Cambridgeshire

PETERBOROUGH MUSEUM & ART GALLERY

Priestgate, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE1 1LF
Tel: 01733 343329

The Museum and Art Gallery covers all aspects of the story of Peterborough, from the distant past to the present day. Displays reveal the prehistoric marine reptiles that lived in the area in the Jurassic period and the many fascinating everyday items left by our ancestors, from the Romans to the Victorians. Among the treasures waiting to be discovered are huge dinosaur bones, beautiful Roman silver and amazing bone models made by Napoleonic prisoners of war (1797 - 1814).

RAMSEY RURAL MUSEUM

The Woodyard, Wood Lane, Ramsey, Huntingdon, Cambs, PE26 2XD
Tel: 01487 815715 / 814304
E-mail: d.yardley@talk21.com

The Museum is housed in 17th century farm buildings and various barns set in open countryside. A wide variety of agricultural machinery, cobblers shop, chemists, blacksmiths, Victorian bedroom, kitchen schoolroom, Local and Family History archive and much, much more - with facilities for the disabled, Tea Room & Shop - open Thurs 10-5 & Sun & Bank Holiday Mondays 2 - 5 pm. Groups and other times by appointment.

Whittlesey Museum

Town Hall, Market Street, Whittlesey, PE7 1BD
Tel: 01733 840968
Web: www.whittleseyweb.com

Hidden Treasures from 1950s village post office/ corner shop with its contents, assistants and customers. A new acquisition of a framed lithograph of Sir Harry Smith with his signature to add to the permanent display of photographs and information on 'our hero of Aliwal' who was born in Whittlesey.

Ely Museum

The Old Gaol, Market Street, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB7 4LS
Tel: 01353 666655
E-mail: info@elymuseum.org.uk
Web: www.elymuseum.org.uk

The Museum tells the story of Ely and the Isle from the Ice Age to the present day. Many items on display for the first time. Tableaux of the condemned and debtors cells (original to the building) on the first floor. Rolling programme of talks and temporary displays in the Vemon Cross Room, and events anywhere in the museum.

Cromwell Museum

Grammar School Walk, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, PE29 3LF
Tel: 01480 375830
E-mail: CromwellMuseum@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Oliver Cromwell was born in Huntingdon in 1599 and was educated at the Town Grammar School, which is now the Museum. The Museum has a collection of portraits and personal objects that relate to Cromwell and family. His personal powder flask which carries his monogram of OC, devised within a sun and moon, is made of mother of pearl, inlaid with amber, ivory and silver, suggests that there were limits to the Lord Protector's austerity!

The Stained Glass Museum

Ely Cathedral, The College, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB7 4DL
Tel: 01353 660347
E-mail: info@stainedglassmuseum.com
Web: www.stainedglassmuseum.com

Over 100 panels of stained glass trace the history of stained glass from the Middle Ages to the present Burne Jones panel of St Matthew depicts a money-bag with coins spilling out illustrating his profession as a tax collector.

Prickwillow Drainage Engine Museum

Main Street, Prickwillow, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB7 4UN
Tel: 01353 688360
E-mail: enquiries@prickwillow-engine-museum.co.uk
Web: www.prickwillow-engine-museum.co.uk

The Prickwillow site had been in continuous use as a Pumping Station since 1831. The Museum displays chart the history of Fenland drainage since the 17th Century. The effect of drainage on land levels and the workings of the modern drainage system.

The Norris Museum

41 The Broadway, St. Ives, PE27 5BX
Tel: 01480 497314
E-mail: bob@norrismuseum.org.uk
Web: www.norrismuseum.org.uk

The story of Huntingdonshire from earliest times; including fossils from the time of dinosaurs, remains of Mammoths, prehistoric and Roman Archaeology, objects from the Middle Ages, Civil War, lace making and fen skating. Hidden treasures include brooches and jewellery from Roman and Saxon times, silver pennies minted at Huntingdon in the Middle Ages, and medals won by soldiers of the old Huntingdon Regiment.

Thorney Heritage Museum

The Tank Yard, Station Road, Thorney, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE6 0QE
Tel: 01733 270780
E-mail: Dot.Thorney@tesco.net
Web: www.thorney-museum.org.uk

To many people, Thorney is a set of traffic lights on the A47 between Peterborough and Wisbech. However, it is a village with a rich history, and Hidden Treasures as shown and explained in the small, independently run Museum. Models and displays describe the villages development from a Saxon monastery, a major Benedictine house and an agricultural fen village. In the Nineteenth Century, the Dukes of Bedford built a model village for their workers, which resulted in the fine architecture and the development of local industries. Thorney would like to show you its secrets.

St. Neots Museum

The Old Court, 8 New Street, St. Neots, PE19 1AE
Tel: 01480 388921
E-mail: curators@stneotsmuseum.org.uk
Web: www.stneotsmuseum.org.uk

A new Museum telling the story of St Neots - a historic market town on the River Ouse and its surrounding area. The Museum is housed in the town's former Magistrates Court and Police Station, with its original cells, dating to the early 1900's. Attractive new displays cover the general history of the area from prehistoric times onwards, its crafts and trades, home and community life. Since opening in December 1995, the museum has 'rediscovered' and put on show many 'hidden treasures', such as the magnificently painted bass drum of the towns former Salvation Army Band.

Chatteris Museum

14 Church Lane, Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, PE16 6JA
Tel: 01354 696319
E-mail: chatteris.museum@lineone.net

Chatteris Museum has recently moved from premises which had limited access to a modern town centre location. Entirely staffed by volunteers the work to establish a new Museum will take until at least the year 2000. Whilst work is being carried out to create the 5 permanent exhibitions galleries illustrating the history of the town, its people, trade and local fenland drainage, a continuing series of temporary exhibitions will display hidden treasures as they are rediscovered from storage.

Octavia Hill Birthplace Museum Trust

1 South Brink Place, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, PE13 1JE
Tel: 01945 476358
E-mail: octaviahillmuseum@yahoo.uk

Octavia Hill (1838-1912) was born in the Grade II* Georgian house which is the home of the Birth Place Museum. The rooms commemorate and record the life and work of the co-founder of the National Trust, her family and fellow workers. It documents her achievements in many spheres of modern life. Her common place book started when she was 15, is on display, giving an unique insight into the development of her thought and philosophy.