Hitchin Museum & Art Gallery

Hitchin Museum was founded in 1939 by the Hitchin & District Regional Survey Association in a house given by Ralph & Hubert Moss, grocers in the town. The building opened in 1939 as a Public Library, and in 1941 the top floor opened as a Museum. The Library, run by the County Council, is now next door.

Hitchin Museum & Art Gallery has six main galleries: two art galleries, one on either side of the front door, and a social history gallery on the ground floor, which leads into the Yeomanry Gallery. This has displays of the uniforms and medals of the Hertfordshire Yeomanry and Artillery, formed in 1805 to constitute a "Home Guard" against Napoleonic invasion. A major new addition to the displays is the oral history display and listening posts in the social history gallery.

Hitchin Museum is a busy, community focused Museum, with up to 12 exhibitions a year and community displays, as well as the permanent displays.

We also run monthly Toddler Sessions and Holiday Activities every school holiday. There are special event days for families, such as Hitchin Lavender Day in July as well as talks and walks for adults. We also have a full programme of events to tie in with Hitchin Book Festival in March and Hitchin Festival in July.

We also have an extensive archive, newspaper and photographic collection. Items from these collections can be looked at in our Research Room which can be booked for a morning or afternoon. Upstairs are the Costume Gallery, and the Pharmacy Gallery.

Collection details

Archives, Costume and Textiles, Fine Art, Medicine, Personalities, Social History, Weapons and War