Free Ludlow exhibition revives a pageant of 2,000 costumes

Colourful costumes, memorabilia and original film footage bring Ludlow’s large-scale 1934 pageant back into view at Shropshire Museums’ Collections Centre, Lower Gallery. The free Ludlow: The Pageant exhibition is open to the general public until Friday 18 December 2026, with donations welcome.

Visitors can attend from 9.30am to 5pm on Monday to Wednesday and Friday, or from 9.30am to 1pm on Saturday. The venue is closed on Thursdays.

Costumes and film show the pageant’s scale

The exhibition brings together original costumes worn in the 1934 theatrical performances, surviving ephemera from the celebrations and film footage of the pageant at Ludlow Castle. These materials document an event involving hundreds of performers and communities from across Shropshire.

More than 2,000 costumes were produced for the original pageant. Participants portrayed figures spanning over 1,500 years of local history, while a parade through the castle featured local people dressed to represent different periods of Shropshire’s past.

Held over six days in the summer of 1934, the spectacle attracted audiences of around 4,000 people each day. Visitors travelled from across the country and beyond, demonstrating the reach of what was a substantial cultural undertaking for the county.

For exhibition visitors, the surviving film provides a record of how those costumes and performances appeared within Ludlow Castle rather than showing them only as individual museum objects. The memorabilia also helps place the production within the wider programme of celebrations.

Why the celebrations took place in Ludlow

The Shropshire Historical Pageant formed part of events marking 300 years since the performance of John Milton’s Comus at Ludlow Castle. Written in 1634, Comus is a masque, a historical form combining musical and dramatic performance.

Milton wrote the work for presentation at the castle, giving the tercentenary a direct connection to Ludlow. The 1934 programme united participants from across society, from schoolchildren to lords and ladies, in a theatrical retelling of the county’s past.

The exhibition explores that shared effort as well as the finished spectacle. Alex Wagner, Shropshire Council’s portfolio holder for culture, said the surviving costumes, footage and memorabilia offer a glimpse of the pageant’s scale, ambition and the community effort behind it.

What to check before visiting

The information supplied by Shropshire Council Newsroom does not specify booking arrangements, transport guidance or accessibility provision. Anyone who needs those details should check with Shropshire Museums before travelling. The varying opening hours—and the Thursday closure—are particularly important when planning a visit before the exhibition ends on 18 December.

Source: Shropshire Council Newsroom