The first recorded house on the museum site was in
the 16th century, when a grand mansion was built there for the Orme
family, who were given land in the area by King
Henry VIII in 1538. This house, called Neville Place, is marked on
a 1611 map of Peterborough and can be seen in a 1731 drawing
of the city. The Orme family were MPs and magistrates for the
city and were chiefly responsible for building the Guildhall in
Cathedral Square which still stands today. Some stonework probably
still survives from this original house in the cellars under the
museum, and there may be more elsewhere in the building.
The main part of the current building dates
from 1816, when it was a grand Georgian house for former Manchester
businessman, now Peterborough magistrate, Thomas Cooke and his new
wife Charlotte. He lived in the building until his
death in 1854.
In 1856 the Priestgate mansion was sold to the
3rd Earl Fitzwilliam, who allowed it to be used as the city's first
hospital, the Peterborough infirmary from 1857 until 1928. The
building was altered after a fire in 1884, with wings being added
on the side and an extension to the rear. The infirmary (left), run
by a charitable trust, continued to outgrow the building, leading
to the construction of a new hospital as a memorial to Peterborians
killed in the First World War. Upon completion in 1928 the hospital
was moved to this building, which is today part of the
Peterborough District Hospital.
The museum building was acquired by Percy
Malcolm Stewart, chair of the London Brick Company, and donated to
the Museum Society. It was opened as the Museum in
1931, with the art gallery added in 1939.
The Peterborough Natural History Society and
Field Club was founded in 1871 to promote interest in local natural
history. Members included the surgeon at the hospital, Dr Walker
(right) and local chemist Mr Bodger. Within a decade the society
had widened its interest and laid the foundation of a museum and a
library. It became the Natural History, Scientific and
Archaeological Society and in 1947 took its modern title of the
Museum Society.
When the Society began assembling the museum collections, with
the first collection was kept in a cardboard box under a
member's bed! Various buildings have housed the collection
during its history, including a house on Park Road and a former
chapel in the Cathedral Precincts.
The museum and its collections have
been managed by the council since 1968, when the Museum Society
gave them to the city. Many of the original Georgian
features can still be seen today, as can traces of its use as a
hospital - our modern conservation room is the old operating
theatre! The museum also has a darker side to its past, and is said
to be the most haunted
building in the city.
Many of Peterborough’s most popular cultural and sporting
facilities are part of Vivacity, an independent,
not-for-profit organisation with charitable status.
Find out more about
the trust on the Vivacity website.