Nestled on the top of Salisbury Library, the Young Gallery is a free art museum with a collection of over 4,000 objects, including paintings, prints, sculpture, books and photography. The Gallery originally came into existence through the generosity of local artist Edwin Young (1831–1913).
Young produced over 500 paintings of local scenes, capturing what the city and its communities looked like at the turn of the twentieth century. Young became known for his watercolours but started out using oils, exhibiting in the 1866 and 1867 at the Bath and West Shows. This pastoral scene is typical of Young's style and his affinity towards painting landscape and nature.
Just before his death, Young donated his oil and watercolour paintings along with an endowment to support a public art gallery to the people of Salisbury. In 1913, the original Young Gallery opened in an ornate building on Chipper Lane adjoining the city's library. The building was designed by architect Alfred Champney Bothams, in a style described as 'free Cotswold Tudor-Jacobean'.
The building was decorated with an elaborate plaque which commemorated Young's donation of paintings showing 'picturesque buildings and places of natural charm in the neighbourhood of Salisbury, to form the nucleus of an art collection.' The Gallery was accessible through the library, establishing a close relationship between the two institutions. The Gallery displayed Edwin Young's paintings and was used as a reading room, where visitors could engage with literature and art at the same time.
Scene with a Duck Pond, a Cottage, Working Horses, a Donkey and a Dog
1890s
Edwin Young (1831–1913) 
The Young Gallery's collection now includes an array of watercolours which contrast with Young's work and celebrate watercolour as a medium. As of mid 2025, we are working on digitising these, so they are publicly accessible through Art UK for everyone to enjoy.
Following the opening of the Young Gallery, Mrs Bell Irving, the sister of artist Edgar Barclay, donated Barclay's Stonehenge series to the collection.
Edgar Barclay (1842–1913) was an artist and author. He studied art in Italy and Germany and was known for his landscape paintings. When Barclay returned to England in the early 1890s, he became interested in rural scenes around Salisbury, particularly Stonehenge. After closely studying the ancient monument, Barclay produced a series of artworks depicting Stonehenge and the surrounding landscape and produced the book Stonehenge and Its Earthworks in 1895.
You can see more of Barclay's Stonehenge series on Art UK and explore more in this Curation.
Since 1913, the collection has continued to grow, acquiring art that contextualises and responds to Young's work. This oil painting by George Bouverie Goddard (1832–1886) was added to the collection in 2005.
Goddard was born in Salisbury but later moved to London where he spent time drawing animals in the Zoological Gardens. Goddard became known for his paintings of animals and also contributed illustrations to the magazine Punch. Edwin Young owned paintings by Goddard and, due to his local connection, was aware of Goddard's work, making this a valued addition to the collection.
In the 1970s, it was decided that the Young Gallery and the neighbouring library would move to their current premises in Market Walk, where they have shared the space ever since. The collection also developed following a bequest from the local crime and thriller author John Creasey (1908–1973). Creasey wrote exceptionally quickly (producing between 15,000 and 20,000 words a day) which resulted in him writing over 600 books.
The Young Gallery's collection contains the contents of Creasey's study, including books, paraphernalia, walking sticks and a unique collection of original cover artwork.
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The Creasey collection also enabled the Gallery to acquire more contemporary works of art. Since then, bright pieces have been added including dynamic oil paintings by Gillian Ayres and John Bellany.
Gillian Ayres (1930–2018) is known for her vibrant, heavily worked canvases, which earned her a Turner Prize nomination. She taught at Bath Academy of Art and Winchester School of Art. These two works – Merlin and No More – exemplify her style, complement each other and showcase the vitality of oils to our visitors.
John Bellany (1942–2013) was an acclaimed Scottish painter and printmaker known for using symbolism and iconography in his work. His bright work Flowers II is thematically linked with another key area of the Gallery's collection, Robin Tanner's botanical drawings.
Robin Tanner (1904–1988) was a Wiltshire-based artist, etcher and printmaker, known for his rural scenes. The Young Gallery holds a unique selection of etchings, wood engravings, sketches, teaching aids and archival material relating to Robin Tanner, which we plan to digitise soon.
The collection also contains vibrant acrylic works, including Paul Huxley's Untitled No. 144, which is synonymous with the geometric shapes that feature in his work.
The collection, in respect of Young's founding wishes, continues to celebrate and collect local artists. These include Pamela Leatherland's confident landscapes which help to honour Salisbury and its surrounding landscape. Leatherland was a local artist, who lived just outside of Salisbury, and she exhibited at the Young Gallery during her lifetime.
By collecting depictions of local scenes, the Young Gallery showcases a snapshot of Salisbury's rich artistic connections and the area that has inspired past and future artists. From Christopher Hall's oil painting of cows at nearby Figheldean to Terry Watts's depiction of a vibrant rape seed field, visitors can glimpse the rich landscapes surrounding the Gallery.
The Young Gallery's collection continues to grow with a particular focus on prints and works on paper. Our digitisation projects are well underway, and we look forward to sharing more of the collection with Art UK over due course, further celebrating our mission to ensure great artwork is enjoyed free of charge.
Emily Dunbar, Curator and Gallery Manager of the Young Gallery
Find out more about the Young Gallery at their website or follow the Young Gallery on Instagram
