The museum is managed by the Wrexham Heritage & Archives Service, which in turn, is operated by Wrexham County Borough Council as part of its Housing & Economy Department. By 2026, the museum would be merged into a combined museum alongside galleries dedicated to Wales' football heritage.
The museum is housed in County Buildings on Regent Street, in Wrexham's city centre.[1][2] The building, designed by Thomas Penson, was a former militia barracks and later a police station and Magistrates' court. The police vacated the building in 1976–1977, and it became part of a local art college.[3][4]
In 1996, following the formation of Wrexham County Borough, the local council set up a museum in the then vacant building.[4]
The museum was partly refurbished in the 1990s, with a new wing of the building built to replace a World War II-built structure. The wing was called "Satellite" and were to be used to manage and house the museum's on-site collections and a public study room (the "Collections Centre") for online services to reserved collections not displayed to the public. The new wing costed £398,500, paid with a Heritage Lottery grant of £299,375 and £99,125 from the council. The wing was completed on 15 May 1998.[5]
Outside of the museum during refurbishment in 2010
In 2009, the museum was awarded a £950,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to open up more of the building to display the museum's collections.[8] In 2010–2011, a glass extension was added to the front of the building, as well as a museum-wide refurbishment, reopening on 14 February 2011.[9]
In July 2016, plans to transfer control of the museum as well as Wrexham Library to a culture trust or NPDO, were scrapped. The proposal was part of wider plans to outsource the council's Libraries, Heritage and Archives Services, in hope to generate more income.[10] The initial 2015 proposed transfer of responsibility involved a South Wales trust, but a local trust was later explored following opposition from councillors of transferring control to a trust in either Blaenau Gwent or Merthyr Tydfil.[10][11][12]
The Football Museum Wales project, backed by Wrexham County Borough Council and the Welsh Government, hopes to set up a national football museum gallery in the building alongside Wrexham Museum gallery, on the building's upper floor.[17][18][19] The new combined museum dedicated to both Wrexham and Welsh football is set to be opened by 2026.[20][21]
Galleries and collections
The museum hosts over 16,000 objects, with them not all being available to view at the same time, however any object can be requested to the museum to view in-person at an appointed time.[22]
The museum contains three exhibitions, described as 'galleries'. Gallery One is focused on the archaeology and social history of Wrexham County Borough. Gallery Two is centred on various collections of Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales and the National Library of Wales. Gallery Three is used for various other programmes, including touring exhibitions in the museum for a limited period.[23][24][22] This included an Ancient Egyptian touring exhibition from the British Museum in 2015,[25] and an exhibition on the Roman history of Holt in 2021.[26]
The museum also hosts an attraction known as the "Time Tunnel".[24]
Notable collections in the museum relating to aspects of the local history include: Wales Football collection,[27] the local coal, iron and steel industries, and the brick, tile and terracotta industry.[23]
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