Bishop's Stortford Museum
South Road
Bishop's Stortford
Herts CM23 3JG
Telephone 01279 651746
Fax 01279 467171
Email rhodesmuseum@freeuk.com
Contact Ms Hannah Kay (Curator)

The museum is situated in two early Victorian houses, Netteswell and Thorley Bourne. The Rhodes family lived in Netteswell House from 1850-1874.


The Bishop's Stortford Museum was created in 2002 following the merger of the Rhodes Memorial Museum and the Bishop's Stortford Local History Museum. The Museum has collections relating to local history, archaeology, Cecil Rhodes and Southern Africa. The Museum is housed in Netteswell House, the birthplace of Cecil Rhodes.

The Rhodes collection includes photographs, portraits, models, costumes, furniture and a selection of ethnographic objects. Exhibits will illustrate African cultural traditions from basketry and beadwork to wood carving and weaponry.

The major local history archive is that of Sir Walter Gilbey, and contains personal correspondence, documents of the W & A Gilbey Wine Co and the family connections. The local history collection is broad-based due to its proximity to the Essex/Herts border.

The Museum has received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and East Herts Council to provide new displays and improved facilities for visitors. The Museum will re-open in late 2004.

 
The Bishop's Stortford Museum is now closed for re-development. The Museum will re-open in late 2004. For further information, please contact Hannah Kay on 01279 651746.

 
The Museum is now closed for re-development.

 

The Museum is now closed for re-development. It will re-open in late 2004 with a new programme of exhibitions and events.


 
Left: a carving from the collection
Right: Cecil John Rhodes

The museum store, Cemetery Lodge, was constructed in 1855 and designed by a Bishop's Stortford man, Mr GE Pritchett.

 
Information about the Museum's education programme will be updated as the re-development project progresses.

Handling Sessions are available to schools or organised groups. This supervised activity is based around masks and baskets. Children can learn how to handle museum objects and at the same time feel how things are made and what they are used for. The focus of these sessions will be cultural traditions and the spirit of Africa. (Suitable for Key Stages 1 & 2/Ages 5-11)

"The Legacy of Empire": BBC Education.
Secondary schools studying Key Stage 3 Britain 1750-1900 and pupils looking at The Scramble For Africa at Key Stages 3 and 4 can discuss different viewpoints and interpretations of the British Empire in Africa using a mixed media learning resource pack from BBC Education entitled, "The Legacy of Empire: A Case Study of Cecil Rhodes in Southern Africa".

The resource pack contains an audio cassette, a video cassette, a set of four overhead projector transparencies and a teaching booklet. This can be loaned to schools for use in the classroom, a deposit of £50 will be required, to be returned on safe receipt of the pack at the Rhodes Museum.

Focusing on Southern Africa, students will be encouraged to consider issues such as: Why did Britain want an Empire? Did Africa need civilising? What was Southern Africa like before the British arrived? Was Rhodes a hero or a villain? and The Empire strikes back - Mandela and the Commonwealth.

This resource work will lead to a follow up visit to the Rhodes Museum. Pupils can look at photographs and documents from the late 1800's and examine African artefacts illustrating long-established cultural traditions. These primary sources will enable students to evaluate and come to their own conclusions about events concerning Africa and Empire.

This service is free of charge, although donations are welcome and postage will have to be paid by schools who cannot collect the pack during a teachers pre-visit.

 
By road:
1. M11, Junction 8 and follow signs for Bishop's Stortford
2. B1383 (old A11) from Stansted Mountfitchet
3. A120 from Hertford or Braintree
4. A1184 from London/Harlow

By rail: WAGN, Liverpool Street to Cambridge line, get off at Bishop's Stortford

By bus: Arriva and First Eastern National Bus Service