A time capsule of working engines and social history

welcome to the waterworks museum

The working museum which makes the story of drinking water spring to life.

A Hidden Gem ... Always Something New.

The museum traces the history of drinking water from the cave-dwellers up to the present day through wonderful working engines, superb display panels, guidebooks and films and the knowledge shared by the Museum’s volunteers. Classified by English Heritage as "a site of clear national importance", the Museum is home to the oldest working triple-expansion steam engine in the UK and probably has the widest range of working pumps and engines.

Please click here for details of Admission and Other Charges. We regret we cannot accept debit or credit cards.

What we offer

CHILDREN'S ACTIVITIES 2017

We firmly believe that a good museum has to offer something and be welcoming for all the family, not just the grown-ups, so we are delighted to be a signatory to the Kids in Museums Manifesto.

Our new outdoor exhibition space, the Noel Meeke Heritage Water Park, was designed specially to attract visits by family groups.

Don't miss our children's activity days for 2017.

A typical visitor will spend between one to two hours at the Waterworks Museum – Hereford, and perhaps longer on the days when the Museum is operating in steam. See the Museum’s 2017 Calendar for more information.

For this reason, visitors often combine a visit to the Museum with a visit to one of Hereford’s other major attractions, most notably the impressive Norman Cathedral and its chained library and Mappa Mundi Museum, the Cider Museum or the Broomy Hill Model Railway which sits adjacent to the Waterworks Museum.