Weston Park Museum, Sheffield

Weston Park Museum, located in Sheffield, is the city's largest museum and resides within Weston Park, approximately one mile west of Sheffield city center. Housed in a Grade II* listed building, the museum is managed by Museums Sheffield and has a rich history dating back to 1875 when it opened in Weston House. The museum's current building, expanded in a Neoclassical style with an Ionic order extension added in 1887, originally also housed the Mappin Art Gallery, which was established to display the collection of artwork bequeathed by John Newton Mappin, a Rotherham businessman.

The museum complex has undergone several transformations throughout its history. Weston Hall, originally part of the museum grounds, was demolished in the 1930s to make way for a new purpose-built structure completed in 1937, partially funded by local businessman J. G. Graves. For many years, the museum and the Mappin Art Gallery operated under the joint name of Sheffield City Museum and Mappin Art Gallery, hosting collections that covered Sheffield's archaeology, natural history, decorative art, and social history, as well as temporary art exhibitions in the gallery space.

Weston Park Museum features seven galleries: the Harold Cantor Gallery, Sheffield Life and Times, History Lab, Arctic World, What On Earth!, Treasures, and Picturing Sheffield. The Harold Cantor Gallery hosts temporary exhibitions, including major touring shows from national partners like the V&A and the British Museum. Notable exhibits include a replica of Bronze Age rock art from Gardom's Edge and the Benty Grange helmet, a piece closely resembling the warriors' helmets described in the epic poem Beowulf. The museum also houses one of the UK's longest-serving weather stations, which has been recording data since 1882.

Receiving approximately 250,000 visitors annually, Weston Park Museum has earned significant recognition, including a nomination for the prestigious Gulbenkian Prize in 2007 and winning The Guardian's Family Friendly Museums award in 2008.