Danum Gallery, Library and Museum brings Doncaster's stories together under one roof

Doncaster has been collecting and sharing its stories for well over a century, and since 2021 they have had a striking new home. Danum Gallery, Library and Museum, on Waterdale in the city centre, brings a museum, art gallery, central library and rail heritage centre together in one building, and it is free for everyone to visit.

The museum's roots go back to 1909, when the first Doncaster Museum opened at Beechfield House. In 1964 it moved to a purpose-built site on Chequer Road, with collections of natural history, archaeology, local history and fine and decorative art. That building closed in January 2020 ahead of the move, and after delays caused by the pandemic, the new £14 million venue opened to the public on 29 May 2021.

The building itself is part of the appeal. The former Doncaster High School for Girls has been restored and wrapped in a modern glass frontage, and the old school now houses a café where visitors can settle in with a coffee and browse newspapers and magazines.

Inside, the museum ranges from a 1960s Doncaster living room to the Gresley shop, while the Museum of You celebrates the stories of local people. The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Regimental Museum is here too, along with the Roman Danum shield, found in Doncaster in 1971. Among the natural history treasures is a fossil that turned out to be the holotype of a new species, Ichthyosaurus anningae, identified in the collection in 2008 and formally named in 2015.

Railway fans have plenty to enjoy. A rail heritage centre opened in September 2021, celebrating Doncaster's contribution to the rail industry with artefacts from the Doncaster Grammar School Rail Heritage Collection and two locomotives on loan from the National Railway Museum.

The venue is also a busy community space. Families can join storytime sessions, the Central Children's Library looks out over the rail heritage centre, and there are public computers, free internet and a secure garden on the south side of the building. Exhibitions often draw on local memories: in 2023 a show about Doncaster nightlife in the 1990s, created by Doncaster artists with Cast, Right Up Our Street and Heritage Doncaster, was built from the recollections and memorabilia of local people.

Danum Gallery, Library and Museum is open Monday to Friday from 10am to 5pm and on Saturdays from 10am to 4pm. Find out more on the Visit Doncaster website.