house both collections and provide enhanced visitor services.
The primary purpose of Bexhill Museum is to collect, conserve, display and interpret objects and associated information related to the history and natural environment of the surrounding area. This work is undertaken for the benefit of the public and, in particular, the residents of Bexhill and district, local schools/colleges and visitors to the 1066 Country area. The emphasis of Bexhill Museum's activities is on education through displays and exhibitions in the gallery and by outreach work in the community.
Bexhill Museum is an independent museum and a registered charity. It is run almost entirely by enthusiastic volunteers from the community.To find out details about visiting the museum and facilities available, please visit the museum's website, www.bexhill-museum.co.uk