Llandudno Museum demonstrates the town and the peninsula’s long and storied history, from pre-history to the present. The unique limestone make-up of the Great and Little Orme created caves that preserved numerous pre-historical artifacts testifying to how long the area has been inhabited by humans. Combine your museum visit with a tour of the art collection left to the town by Francis Chardon, a local artist.
Start on the ground floor, where a mixture of decorative and fine art presents a time capsule of this region in the early 20th century. Continue into the prehistoric exhibit. Watch a short documentary about Blodwen, a 5,000-year-old skeleton found in Little Orme in 1891. It is now kept on display in a glass case.
Admire the patterns on a 13,000-year-old horse jawbone, demonstrative of the long tradition of Celtic art. Look at the Bronze Age tools found in a local copper mine, still marked by use and now colored green by the copper ore. The area’s mining heritage is also visible in the replica miner’s cottage, which demonstrates how Llandudno’s residents lived for most of the town’s history.
Go upstairs to the Roman section, full of artifacts from Llandudno’s past as Kanovium, a Roman-era military settlement erected to defend Roman Britain. Imagine the Roman soldiers playing with the board game, whose pieces still sit perfectly in their sconces, or the Roman child whose footprint is still visible in a floor tile.
Continue on through the medieval section with its Celtic handbell, then into the Spa Town section, with historical photographs showing Llandudno’s golden age as a 19th-century resort town. Leave being able to see the town with new eyes.
Llandudno Museum is in the northwestern area of Llandudno’s old town, a few streets in from the coast. Drive there in 3 minutes from Llandudno Station, or walk in 10. Get to Llandudno pier in 10 minutes’ walk from the museum. Free parking is available on nearby streets, but the town is easily walkable. The museum is open from Tuesday to Saturday from mid-morning to early evening, and on Sunday afternoons. There is an admission fee, with discounts for families.
