BURWELL MUSEUM OF FEN EDGE VILLAGE LIFE, BURWELL, CAMBRIDGESHIRE, ENGLAND. Open 2-5pm Thurs, Sun & BH Mondays from Easter to End of October (see Special Events section for days with extended opening hours).

Burwell Museum
of Fen Edge Village Life

Welcome to the

Burwell Museum

Website

Use the menu on the left to navigate around the main pages of the website.

The menu can be found in the same place on every page.

Hover your mouse pointer over a button for a brief description of that section.

Scroll down this page for more information.

On this page you will find
a Brief History Of The Museum and
a description of each building and the displays they contain.
Information for the media. Documents/Forms to download.
Donate online or by post.
(Click on underlined text above to jump to that section of this page)

Opening Times & Admission Charges

along with disabled access information can be found

on the "Admission & Facilities" page (click here) .

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM

Burwell Museum Trust was formed in Burwell, Cambridgeshire, England in 1982 (registered as charity No.290431 in 1984), by a small group of like minded people with an interest in local history, to set up a museum providing the public a glimpse of what life was like in a village on the edge of the Cambridgeshire Fens in the past....

(Click this text to continue reading about the Museum's history)

FRIENDS OF BURWELL MUSEUM

Much of the fundraising for the museum is carried out by the hard-working and enthusiastic Friends of Burwell Museum. Find out more about the Friends by clicking here : Friends Page

The Museum is very popular with children. Many of them return several times with their families, after first visiting with a School Group

MEDIA
The museum has featured in several magazines and local newspapers, also local radio and regional tv.
If you would like to feature the museum (including the windmill) in your magazine/newspaper article or would like to do any radio/tv/film recording (or even live broadcast) you would be most welcome. We may also be able to lend you some items we have on display or in storage for you to use away from the museum site. There is vehicle access on to the museum site
(click here for more details)

THE WEBSITE

This website is intended to provide further information, photos and other details to what is available in our leaflet.

Check the "News" page for the latest information. Updates may appear at any time.

DOCUMENTS/FORMS TO DOWNLOAD
The following documents are available to download directly from this site or via e-mail :
1)Factsheet 2010 .
The current list of Special Events is also on the Special Events page.

(Fund-raising events not listed on the Factsheet, such as coach trips and Yard Sales, can also be found there).

"Factsheet 2010" now available to download.
2)Location Map.

3)Gift-Aid Declaration

4)Collection Policy

5)Groups Booking Form.

To download a document - "click" on the document you want from the list above. When the new window opens displaying the document you can then print and/or save the document if you wish to. Simply close the document window when you have finished saving/printing.

To view " " files you will need the "Adobe Reader". This program is usually already installed on computers. If it isn't, you can download it for free from the Adobe Reader website (a new window will open - follow the simple download instructions given on the page.)

To have any of the documents sent by e-mail send us a blank message with the name of the document in the subject line. The document will be sent as an attachment. You can also request a document using the Enquiry Form (please give an e-mail address to send document to).

If you have visited the Museum please leave your comments in the website Guestbook (an internet version of the paper book in the Museum itself). Go to the "Guestbook " page by clicking on the button in the menu to the left.

If you would like to contact the Museum - click here to e-mail, or use the "Enquiry Form".

Full contact information (including e-mail addresses) is available on the "Contacts " page.

The first museum website was set up at the end of 2001. The website as you see it now went "live" on 18th March 2005 and upgraded for better access & display during January-February 2008.
This website has much more space available than the old one. More photos and information will be added.

Back to Top of Page

THE DISPLAYS

Our displays are set out as 'scenes' (rather like stage sets) with lots of individual artefacts making each display. This should give visitors a better idea of how, where and when items were used.

Photos of each building and the displays can be found in the Gallery section of this website or by clicking on the small pictures in this section.

See the Site Plan to the left for the location of each building. The entire site outside the buildings is grassed. The grass is short and the ground is firm.

Larger versions of the Site Plan are available free of charge at the Admission Kiosk to help you find your way around.

In the BARN (our first building - 18th Century timber framed barn dismantled in another village and reconstructed on its present site), the displays include: A building site with local building materials, old plumbing and carpentry tools, reconstructions of an old wash/laundry room and an old kitchen. Also reconstructions of an old living room and a child's bedroom.
The main display in the Barn is "The Farming Year" showing old farm tools and machines in a sort of 'time-line' from Spring to Winter.
Other displays in the Barn include Dinky toys and many old photos.

Many of the displays in the Barn have information cards written in English and French. This is something we hope to extend to all the displays at the Museum.

The Barn also contains the Museum shop selling souvenirs, books, videos and light refreshments.

(The old maps of Burwell are now on display in the Exhibition Room of the Resources Building.)
Just outside the Barn entrance is the "Hands-On Table" where, as the name suggests, you can get you hands on some (more robust) items. These include old traps (made safe), various tools and some old Burwell bricks

The NISSEN HUT (originally from North Street, Burwell), contains items from both World Wars and includes a servicemans' bed & locker area, 'Trench Art' and many uniforms. Also there is genuine World War 2 songs and radio broadcasts playing from an old radio in the corner.

Adjoining the Nissen Hut is the STATIONARY ENGINES + MOWERS DISPLAY

In the FORGE & WHEELWRIGHT'S SHOP
(Also known as the BLACKSMITHS SHOP) (Originally from the now closed Haddenham Museum), there is a fully working forge and many tools. Our Blacksmith can be seen working fairly regularly, although there are no set dates when he will be there. Also there is a fully working hand operated Wheelwright's lathe and tools.

The AUDIO-VISUAL ROOM, (also known as the A-V Room), (built from scratch along with the Wagon Sheds and the Upper Gallery using mainly reclaimed local building materials), is where visitors can watch various videos on rural life in East Anglia over the last 100 years. The A-V room also contains local archaeology, photos showing the construction of the Museum buildings and also the Burwell Photographic Archive - thousands of photographs of Burwell people, activities, events and buildings from 1900 to 1999.
Census reports and a collection of local interest reference books are available in the AV Room.
Visitors can now order high quality copies of the photos in the archive.
Full details at the museum.

The MUSEUM WORKSHOP is situated below the A.V. Room. This is where we carry out repairs and restoration to exhibits.
For Health & Safety reasons this room is not accessible to visitors, but it can be viewed from the doorway.

The WAGON SHEDS, house old carts and farm machinery.

The UPPER GALLERY (also known as the GRANARY)
display area, has an Anglo-Saxon skeleton (which was found just outside Burwell), a Victorian school room (with the sound of children reciting 'times-tables' and singing playground rhymes) - you can sit at the old desks and write on the slates or in the sand tray, a village shop, the reconstructed cab of an old "Burwell & District" bus, and a working 1950s/60s automatic mechanical telephone exchange - dial the number on any one of the phones to watch the exchange connect you and then speak to somone through the phones.

The RESOURCES BUILDING (name may change in the future), is behind the Wagon Sheds, consists of display space for Temporary Exhibitions, a meeting room for the Trustees & Friends (also used as a reception/refreshments room for group visits), a store room for items not on display and environment controlled storage for delicate items. Most of the building is not normally accessible to visitors, apart from the end used for the old hand-operated fire engine from nearby Swaffham Prior, The Friends Bookshop and the display of items which belonged to "Dennis of Grunty Fen". Dennis had his own show on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire for many years until his creator and performer Pete Sayers died. Many current and former Cambridgeshire residents will know of him as he had a very big fanbase.

The ROMAN POTTERY , is sited next to the Resources Building at the Dennis of Grunty Fen end behind the Audio-Visual Room and the Museum Workshop. It contains a Roman kiln (discovered near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire), a replica Roman potter's wheel and replica Roman pots.

We also have a SHEPHERDS HUT (from Pembroke Farm, Burwell) and an Edwardian revolving SUMMERHOUSE (from Mill Lane, Burwell), as well as various other farming implements in the grounds of the Museum.

VINTAGE VEHICLES GALLERY

This building houses the last remaining Burwell & District bus and associated displays. Other displays include the 1907 Holsman, an Austin 7 car and a mobile butcher's shop. A display about the former Burwell railway station and the Cambridge to Mildenhall branch line is also in this building.
The building is sited behind and parallel to the Resources Building.
It is highly unlikely that the bus will ever leave the Museum site as the Road Tax and MOT have expired and the bus is now registered as being kept off the road.
Construction started early January 2008 and finished in May 2008. Click on the photo of the building above to see photos of the construction.
The displays will gradually be improved and enlarged over the forthcoming months. Click here to see the opening ceremony photos.

STEVENS' MILL , standing outside the entrance to the Museum site, is a windmill built in the early 1800s, which is owned by the Museum. It is the only Museum building that is standing on its original site. Admission is free for Museum visitors who may climb the ladders to each floor when accompanied by a Museum Trustee.
The mill will soon be undergoing some major repair and restoration work. Unfortunately this will mean the mill will not run until the repairs are completed.

The Trustees regret that owing to the discovery of some defects within the mill, access by the public must be temporarily stopped pending remedial action.

We trust that you will understand our actions in this matter.

The mill is a Grade 2* listed building.
Please see the "Gallery" section of this website for more photos of and information about the mill - click on the small picture above to go straight there.
If you have specific queries or information regarding the windmill click

The mill is a Grade 2* listed building.

DONATIONS

Donations towards the museum running costs are always welcome.

Cash or cheque at the museum itself or cheque or Postal Order by post. Cheques/POs payable to "Burwell Museum".

You can now donate to Burwell Museum using your Credit or Debit card 'online':

Click on the "Donate Now" button to make a donation

We are able to accept Gift-Aid declared donations for the museum.

Further information about making a donation to the museum (and using Gift Aid) can be found on the Donations page.

PHOTOS

More photos can be seen on the other pages of this website, mostly in the "Gallery".
You are more than welcome to take your own photos when you visit the museum.
Also, you may end up appearing on this website yourself as Simon the Museum Photographer (and website administrator) always has his camera with him!

LEAFLET

Look out for our full colour leaflet for further information.(See picture, left). Our leaflets are available from the Museum, local Tourist Information Centres, libraries, some hotels, B&Bs, guesthouses, local attractions and shops. You can also contact the Museum and we will post a leaflet to you (see "Contacts" page.)
Leaflets contain a seperate black & white insert giving details of "Special Events" for the current year. Inserts change every year.
Leaflets change every 3 years, the latest one came out in 2008.

THE TRUSTEES

Paul Hawes (Chairman), John Waller (Treasurer), Corinne Hawes (Secretary), David Brown, Johnny Hawes, Simon Heath, Arthur Irons, Peter Irons, David Topsfield. Also John Wisbey (Buildings Consultant) and Sally Harrison. (John is not a Trustee but still acts as one, although he can not vote at Trustees Meetings).
What do we look like? Have a look at the Trustees Photo to find out.

All photos by Simon Heath and graphics (maps, leaflet, etc) by Graeme Morris unless otherwise stated.

No reproduction without prior permission allowed except for personal use.

Please contact us if you wish to use any of the images from this website for commercial use (we may be able to supply you with the higher quality original image). We would appreciate a copyright/image credit . Although we don't make a charge for using our photos a donation to the museum would be most welcome.

LIKE THIS? TELL OTHERS

If you like the museum website please tell someone else about it.

You can use this simple form to email them - "Email a Friend"

Click to see an Aerial Photo of Burwell Museum by
The Museum is in the centre of the picture.

Use the "+" and "-" slider tool to zoom in and out of the picture.

Admission & Facilities - click here

Burwell Museum of Fen Edge Village Life

Burwell Museum
of Fen Edge Village Life