Wootton Bassett Museum is a local museum

Local museum

A local museum is a museum that covers local history. Its collection normally includes objects with a local connection of some sort. Such museums are often small in nature and have a low budget for their running costs...

 in the market town of Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

, England.

The museum is in housed in the half timbered town hall. The building has an upper storey supported on 15 pillars. It was a gift of the Hyde family (Earls of Clarendon

Earl of Clarendon

Earl of Clarendon is a title that has been created twice in British history, in 1661 and 1776. The title was created for the first time in the Peerage of England in 1661 for the statesman Edward Hyde, 1st Baron Hyde...

) and was built c1700. The building was extensively restored in 1889, and was Grade II listed in 1955.

Wootton Bassett Museum includes a photographic collection covering life in Wootton Bassett during the 19th and 20th centuries. Objects in the collection include a ducking stool dating from 1686, geological items, stocks

Stocks

Stocks are devices used in the medieval and colonial American times as a form of physical punishment involving public humiliation. The stocks partially immobilized its victims and they were often exposed in a public place such as the site of a market to the scorn of those who passed by...

, and a whipping post.