Tenby Museum & Art Gallery

Tenby Museum and Art Gallery is the oldest independent museum in Wales, having been established in 1878.  Its collections illustrate the history of the town and locality, ranging from prehistory, natural history, social and maritime history, piracy and art.  The natural history collection includes the nationally important collection of shells of William Lyons.  The geological collections include the world-wide collection by Edward Ridsadale and the archaeological collections include items from many important sites in the area including Caldey Island, Hoyles Mouth Cave and Croesmihangel.  The museum also has a vast antiquarian research library which includes very early editions of works by Tenby born mathematician Robert Recorde who is regarded as the inventor of the equals (=) sign.

The permanent art collection has works by many important artists including John Piper, David Jones, Kyffin Williams, Jonah Jones, Fiore de Henriquez and Augustus John.  Tenby has  aong association with the arts - Nina Hamnett was born here , Gwen and Augustus John spent their formative years here (Augustus was also born in the town) and the museum has an excellent collection of works by these three artists.  The collection also includes personal memorabilia from these artists.  

The museum is a registred charity and fully accredited.