Whittlesey Museum is located in Whittlesey, less than 90 miles from London and fewer than 10 miles from Peterborough, England. It was founded in 1976 and 31 years later it was accredited in 2007 by the United Kingdom Accreditation Scheme of the Arts Council England. Despite being a small locality in Cambridgeshire, the Whittlesey Museum is an independent institution and financially self-supporting, managed by volunteers and collaborators who keep the museum’s operations running through the management of exhibitions, events, and services provided by the museum.
The art of architecture: Transforming to adapt through time
The Whittlesey Museum building was originally the Town Hall and Fire Station of Whittlesey. However, one of the powers of architecture is to transform over time, and the Town Hall became the museum’s headquarters. Whittlesey Museum founders were ahead of their time in 1976, they reused the old building of the Town Hall to create a space for collecting, interpreting, and caring for the natural and cultural heritage of Whittlesey, Coates, Eastrea, Pondersbridge, and Turves. Although at that time such sustainable strategies were not classified as such, it worked to provide a cultural experience to visitors, students, and locals ever since.
With its Italianate architecture by Richard Reynolds Rowe (1857), the main facade stands out for its symmetry, large windows, roof, and exposed brick, becoming the building’s main attraction. The main entrance on the ground floor is distinguished by a pediment in glazed tiles above a blue wooden door, framed by a round-headed arch with a recess and the name of the Town Hall. On either side are two lower and wider entrances for the fire engines. In this simple way, the building preserves the memory of its previous use before becoming a museum. Additionally, the facade features 5 round-headed windows on the first floor, which illuminate and provide a view of the street; and a gable roof sloping towards both the street and the interior courtyard of the building.
Furthermore, the rear part of the Whittlesey Museum building was adapted to the Prefab Building. It involved the rehabilitation of the yard through the design and adaptation of 3 new spaces dedicated to the uses required by the museum, such as storage and indoor and outdoor exhibition areas. The Whittlesey Museum volunteers aim to improve the building facilities to ensure optimal conditions for the collection elements of the museum. Therefore, since 2014, they have worked on different long-term projects to maintain and comply with the accreditation guidelines. Among these, highlights include the utilization of the yard with the exhibition of the replica blacksmith’s forge room and the remodeling of the backyard to accommodate the exhibition of the wooden funeral bier and other metal objects, thereby freeing up interior spaces of the building for the arrangement of other museum objects.
The cultural and natural heritage of Whittlesey and its surroundings
The Whittlesey Museum collection comprises approximately 3,500 objects, in addition to an archive and photograph collection. Due to space limitations, the museum does not display its entire collection at once. The exhibition dynamics of the Whittlesey Museum are marked by the seasons, with each exhibition lasting approximately 3 months, totaling 4 exhibitions per year. Additionally, there are smaller format exhibitions such as photographs and objects that transition in parallel throughout the year. The following figure illustrates previous editions displayed at the Whittlesey Museum.
Whittlesey Museum possesses two main exhibitions: the Whittlesey War Memorial Commemoration and the Sir Harry Smith exhibition. In the first place, the Whittlesey War Memorial commemorates the 248 people lost in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. This is why, the museum also dedicated a commemorative space with photographs and information about some of the people registered in the memorial.
In second place, the exhibition focuses on the life and work of Sir Harry Smith, a military man from Whittlesey renowned for his engagements in places such as the United States, Waterloo, India, and South Africa. One of the most interesting aspects of this exhibition is that it is managed by a group of students from Sir Harry Smith Community College. Thanks to Changemakers project funding from the National Lottery and led by Museums in Cambridge, students in years 8 and 9 had the opportunity to research Sir Harry Smith’s life to present it at the Whittlesey Museum.
In short, the Whittlesey Museum serves as a testament to show society that one doesn’t need to be a large city to preserve the history of a town. It also demonstrates the importance of a sense of belonging in preserving the culture, traditions, and collective memories that characterize each individual, regardless of their destination, but by knowing the history of where they come from.
References:
Whittlesey Museum (2023). Whittlesey Museum website. [online]. Available at: https://whittleseymuseum.co.uk/ [Accessed 07 March 2024].
Sir Harry Smith Community College (2024). Who was Sir Harry Smith?. [online]. Available at: https://www.sirharrysmith.cambs.sch.uk/news/?pid=3&nid=3&storyid=14 [Accessed 07 March 2024].
