Visit our gallery exhibitions
The story of St Neots gallery takes you from the 11th century Benedictine priory to the coming of the railway in 1851.
Visit our gallery exhibitions
Discover what Victorian life was like for our ancestors in the village hall gallery.

Welcome to St Neots Museum

The museum presents the history of the busy market town of St Neots on the River Ouse, from prehistoric times onwards and includes the original early 20th-century gaol cells where prisoners were detained.

What’s on at St Neots Museum

We organise a variety of specialist and family events from walks, talks, one-day festivals, temporary and touring exhibitions.

Read our articles

May: Coronation 1953

2 May 2023

Blog Editorial May 2023 - The 1953 Coronation The coronation of King Charles III on the 6th May has prompted a look back seventy years to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II to discover how St Neots…

St Neots in the time of Elizabeth II: 1926 – 2022

2 November 2022

Blog Editorial November 2022 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II lived during a century of incredible development and change and this article looks back at local events during her ninety-six…

July: Bread riot in St Neots, 1795

13 July 2022

Food shortages from the past Watching the celebrations for Her Majesty the Queens Platinum Jubilee was a wonderful tonic after the terrible two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. The concert, street parties…

June: Swimming in St Neots

13 June 2022

This article has been prompted by a recent donation to the museum of some Edwardian glass plate negatives which show local people swimming in the St Neots stretch of the River Great Ouse and also by the…

St Neots links to Royalty

1 May 2022

Blog Editorial May 2022 To celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in May 2022, we take a lighthearted look at local links with Royalty. As far as we know Elizabeth II never visited…

Can history teach us anything?

1 April 2022

Blog Editorial April 2022 It has often been said that the only thing we can learn from history is that we are unable to learn anything from history. However, one thing a study of history certainly does…

Rediscovering Roman St Neots

25 February 2022

We're preparing to 'Meet the Romans' at the museum in March, so here's a short blog from our curator on St Neots' Roman past. What was life like in Roman St Neots? Well, thanks to major road building…

Market Square in 1855

A brief history of photography

8 February 2022

This month, our curator delves into the history of photography and takes a look at the early photographs taken of St Neots. The first temporary exhibition of 2022 is ‘What a Beautiful World’ a photographic…

Building St Neots

11 January 2022

In this brief blog, our curator takes a look at the history of building work in St Neots... January is often a time of new beginnings and new projects. Following the impact of the pandemic, this year…

Watch our videos

A428 Excavations Update

6 July 2021

Lead Archaeologist Steve Sherlock gives us a brief rundown of progress so far on the archaeological excavations taking place on the A428.

The Kimbolton Hoard

St Neots Museum

Curator’s Corner – Celtic Treasure

21 May 2021

Our opening exhibition for May 2021 is Celtic Treasure, featuring the stunning Kimbolton hoard of Iron Age stater coins. Join Curator Liz Davies, as she tells us more about the coins, their designs,…

Family crafts – Easter hat

26 March 2021

Have a go at making your very own Easter chick hat! Watch the video to see how it's done, and click on the links below to download the template and step-by-step instructions... Please Note: There's…

Toddler Time – Christmas

17 December 2020

Our Education Officer Lesley is back with a quick Christmas edition of Toddler Time! Join her as she goes on a search for some Christmas present ideas in the museum. There's also two Christmas poems…

Curator’s Corner – Our Medieval Skeleton

24 November 2020

If you've been to the museum, you'll have seen our human skeleton displayed in our Early History Gallery. Lots of people think that this is the skeleton of St Neot himself, but we're sorry to say they're…

Curator’s Corner – Ghosts of St Mary’s Churchyard

27 October 2020

Come along with us as we take a quick, ghostly tour around St Mary's Churchyard, with our curator Liz Davies. We've not been able to run our regular Ghost Walks this year, and so we've decided to do…

Curator’s Corner – Victor Ekins and the Battle of Britain

11 September 2020

Join our curator Liz for the latest edition of #CuratorsCorner. September 2020 marks the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain, and in this episode, Liz tells us all about local Battle of Britain…

Toddler Time – Behind the Scenes at the Museum

4 September 2020

It's Toddler Time once again! In this edition, we join Lesley as she takes a look behind the scenes at the museum, searching through the museum stores to find hidden treasures. As usual, we finish…

Curator’s Corner – Edwardian Police Cells

14 August 2020

Join our curator Liz for a quick tour around the Edwardian police cells that form part of the museum. See where the prisoners would have slept and exercised, and find out why the water cistern for…

From our collection and exhibitons

St Neots Derailment

The Great Train Crash

22 October 2024

In November 1895 a Great Northern Railway Scottish express from Kings Cross encountered a broken rail and derailed at St Neots killing one and injuring six passengers.

St Neots Museum

Quarter stater of King Cunobelin

4 May 2021

A gold quarter stater of Cunobelin, who was the powerful king of the Catuvellauni tribe from around 10-40CE

St Neots Museum

The Kimbolton coin hoard

4 May 2021

68 gold coins, dated to about 100BCE-40CE. The coins were found close to the village of Kimbolton by a metal detectorist in late 2010, and subsequently identified as Iron Age ‘stater’ coins by the British Museum.

Anglo-Saxon silver coins

7 February 2019

Two Anglo-Saxon silver pennies of Aethelred II who reigned 978-1016 and minted at Huntingdon by the moneyer, Aelfric. The coins were discovered by a local metal detectorist and purchased through the National Treasure Scheme.

The Bank of St Neots

7 February 2019

A regency banknote issued by the short-lived bank of St Neots in 1824. Donated by a family who owned a pawn shop in Enfield, London, where it is believed the note was given in payment for a property.

John Bellingham at the Old Bailey

7 February 2019

A print of John Bellingham, a merchant who spent part of his childhood in St Neots, and later in life murdered the British Prime Minister, Spencer Percival. The print depicts Bellingham standing in…

Mammoth bone

7 February 2019

Most mammoths become extinct at the end of the last Ice Age, around 10,000 years ago, and this tooth from a full-sized male was discovered in Sandy Heath Quarry in 2003. Mammoths had an incredible 5 to…

The St Neots parish chest

14 April 2018

The St Neots parish chest has been on display in the museum since we opened in 1998 after being restored and preserved is a long-term loan from the parish church.

James Toller, the Eynesbury Giant

7 July 2017

James Toller was born in St Neots in 1798 and by the age of ten was already 5ft 5 inches tall. Sadly James died when he was only 20-years-old but we have some interesting stuff about his life.

Found something interesting?

Have you dug up some archaeology in the garden, found an antique in the attic or at the back of a drawer – if it’s of local historical value we might be interested. Contact Cambridgeshire finds officer on 01223 728571 or pop in to the museum for a chat.