[1] It is home to North Somerset Council museum collection with exhibits relating to Weston-super-Mare and the surrounding area from 400 million years ago to the present day.

[3] He began to put together a collection of "specimens of natural history" with his aim being, "to secure a museum for the town of Weston, free to the public at all reasonable times".

[1] The church had raised money to build a hall in memory of the late Prince Albert and the Night School collection moved in.

[6] This 'vaguely Renaissance-style, red Cattybrook brick building' was designed by local architects Hans Fowler Price and Sydney Wilde.

[6] In 1975, the museum was moved to its present location in the site of the former offices and showrooms of the Weston Gaslight Company in Burlington Street.

[1] Weston-super-Mare Town Council acquired the Burlington Street building in 2011[7][8] and in 2012 a bid was made to the Heritage Lottery Fund to make major improvements.

[11][7] It was designed and built by local architects Hans Fowler Price and William Jane in 1912 to house the company's stores and distribution workshops, incorporating an existing stable yard in its construction.

[14][1] In 2010 there were plans to close and sell the whole Burlington Street museum site and move displays to a small section of the Winter Gardens premise on the seafront.

[9] Preliminary funding came during 2013 in the form of a £72,000 grant to investigate redevelopment options and create a sound business model for a refurbished museum.

[16] Nerys Watts, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund South West in 2015, described the plans as "a transformational project for Weston-Super-Mare."

[17] These consultants would advise the redevelopment project on how to establish a "unique visitor destination within an economically sustainable business", so that town council subsidy could be kept as low as possible.

[17][9] The second was a series of collaborative workshops enabling local schools and community groups to help create an "eye-catching" wood print mural.

[16] The museum has four permanent galleries with key objects from the collections, including geology, archaeology, art, and social history.

[28][25] Forthcoming subjects include links between the West Country and the Spanish Civil War, Pride, and the Citizen's Advice Bureau.

[29] In Spring 2018 the museum was co-host to Weston's first literary festival, which ran from 22 February to 1 March, coinciding with World Book Day.

[30] Writers who featured in the event include Amanda Prowse, Huw Powell and Lord Jeffrey Archer, who grew up in Weston.

[30] The festival returned in February 2019,[31] with speakers including writer and broadcaster Christina Patterson, the children's authors Claire Barker and Duncan Beedie, and the women's rights activist Dr Helen Pankhurst.

[13] When the Council bought the cottage the aim was to restore it to how it looked at the turn of the nineteenth century and to recreate three main rooms – the kitchen, parlour, and the lodger's bedroom.