Latest news with #StuartOrme
BBC News
4 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Cromwell Museum Huntingdon expansion plan ready for design ideas
A tiny museum which tells the story of Oliver Cromwell "warts and all" wants architects to submit design ideas for its move to a bigger building. The Cromwell Museum in Huntingdon purchased a four-storey Grade II-listed former NHS clinic on the Cambridgeshire town's market square in will be transformed with a much bigger gallery space, as well as a cafe, loos - including the town's first accessible changing places toilet - and a gift shop. Curator Stuart Orme said the long-wished for expansion will "turn this building into a museum of the future". "We began this process two years ago, so it feels both wonderfully and horrifyingly real now we've got building," he said. "The next step is to work out what's possible in terms of looking after this historic building and find funding - it's likely the eventual cost could be £5.5m." Cromwell (1599 to 1658) grew up in Huntingdon and rose to national prominence when he displayed an unexpected brilliance as a Parliamentarian battle leader. He later became Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. The museum's new building, which has been empty since 2019, is next to the pub where he raised his first troop of cavalry in 1642. It is currently housed in the town's former grammar school, a 12th Century building where Cromwell and 17th Century diarist Samuel Pepys were educated, which is tiny - about 70sqm (229 sq ft). The purchase of 7 to 8 Market Hill was made possible by a Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority grant of a £346,000."It means we can display more of the museum's collection - we have nearly 1,000 items, including clothes, arms and documents - but it also means we can borrow items from national collections to be displayed here in Huntingdon," said Mr Orme. The newly-acquired property is just across the road from the current museum and is about five times expansion is necessary because of its "record-breaking success" in attracting visitors - 15,000 in 2024 to 2025 - while it saw a 20% increase in visitors in the previous financial year, he added. Mr Orme said the new museum might open as soon as 2030. Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
10-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Huntingdon exhibition tells story of Battle of Naseby
A rare 17th Century map showing details of "the battle that transformed Britain" has gone on show at a new Battle of Naseby, in Northamptonshire, was not only a turning point in the British Civil Wars, but also led to Britain and Ireland being ruled from Westminster for the first time, said curator Stuart forces of Charles I were decisively defeated by Parliament's new uniformed army and the king would be forced to surrender within a year. The map and other objects associated with the battle have gone on display at the Cromwell Museum in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. The battle was fought on 14 June 1645. Nearly 25,000 men took part and by midday the king was Orme said: "It was every bit as brutal as modern civil wars, including the massacre of about 100 mostly Welsh civilians belonging to the Royalist side by Parliamentary forces in its aftermath."The fold-out map belonged to a book published in 1647 which charted the victories of Parliament's New Model Army. Most surviving copies were lost, making it "one of the few contemporary images of a Civil War battle", according to Mr Orme."The exhibition includes an animated version of the map, including the real human stories of those who took part," he range from Royalist Bridget Rumney, whose mother and sons were massacred by the Parliamentary forces, and Parliamentarian Maj John Francis, who was killed in the battle. The discovery of the king's private papers, left behind in the rout, revealed he had been in correspondence with European Roman Catholic countries. This compounded the Protestant Parliamentarian leaders' distrust of Charles I and ultimately led to his was also "the battle that transformed Britain", introducing a standing army which was uniformed in red cloth - the original red coats - and still the dress uniform for the British Army, added Mr Orme. "We call it the English Civil War but this is the biggest misnomer of history," he said. "It's something that affected the whole of the country not just England, with Britain and Ireland ruled from Westminster for the first time in the 1650s."Other objects on display include a 17th Century helmet reputed to have been worn by Oliver Cromwell in the battle, but probably used at his 1658 state funeral, and a carving set made by a local farmer from a sword captured at the battle - the hilt for which was carved as far away as Sri Lanka. Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
