The museum occupies two buildings: Wyggeston's Chantry House, and Thomas Skeffington's Skeffington House. The houses were used during the Siege of Leicester in 1645 as part of the English Civil. The two properties were sold in 1908 and while Chantry House remained a private residence, Skeffington House became a school for boys. Both properties were acquired and converted for museum use to 1953 as part of the celebrations surrounding the coronation of the Queen. One roomon the ground floor of the museum has been kept to represent what the houses would have looked like in the 17th Century.
Collections
Amongst the items on display are various possessions of Daniel Lambert, an 18th-century resident of Leicester who weighed over and became famous in his lifetime as Britain's largest man, and remains one of the city's famous icons. Possessions on display include items of clothing and his chair. The museum also houses a 1950s Leicester street scene modelled in Wharf Street with a number of model shops, as well as an exhibition of toys from Tudor times to the present. Other collections relate to Leicester's industrial and hosiery industry, such as Corah's and Wolsey, major clothing firms in Leicester. The museum has an exhibit with a particularly focus on the more recent history of Leicester, from the 19th century onward. During the period 2014 to 2018 it held a rolling series of exhibitions marking the centenary of the First World War entitled 'Leicester Remembers'. The museum also includes a display about the Royal Leicestershire Regiment, such as drums used by the regiment band, and a tiger, the mascot of the regiment. The museum houses a large collection of items relating to life during the wars. These cover aspects of the front-line and home front. The museum holds a large collection of medals, with records regarding the involvement of people within the Leicester Regiment, which can be accessed via a computer. A model trench sits on the first floor. Other items include a Morrison Shelter and gas masks to reflect the Home Front during the Second World War.
Gardens
The gardens of the museum are laid out on separate sides of the main building which has an extension into the garden. These are laid to box hedges in medieval style maze-like geometric patterns. The garden was stocked in Victorian times with a variety of exotic trees and other plants, several of which survive to the present day. The end wall of the garden had gun loops cut in it by Cromwell's troops, the Round-heads, in the English Civil War when the Cavalier Prince Rupert was besieging the town in 1645. These features are evident today and are a sign of Leicester's involvement in the English Civil War.
