Lawrence House Museum

Housed in a fine Georgian building dating from 1753, in a street John Betjeman described as “having the most perfect collection of 18th century townhouses in Cornwall”, Lawrence House Museum is a real find for visitors to Cornwall. It welcomes many school and other groups during the course of its season, which runs from April to October. Entry is free to all, though donations are always welcome.

There is something for everyone at the museum. The collections are housed in themed rooms featuring local history, toys to play with as well as to admire, Launceston’s famous men including John Couch Adams the discoverer of the planet Neptune, a forerunner of the juke box: a working polyphon, powered by clockwork, a rare herbarium: six volumes of over 1,000 pressed plants gathered from the Launceston area between 1881 and the 1920s. and a meticulously crafted 3mm scale model of the Launceston Southern Railway Station. The former drawing room has stunning views over the lovely garden and is used by the town mayor from time to time as his ‘parlour’.