Wisbech and Fenland Museum

The Wisbech & Fenland Museum stands in the heart of Wisbech, a town in Cambridgeshire’s Isle of Ely. Built in 1847 to house both a museum and a literary society, it was designed by George Buckler for around two to three thousand pounds. The Grade II* listed building still holds its original display cases and bookcases. It sits close to St Peter’s Church, though subsidence from the former Wisbech Castle moat has shifted part of the front elevation. The museum began in 1835 in two rooms above George Snarey’s house before moving to its present site. The museum is worth visiting for its remarkable collections and historic manuscripts. It holds Charles Dickens’ original Great Expectations manuscript, bequeathed in 1863, and Lord Byron’s Hours of Idleness. Among its artefacts is a manuscript of The Monk by Matthew Lewis. The museum also displays Napoleon’s Sèvres breakfast service, reputedly captured at Waterloo, and Thomas Clarkson’s chest of African textiles. These items reflect local and national history, including the anti-slavery campaign. Inside, visitors find galleries dedicated to local trades, crime and punishment, and the Fens’ agricultural past. Upstairs, a gallery covers the Cambridgeshire Regiment. The museum’s natural history collection includes fossils, shells, and bird mounts, while its archaeology displays span prehistoric to medieval times. A highlight is the Iron Age Wisbech Scabbard, found nearby. The Egyptian gallery features a mummified hand on red velvet and a mummified cat, part of a Victorian collection.