We’re really sorry, but the Grimshaw exhibition in the Art Gallery and the West Wing of the Rotunda Museum are currently closed due to water leaks following recent heavy rainfall. We’re working to open them again as soon as possible – thanks for your understanding. 

Top 50 Objects

With thousands of objects in the collection, we invite you to explore and learn about these gems...

Two pale brown coloured sculptures. One is small an includes and object that reads Owen. The second sculpture is a bust of a person with short hair wearing a shirt, tie and jacket.

Object of the month

Wilfred Owen Bust

Created by northern sculptor Anthony Padgett, this object celebrates one of our best-known and best-loved war poets.

Ammonite Fossil

Collected by the nephew of William Smith, John Phillips, Ammonite specimens are still cared for as part of the Scarborough collections over 200 years on.

Gristhorpe Man

The skeleton of the Gristhorpe man is an internationally important piece of archaeology – Britain’s best-preserved Early Bronze Age skeleton.

Birch Bark Rolls

These intriguing objects were found at Star Carr, an archaeological Stone Age site close to Scarborough. The site is very important and is world famous amongst archaeologists. 

Climming Kit

Fancy abseiling down the rocky cliffs of the Yorkshire Coast to collect seabirds' eggs? Nope, nor us!

Kirkdale Cave

It's hard to imagine now, but these simple objects – part of a red deer’s antler, and two teeth, one from a horse, one from a rhinoceros – caused something of a schism between scientists and the Church in the early 1800s.

Walrus and Carpenter

A favourite from the collection - a walrus and a carpenter taking a stroll on Scarborough’s South Bay beach!

Wilfred Owen Bust

Created by northern sculptor Anthony Padgett, this object celebrates one of our best-known and best-loved war poets.

Bombardment Map

On Wednesday 16th December 1914, one of the most dramatic days in Scarborough’s history took place.

Doll

The history of dolls is a long and complex one – these days we tend to view them simply as innocent playthings, but ancient societies, both primitive and advanced, used them as art and as religious and magical artefacts as well.

The Old Fish Market, Scarborough

Although this may look like a tired looking painting, this special object has quite the story to tell!