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Rot expected to keep museum closed until 2026

Richard Green
BBC News, South West
BBC Rotting timber lintel above a green painted windown frame in an old building with render removed BBC
Topsham Museum is unlikely to reopen in 2025 due to extensive repair works needed on the rotting window lintels and roof trusses

Rotting roof trusses and crumbling window lintels are likely to keep Topsham Museum closed for the rest of 2025, trustees have said.

Damage to the 17th Century Grade II listed building was discovered last year, when render was removed from the building and the full extent of the problem was revealed.

Rachel Nichols, president of the museum, said there was no option but to close the site because of its unsafe condition, adding: "The roof is very unstable because of rot on the ends of the roof trusses."

Exeter City Council, which is responsible for the repairs, said it would cost about £400,000 and will take the rest of the year to fully complete.

The closure has forced the trustees to dip into the museum's financial reserves.

A woman in a stripy top , wearing glasses, stood in a doorway, with green door frame, and a sign above the threshold saying "Welcome to Topsham Museum"
Rachel Nichols says the closure means a major loss of income for the museum

Although they still hope to put on other events in the town to keep funds coming in, Ms Nichols admitted it was going to be a tough summer.

"Originally, we would have opened in April and welcomed our lovely 10,000 visitors (for the year)," she said.

"We have a loss of income because our tea rooms and shop can't open either."

A further delay arose because of an objection by The Society for Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) to some of the proposed repairs.

A revised plan will now be brought to Exeter City Council's full planning committee on Monday, with a decision to made by 2 May.

However, the museum's volunteers are using the closure as an opportunity to catalogue and find out about every single item in the vast collection housed there.

A group of people sat around a table, with laptops , pens and paper, and items ready to be catalogued and recorded in an inventory
Volunteers, organised by Jan Lawson (left), are cataloguing every item stored in Topsham Museum's collection.

Jan Lawson, who is in charge of the volunteers collating the inventory, said the museum trustees did not realise how many items they had.

"It's a challenge but this is an opportunity to go through every box and record every item," she said.

She added that when the building work is complete, the museum would again become pivotal in the east Devon town.

"The whole of the community value what it does. It's run entirely by volunteers," she said.

"It's a family. We have fun and do a lot of work but we have plans for the future and hope to be able to entice people back as both visitors and volunteers."

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