St Neots Market Square, 1900s

Blogs and articles

Read our latest blog posts and news articles, and learn more about the history of our town, its people and places…

Chair of Board of Trustees: Lead an accredited museum into its next chapter

St Neots Museum is seeking an experienced and motivated individual to join us as Chair of Trustees. This is a senior voluntary leadership role with responsibility for guiding the Museum’s strategic…

Summer at the Museums Returns to St Neots Museum

Paine’s Brewery

Owned by James Paine (1789-1855), who originally ran the Great Paxton Farm. Around 1831, Paine decided to enter trade, including milling, brewing and merchanting business, as well as brick kilns. After…

St Neots: Through the Lens, a Photography exhibition at St Neots Museum

St Neots Museum is celebrating 200 years since the earliest forms of permanent photographs with an exhibition showcasing photos from the museum’s collection. On display are photographic portraits of…

Museums & Wellbeing

Museums are good for us in ways that go beyond education; they are also spaces for curiosity and connection. During Mental Health Awareness Week, it feels like the perfect moment to recognise the important…

A Brief History of Cameras

Here at St Neots Museum, our latest exhibition is all about photography! The history of cameras begins long before photography itself, with the ancient concept of the camera obscura, a darkened room…

Return of Jailbreak | St Neots Escape Room

Jailbreak Escape Room Returns to St Neots Museum with a Brand-New 2026 Scenario 2nd May – 19th July If you’re searching for a unique escape room experience in Cambridgeshire, Jailbreak is back at…

May: Coronation 1953

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

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

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 

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

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?

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

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

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

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…

‘Make do and mend’ – St Neots’ handmade Christmas

Upcycling and reusing are now fully on trend, but turning old into new is not a recent phenomenon by any means... What sort of Christmas presents will you be giving this year? In line with a government…

5 historical misinterpretations that had quite the impact

From biblical personalities sprouting horns to life on Mars, here's five instances that historical misinterpretations and translations have impacted history A few months ago, we wrote a blog post about…

A ‘sinister’ blog for Halloween

We live among you, we go to your schools, share your offices, and shop in your supermarkets. We make up 10% of the population, and throughout history we’ve been considered as deviants and 'sinister'.…

Playtime at the museum

This summer, the museum is bringing back the popular ‘Marble Mania’ installation! And, to tie in with the theme of play, we’ve also added a new toy display upstairs. Read on to learn more on the…

Weathering the weather – weather predictions in folklore

“St. Swithin’s Day if thou dost rain, for forty days it will remain.” – or so says an old Scottish proverb... The 15th July marks the feast day of St Swithin (sometimes spelt St Swithun), an Anglo-Saxon…

We’re celebrating Longsands School’s 60th anniversary

St Neots museum is marking the occasion with a dedicated exhibition on its history. Our curator's been busy collecting your memories of the school, so here she is with a few recollections from the school's…
St Neots Museum

Deciphering our Celtic coins

From the realistic to the abstract, we take a look at how to decipher the imagery on our collection of Celtic gold coins. We’re planning on reopening our museum doors on Tuesday 18th May, and we’re…

Unicorns – a brief history

From ferocious beasts to friendly rainbow spouting mascots, it turns out that unicorns have been around in some form or other from the earliest of civilisations. As April 9th marks National Unicorn Day,…

The origins of the Easter Bunny

Spring is finally here, which can only mean that Easter is just around the corner... One way in which we'll likely all be celebrating is by buying and eating a chocolate Easter egg, delivered by the Easter…

The Ides of March – a quick lesson on the Roman calendar

“Beware the Ides of March” – these prophetic words spoken by a soothsayer to Julius Caesar in Shakespeare’s play, are often brought to mind each time the 15th March rolls around. But what actually…

Surviving the odds – the story of the St Neots Quads

The Miles quadruplets, Ann, Ernest, Paul and Michael, soon to be known the world over as the ‘St Neots Quads’, were born on 28 November 1935 at 13 Ferrars Avenue, Eynesbury. They were the first British…

Jeremy Bentham – Philosopher, utilitarian, eccentric

This 15th February marks Jeremy Bentham’s 273rd birthday. But, if you’re unfamiliar with the name, never fear! We’ve put together a quick summary of his professional life, along with a list of our…

February festivals

If the cold, dark days are getting you down, then here's a blog from our curator Liz to bring you a little cheer! During the gloomiest days of the year, when spring and summer seem a long way into the…

A history of time – the story behind our days, weeks, and months

Who do we have to thank for our divisions of time? And how did the days and months get their names? Read on to find out in our brief history of time… We’ve been thinking a lot about time recently.…

The history of the rubber duck

It turns out there’s a national day for EVERYTHING, and the 13th January just so happens to be Rubber Duck Day! As we could all do with some light distraction, here’s a brief history of our beloved…

St Neots’ sporting heroes

If you're thinking of taking up a new sport or joining an exercise class this January, then you'll be in good company! St Neots has a proud sporting heritage, much of which is celebrated in the museum…

Yule – Christmas’ Pagan ancestor

The 21st December is the Winter Solstice, which traditionally marks the beginning of Yule, a pre-Christian festival still in part celebrated in Scandinavian and Germanic societies. Whilst it’s easy to…

St Neots’ Traditional Crafts

As you'll know, each year we run our Winter Craft and Gift Fair, which showcases the work of local craftspeople and provides a unique venue where modern day local crafts can be celebrated alongside the…

St Neots and the fight against slavery in the 19th century

As a small Victorian market town, St Neots may be imagined as a quiet and parochial place, but through trade, business and personal links, St Neots people had contacts across the world... On the 12th…

Seasonal treats – Why certain foods are associated with Halloween

At this time of year, we crave certain comfort food: pumpkin pies, toffee apples, chocolate (in any form!) … But have you ever wondered why certain foods have become associated with Halloween? Well,…

Samhain – The precursor to Halloween

The leaves are changing colour and the nights are drawing in, which means that Halloween is just around the corner! But did you know that Halloween isn't the first festival to be celebrated on the eve…

Halloween Pumpkin Template

Fancy carving your very own dinosaur pumpkin this Halloween? Just download our template to use as a guide. You can cut it out and draw the image directly on to your pumpkin to help you recreate the design.…

Edward II & monarchs who met a nasty end!

Historical legend tells us that on the 21st September 1327, King Edward II was brutally murdered at Berkeley Castle, by receiving a red-hot poker to the bottom, yikes! Though the story may merely be fable…

‘Their finest hour’ – Remembering the Battle of Britain

The 15th September 2020 marks the 80th anniversary of the ‘Battle of Britain’, the title awarded by Churchill to the fight by the British to prevent Nazi Germany invading and conquering Britain in…

St Neots’ strange link to the Georgian transatlantic slave trade

As communities across the UK have struggled with the rights and wrongs associated with the removal of statues, and other memorials, to those who had links to the slave trade, we took a look at St Neots'…

A brief history of the Home Guard

"Don't panic! Don't panic!" Many of us have fond memories of the popular TV series Dad's Army, but how close was this comical depiction to the REAL Home Guard? Here's a brief look at its history... The…

The story of shopping

We all love a bit of retail therapy, so with shops finally able to re-open, our curator Liz takes a look at shopping throughout history... Along with many other ‘non-essential’ local shops, St Neots…

Why do we celebrate the Summer Solstice?

The Summer Solstice is almost upon us! Days are longer, nights are shorter, and the natural world is full of life. But what actually is a solstice, and why do we mark them in the way that we do? Read on…

National Lottery funding for St Neots Museum

We're thrilled to announce that St Neots Museum has been awarded £14,845 of National Lottery funding by Arts Council England! This comes from ACE's Emergency Response Fund to support the arts and museums…

Historical folk remedies

St Neots Museum Curator Liz Davies delves into the medical folk remedies recorded in Huntingdonshire In 2020, the current COVID-19 pandemic is a major crisis gripping the world, but since biblical times,…

The history of biscuits

Munchable, scoffable, dunkable, WONDERFUL biscuits – few things in life are more pleasurable than a mug of tea and your favourite biccy. It just so happens that the 29th May is officially National Biscuit…

The history of English gardens

Here's a fascinating guest post by one of our volunteers, Emily, who's here to enlighten us all about the history of our beloved gardens... Gardens, we all take them for granted these days don’t we?…

Unfortunate royal epithets

Ever wondered about the stories behind historical monarchs’ epithets? Here’s 10 royals from the past who gained some rather unfortunate nicknames… It’s tradition for monarchs the world over to…

St Neots VE Day celebrations

On Friday 8th May, the whole of Europe had intended to commemorate the end of World War II with VE and VJ Day events. The events were to mark the 75th anniversary of the original Victory in Europe and…

Famous surprise attacks from history

We all know the tale of the Greeks sneaking into Troy in the belly of a giant wooden horse, so we thought we’d share three other surprise attacks from history that you may not have heard of… Hannibal…

City foundation myths of the ancient world

They say that Rome wasn’t built in a day, but legend tells us that it WAS founded on one… The 21st April 753 BC was just like any other day (well, we imagine) until two famous brothers had a fall…

Winner of Cambridgeshire Small Museum of the Year

St Neots Museum are delighted to announce that we have won the Small Museum of the Year award as well as receiving two Highly Commended awards.
battle of st neots

The Battle of St Neots

On Sunday, 9 July 1648, seven months prior to the execution of King Charles, the Earl and his army of approximately 400 men entered St Neots in the county of Huntingdonshire. The Earl's men were…

Wintringham Park archaeological survey

In November the museum curator was lucky enough to be part of a group that visited the archaeological dig going on opposite Loves Farm in preparation for the Wintringham Farm housing development.

The story of Ann Izzard

The laws against the crime of witchcraft were repealed in 1736 but, in the absence of legal redress, communities periodically took to enacting mob vengeance against suspected witches.

The Priory of St Neots

The foundation of the priory of St Neots is so involved in legend that it is almost impossible to separate what is true in it from what is merely the work of imagination.

The Eaton Socon Cage

Eaton Socon’s unique village Cage or lock-up is positioned just off the Great North Road in the centre of the old village near the church. Visitors to this suburb of the present town of St Neots…
archaeology st neots

The Archaeology of Love’s Farm, St Neots

The Love’s Farm project represents a detailed archaeological examination of the later Prehistoric and Roman agricultural landscape on a previously unprecedented scale within the region. The site, located…

Why are the Parliamentarians not wearing helmets?

A visitor recently asked the museum curator, Liz Davies about the image we are using to advertise our English Civil War Murder Mystery evening – why are the Parliamentarians not wearing roundhead helmets?…

Kimbolton Coin Hoard – Treasure for the Gods exhibition

A hoard of 67 Iron Age coins found with a metal detector close to the border of Bedfordshire in the village of Kimbolton. St Neots Museum purchased the items, that date from the first century AD, in 2012.
john Bellingham

Has a British Prime Minister ever been assassinated?

The answer is yes – but only once over two hundred years ago, on the 11 May 1812 by John Bellingham who shot dead the Rt. Hon. Spencer Perceval as he entered the House of Commons.
Walter Horsford

Walter Horsford and the case of the St Neots poisoning

In 1898 a 26-year-old farmer, Walter Horsford, stood trial charged with the murder by poisoning of his cousin Annie Holmes. He was found guilty and later that year hung.
St Neots Derailment

The St Neots train derailment of 1895

The St Neots Derailment 1895 occurred near to St Neots railway station on 10 November 1895 when a Great Northern Railway Scottish express from Kings Cross encountered a broken rail. The train left Kings…