Tolsey Museum

The Cotswolds


This engaging local museum occupies the upper floor of an unusual 16th-century building with a columned open arcade at street level where traders once paid their market tolls. The museum itself covers Burford’s historical crafts and industries, by which people have made everything from clocks and clarinets to dolls’ houses and metallic mortars.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby The Cotswolds attractions

1. St John the Baptist’s Church

0.19 MILES

Burford's splendid church, near the river, took over three centuries to build, from 1175 onwards. Its fan-vaulted ceiling, Norman west doorway and 15th…

2. St Mary’s Church

1.78 MILES

This 12th-century church, in the village of Swinbrook, 3 miles east of Burford, is remarkable for the tomb of the Fettiplace family, who dominated this…

3. Cotswold Wildlife Park

2.46 MILES

Younger visitors in particular will enjoy this hugely popular wildlife centre, 3 miles south of Burford. Its vast 250-species menagerie includes penguins,…

4. Minster Lovell Hall

4.57 MILES

The main sight in Old Minster is Minster Lovell Hall, a 15th-century riverside manor house that fell into ruins after being abandoned in 1747. You can…

5. Blanket Hall

6.72 MILES

A fine testament to Witney’s wool-trade prosperity, the baroque Blanket Hall, built in 1721 to host the Witney Company of Blanket Weavers, dominates the…

6. St Mary’s Church

6.76 MILES

At the southern end of the village green, fine St Mary’s was built in the late 12th century, probably on the site of an earlier Saxon church. Many of…

7. Kelmscott Manor

8.24 MILES

Nestling near the Thames 20 miles west of Oxford (northwest of Faringdon), Kelmscott Manor is a gorgeous garden-fringed Tudor pile that was bought in 1871…

8. Old Mill

8.49 MILES

Right on the River Eye, the Old Mill houses a cafe and crafts shop as well as a small museum, where you can find out all about the building’s former life…