Museum of Cambridge awarded National Lottery Heritage Fund grant

The Museum of Cambridge has received a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant of £210,600 to support Museum Making, which will be a transformational project for the Museum.

Museum of Cambridge

This project will represent a significant step in the redevelopment of the Museum to become a sustainable cultural hub, telling the stories of the diverse communities and people who live in Cambridge. At a time when many cultural institutions are struggling financially, the team is very grateful to the Fund for this vote of confidence in its Museum.

The team says: "A key element of Museum Making is increasing the reach of our collection. Museum Making will explore how to connect the 20,000 objects we care for with their stories, the people who used them, and the people of Cambridge today. This will involve bringing to the fore several unusual, intriguing and little-known objects that are currently not on display."

Our Museum

Visit us and you will find a warm welcome, a quirky and unusual building and fascinating objects in our collections, some that might bring back memories.

Known as The Cambridge and County Folk Museum for over 70 years, our building is a Grade II listed 17th century former coaching inn at 2-3 Castle St, Cambridge, CB3 0AQ.

It’s an increasingly rare and important example of an historic timber-framed building of its type that is open to the public. Used by the townspeople of Cambridge, it was a domestic dwelling which has changed over time so it has an eccentric layout, winding staircases, uneven floors and a charming character that make your visit memorable.

Our collections represent Cambridge and Cambridgeshire history and heritage over 300 years, including objects related to everyday life, customs and traditions of local people, places and events.

We love the ways that objects tell stories, of their history, their makers, their owners and users. They tell stories that still have meaning now and we want to make connections between the past and the present by collecting peoples’ stories today.

Folklorist Enid Porter was the longest serving Museum curator (1947-1976) and her work characterises our collection. She strove to collect and preserve local heritage for future generations, recording stories and memories giving a unique insight and also shaping modern English folklore studies. We are reviving her ethos and ideas through projects exploring more recent, diverse heritage, reflecting and recording stories of development and change.



Read more

Looking for something specific?