Mysterious Masked Man arrives...

New Cases in Room 5

Two sides of Room 5 have now been fitted out with a sweep of new display cases thanks to the generosity of the Burnthouse Farm Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund.

These cases will display items relating to traditional ways of living off the fens, the draining of Whittlesea Mere in 1851 and loosely cover the period from Victorian Whittlesey up until the start of WW1.

The cases form part of an overall redisplay to produce a local history timeline across Rooms 5 and 6.

Successful Straw Bear

Toys on Display

December has seen Santa's elves working hard at the Museum to unpack the bulk of the Toys & Games collection from store and transfer it across to a new display in cases in Room 2 (previously used for domestic items).

Previously-hidden gems include a game of 'Trench Football' from World War One, a Victorian pull-along elephant toy found on King's Dyke and a variety of space-age items from the 1960s.

Museum Instagram Launched

Whittlesey Museum joins the smartphone age with the launch of a new museum Instagram feed: https://www.instagram.com/whittleseymuseum/

The image-based social network is already used by many UK museums and allows users to build and share a personal photo album of their own pictures.

The Whittlesey Museum feed specialises in photographs of the local area, museum objects and things that are happening at the museum.

Wind Farm Grant Awarded

This month we are feeling grateful to the Burnthouse Farm Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund, a charitable fund managed by Cambridgeshire Community Foundation, who have just granted Whittlesey Museum £825 towards the cost of new shelving for Room 5! Updates will follow as the shelving is installed and filled up as part of our ongoing timeline of local history. We hope to be able to bring quite a few objects out of our stores as a result of this grant and cover topics such as The Draining of Whittlesey Mere, Traditional Fenland Life, Victorian Whittlesey and World War One.

Surprise archaeology at Whittlesey Museum!

Brushing away some loose soil immediately outside the back door of our replica Forge has exposed a lovely section of original brick floor from the time when the back buildings of the old Town Hall used to be a caretaker's cottage. 
We hope to be able to keep the bricks visible now to share them with the public.