Booth Museum Of Natural History

So it’s FREE. Donations requested.
Very clean and friendly. Lots to look at. Mainly birds, butterfly’s and skeletons but kids love it. Lots for them to do.

Old Mr. Booth was a bit odd really, wasn’t he?
Sitting directly opposite Dyke Road Park, this funny little museum isn’t a bad option to spend a free hour in.
Airing on the creepy side, this place is quite an interesting place to bring the kids. Set up in the 1800s as an obsession of Mr. Booths, he was booted out of uni for his neglect of his studies in favour of hunting and perusing other hobbies of his, him having a great interest in natural history and birds, just the winged type though! He had no heirs to leave his morbid little collection to, so it’s been left to the people of Brighton to enjoy! Hooray!
The place is filled with stuffed birds and animals, Booth having a keen interest in taxidermy, and it’s all quite dark and musty in there which adds to the peculiar atmosphere. I love the skeleton room, it’s fascinating, I was in total awe of the whale bones and wasn’t expecting the seal to have as many at it does, their flippers look like toe bones!
The butterfly and moth displays weren’t my favourite being ABSOLUTELY PETRIFIED of them but it’s still amazing to see all the different types. Beautiful colours.
I was most interested in the re-​creation of a Victorian living room, they were a huge fan of displaying all their prized curiosities and collections. My son was most impressed and insisted this would be how he will be decorating his home when he’s older.
All in all, it’s a good, interesting place with free entry! Give it whirl if you have an hour to kill.

The Booth Museum is bizarre. Kids love bizarre, don’t they? For a free hour or so, you can do worse than bring them here to spook them out and maybe teach them a little about natural history and evolution
Established as a labour of love by an eager taxidermist in the 19^th century, it’s a brilliant example of what men who like collecting do when they have a few quid. Glass cases line the walls. Each stuffed, ahem, with birds of all types. Eagles, Avocets, Finches. Booth bagged the lot and put them in this museum.
But of more interest, I think, are the skeletons and fossils. If the bairns are studying evolution there’s plenty to intrigue, and possibly appal them. A dolphin, apes, a rhino skull and one of us (homo sapiens) are all on display in bone form.
It’s also a real hoot for adults. In fact, adults will probably enjoy this relic more. But it is a must for all. It’s also free. Yay!

The Booth Museum is not as the name suggests a museum of booths. It was in fact set up by a man called Edward Booth in 1874. Full of stuffed creatures of all sizes it makes for an interesting day out, especially because it’s free entry. The only thing slightly annoying about the place is the overwhelming bias towards birds. You will find a few other creatures, the most interesting of these being a Merman that’s right I said Merman. Apart from a bear, a boa constrictor, a badger and the heads of a tiger and zebra the entire collection of stuffed animals were birds, some of which were unusual. However, I see no need to include common seagulls in the exhibition, as Brightonians have to put with them on a daily basis. My favorite part of the museum has to be the skeleton room, which features the bones of various creatures from monkeys to elephants. If that’s not all there’s a small room dedicated to precious minerals and crystals that’s also very interesting. Whether you’re a resident or just visiting Brighton you have to check this place out. It’s certainly worth the walk.

Starting from the centre of town and waling to the Booth Museum took an absolute age to find. Every road we turned down seemed to get us closer and closer but it just never appeared. Even people we passed and asked about it’s location weren’t too sure either, then suddenly it was there. From what looks like a small front, the museum is quite deep and high in proportion. The exhibition, which I think was to run for a number of years, was predominantly taxidermy. All quite quickly boring except for a small section where they had mocked up spliced animals. Cat heads on mice, dogs with wings etc.

Why it isn’t more popular I don’t know but The Booth Museum of Natural History is definitely somewhere you should check out. Whether you’re down for the day or a full time resident it’s a must-​see and as it’s free entry and not too far from town there is no reason why you shouldn’t go. As it’s full of stuffed animals there’s a somewhat ghostly air about the place but for me this makes the experience all the more interesting. Rarely will you have the opportunity to get up close to an owl and admire its features in such detail. While it’ll leave most animal lovers with a slight sense of melancholy I would have no fears bringing even the most avid birdwatcher here, as the displays are undoubtedly striking if not beautiful.

I recently had to visit this museum, for a Museum Studies short course I was taking. On my journey there, I got a little bit lost (yes, despite years of living in Brighton!) and asked for directions. I asked not less than four people, none of whom had ever heard of the Booth Museum! Eventually it transpired that the place is locally known as ‘the Bird Museum’…hence the confusion! The reason for the renaming is made abundantly clear once inside. The small museum is home to an astonishingly complete collection of taxidermy, bones, fossils and more. It would seem as if Edward Booth’s wife was so sick of stuffed birds cluttering up their home, that she made him build a separate building for them, which later became this museum.
Like Tasha S., I found the place to be incredibly creepy and if I’m honest (not being a natural historian), not all that fascinating. However, if you are a natural historian or a bird or taxidermy enthusiast, this place will probably be of real interest to you. The butterflies were pretty, but again, it was all just a bit weird…

This little museum up by Seven Dials, just opposite Dyke Road Park, is a great hidden gem in Brighton. Its not, as the name may suggest, a museum of booths (which sounds rather dodgy I reckon) — rather, it’s named after the founder Edward Booth! Instead you’ll find bones, birds (LOTs of birds), butterflies and fossils. It wasn’t the best experience of mine, as I find this kinda thing a bit creepy — but if it floats your boat, this is a really well organised/​notated collection.
Oh, and I should probably also mention, entry is freeeeee!

Es un lugar donde podrás ver infinidad de animales disecados y conoser más sobre la historia de Brighton. No es facil de encontrar y es gratis

This is an extraordinary little museum situated in a quiet suburb of Brighton (on the road towards Devil’s Dyke).
Essentially, it houses the amazing collection of the 19^th century natural historian Edward Thomas Booth (1840 – 1890). Born into a wealthy family, his enthusiasm for bird-​shooting and ornithology got him sent down from Cambridge University in 1865. Returning to Brighton, he established one of the largest collections of stuffed birds in the UK. (He even had a private railway carriage kept at Brighton railway station, to take him anywhere a rare bird had been spotted.)
As this collection outgrew his home, he did what any wealthy Victorian eccentric would do, which was to erect a museum in his garden — the building we still see to-​day. The birds are displayed in dioramas depicting their ‘natural settings’, a format of which Booth was an early pioneer. And while I’m not generally a fan of stuffed animals, I have to admit that these are impressive.
Over the years, the collection has been supplemented by over half a million insects, a significant collection of animal skeletons, and displays of broader natural history, geology and fossils. It also holds a significant library and herbarium collection for research purposes. There’s a small souvenir shop, and children’s events are organised in the school holidays.
As a place to visit, it is equally fascinating for the social history it represents, from an era when one man could not only establish such a museum, but also shoot and collect so many animals! However, its focus (and very traditional presentation) is such that it’s only really for those with an interest in natural history, although there are special ‘hands-​on’ exhibits for children.
The museum is served by bus routes 27, 27A and 77 from the City Centre via Brighton railway station. Admission free.