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River & Rowing
Museum
The River & Rowing Museum is one of the UK's leading regional and sporting museums, attracting over 114,000 visitors a year. The Museum, an independent charity, also has a purpose built education centre visited by over 20,000 children and adults a year. The Museum provides superb value for money. Tickets are £8.50 for adults and £6.50 for children, and provide free access for a year.
Designed by David Chipperfield and located on the banks of the River Thames in Henley on Thames, the Museum celebrates and explores four core themes through a wide variety of exhibitions and events across four galleries and special exhibitions:
- Rivers: Using the Thames as a starting point, the Museum explores the environmental, ecological and social impacts of water and rivers across the world.
- The historic riverside community of Henley on Thames: This historic town home to the Henley Royal Regatta and host to the Rowing competition in the 1908 and 1948 Olympic Games has colourful history dating back to the stone age all captured in a dedicated gallery explored through hugely popular temporary exhibitions.
- The international sport of rowing: One of the world’s most significant collections of rowing memorabilia, charting the sport from ancient beginnings to present day is held at the Museum. The sport is also celebrated through temporary exhibitions throughout the year.
- The Wind in the Willows – hugely popular with children and families, this exhibition recreates the the timeless E H Shepard illustrations from Kenneth Grahame's famous novel, taking visitors on a journey through the world famous riverside tale of Mr Toad and his friends.
Since opening in August 1998 the Museum has received numerous awards including the National Heritage/NPI Museum of the Year award and the Sandford Award For Heritage Education.
Location, opening and ticket information
- The River & Rowing Museum, Mill Meadows, Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire, RG9 1BF. Tel. 01491 415600.
- The Museum, terrace café and shop are open every day from 10am - 5.30pm in summer and 10am - 5pm in the winter
- Tickets give FREE admission for a whole year!
- Admission is just £8 for adults, £6 for children aged four and over, FREE for children aged three and under and £6 for senior citizens and concessions
- Free parking for visitors
- Members of the British Armed Forces and their families receive discounted tickets.
- The River & Rowing Museum is part of the Thames Valley Museums Group (TVMG) Family Friendly initiative - a scheme that brings together 29 Museums across Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, to promote their popular appeal to the whole family
Art Fund members are entitled to free admission
"The River & Rowing Museum is not only of great significance to Henley which attracts rowers to its regattas from all over the world, but also to my chosen sport which has deep roots in this country and which until now has lacked a centre to record and celebrate its achievements"
Sir Steve Redgrave CBE DL
"A reach away the breach is made
By dive and shout
That circles out
To Henley tower and town;
And "Boats for Hire" the rafters ring
And pink on white the roses cling
And red the bright geraniums swing
In baskets dangling down"
John Betjeman, Henley-on-Thames
"…Never in his life had he seen a river before - this sleek, sinuous, full-bodied animal chasing and chuckling, gripping things with a gargle and leaving them with a laugh, to fling itself on fresh playmates that shook themselves free, and were caught and held again…The Mole was bewitched…"
Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
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