Museum

The building known as the Museum, originally listed as the Cloth Hall, was constructed in 1626-27 by Richard Emmes of Speenhamland for the Newbury Corporation to serve as a cloth factory. The original structure was designed around a courtyard, with the surviving south range now functioning as the museum. By 1659, the building had been repurposed as a workhouse, known as Kendrick's Hospital. From 1706 to 1722, part of the building was adapted for use as a Blue Coat School. Following the establishment of the River Kennet Waterway Trade in 1714, the old Cloth Hall transitioned into a grain store. The north and east ranges were likely demolished around 1829, after which the south range underwent renovation. The building was restored in 1897 and converted into a museum between 1902 and 1904. In 1934, the Walter Money Memorial gallery was added to the east end, designed in a style that connects the museum with the Old Granary.

The museum is two-and-a-half storeys tall and features a six-bay north front, with a first-floor jetty and three large gables. It has a tile roof with a brick chimney, which may date from around 1897, featuring two diagonal shafts on a square stack. The structure is timber-framed with plaster panels. The ground floor bays are adorned with semi-circular wood pilasters that support a semi-elliptical blind arcade. The jetty is supported by carved brackets, most of which have been restored, and features a moulded bressumer. The windows include mullioned designs with leaded lights and cornices; there are three-light attic windows, four-light first-floor windows with transoms, and four-light ground floor windows. Openings and a doorway were created in the west gable wall, which was a former party wall, before 1759, matching the style of the rest of the building. The doorway, remodeled between 1902 and 1904, is flanked by pilasters and has a coved, bracketed hood that extends from the bressumer. It features a panelled door, and there is a former doorway located in the west bay of the north front. The interior has been modernized.