Poole Old Lifeboat Museum
Museums & Science Centres · Poole, Dorset
No reviews yet
Closed — opens tomorrow at 10.30am
🏠 IndoorEducational🆓 Free entry
What’s there
- Limited parking
No museum car park. The RNLI page points to the public car park at Poole Quay Hotel, a few minutes' walk away.
Only facilities we’ve confirmed are listed — anything missing here we simply haven’t checked, rather than know to be absent.
Set in the 1882 boathouse where Poole's lifeboat crews were based for almost a century, this small museum traces the town's lifesaving history from 1865 to the present day. The centrepiece is the Surf-class lifeboat Thomas Kirk Wright, which served at Poole from 1939 to 1962 and sailed to Dunkirk in 1940. Children can try on crew kit from the Thomas Kirk Wright era and compare it with modern RNLI clothing, which makes it a useful stop for curious older children and a rainy-afternoon option on the quay. Displays cover artefacts, historic lifejackets, crew bravery and oral histories from volunteers. A gift shop sells RNLI souvenirs, and the nearby quay offers plenty of space to walk afterwards. Entry is free, with donations welcomed. The museum is staffed by volunteers, so opening is subject to availability.
Stuff to take with you
The things people wish they’d packed for a day out like this one.
Refillable water bottleMost places will fill it for free.
Snacks that survive a rucksackCheaper than the café, and buys you twenty minutes.
Wet wipes
Small first aid kitPlasters solve more days out than anything else here.- Sudocrem
- Sun cream for after
Spare batteries- Zip-lock bagsThe shell collection, the wet swimming costume, the half-eaten sandwich.
- Painkillers for grown-ups
A penForms, competitions, name badges.
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Photos: 維基小霸王, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Renée Kools, CC BY 4.0
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