Visitor Information Point - Long Shop Museum

One of Leiston's Visitor Information Points is located within the Long Shop Museum, which stocks a range of leaflets and guides containing useful information to help you during your visit.

Inaugurated in 1984, the museum occupies some of the buildings of the original 19th-century works of Richard Garrett & Sons. The Long Shop itself, built in 1852, was a prototype of assembly line production. Garrett’s designed, manufactured and marketed a huge range of products over its 240 year history, and was an important factor in the way that the Industrial Revolution changed forever the way that rural communities lived and worked.

The museum preserves and displays objects that tell a story of technical, cultural and social change over more than 200 years. Garrett’s was a part of both the agricultural revolution and the industrial revolution. By constantly looking to the future the firm had a disproportional impact on the Victorian world. The collection includes a number of restored steam powered vehicles, three of which are run regularly on advertised event days.