Local History Museum Model and Sign made and donated by local enthusiast Mr Hubert Sanders

May is Local History Month, and we are featuring a model of Bishop’s Stortford’s previous Local History Museum.  Housed in the Lodge at Stortford’s Old Cemetery- Apton Road, the museum was opened in September 1979 and one of the founders was local resident, Miss Ursula Pye.  Artefacts from her life are displayed on the second floor in our current museum at South Mill Arts.

The museum in the Lodge was run entirely by volunteers and open one day a week plus some weekends. It featured many items from the local Gilbey family and housed offices for the volunteers and storage as well as galleries. 

The museum was closed in 2000 and the sign shown here was placed outside on the main path. The Rhodes Memorial Museum closed at the same time and after five years of refurbishments the two collections merged to became what is now  known as the Bishop’s Stortford Museum. The Grand Ball and reopening took place in November 2005.

Did you visit or volunteer at the Local History Museum at the Cemetery Lodge?  We would love to capture your memories.  Please contact us at museum@southmillarts.co.uk. 

You can view this and many other interesting artefacts in our Museum at South Mill Arts.