Diss Museum

Diss Museum is housed in the historic Shambles building on Diss Market place. A small but perfectly-formed museum, it hosts changing exhibitions about Diss and nearby villages, packed with local interest. 

You can peer into the Old Rectory, a 19th century dolls house, browse archive photos of the town and find out about the family businesses that have shaped Diss town over the years.

Connections with historical events and personalities led to festivals and projects featuring: John Betjeman, Thomas Paine, Ethel Le Neve (mistress of wife-murderer Crippen) and the Manning family, as well as the WW2 American airmen and the town's WW1 sacrifice.

One of the museum's high points was a re-creation of the meeting of a member of the Manning family and the Dalai Lama, 200 years after Thomas Manning became the first European to do so.

Always on display are the Manning family dolls' house and information about local personalities like Tudor poet-laureate and Diss rector, John Skelton, and Victorian photographer, Cleer Alger. Panels in the windows depict significant characters and events from the town's past.

• Town tours including the Murder Tour
• Maximum group size 15

Outreach

Outreach activities include: 
Talks to groups and schools, tours of the town (including a Murder Tour) and involvement in events like the Roydon Riots Centenary (1993), Skelton Festival (2004), Nelson Bi-centenary (2005), Betjeman Centenary (2006), Local History Festival (2007), Tom Paine Festival (2009) and Friends In High Places: The Manning Story (2011).