The Norris Museum

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The Norris Museum The Norris Museum is the museum of Huntingdonshire. It tells the story of this historic county through time.

It tells the story of this historic county through the ages. Founded in 1931 under the will of local amateur historian Herbert Norris. He had spent his lifetime collecting books manuscripts and objects relating to the history of Huntingdonshire. When he died he left his collections to the town of St Ives where he was born together with almost his whole estate to pay for the Norris Museum to be built. The Museum still stands in its original building set in a picturesque riverside garden. As its founder intended, the Norris Museum collects and displays the history of Huntingdonshire from earliest times to the present day. The collections range from the fossilised bones of the giant reptiles that lived here in the time of the dinosaurs 160 million years ago through remains from the Stone Age and the Roman period up to more recent history such as the local craft of lace making and the local sport of ice skating in the nearby Fens. An art gallery displays local paintings and is also used for special exhibitions.

14/10/2026

New Opening Hours

We're adjusting our opening hours to ensure we continue delivering the best experience for our visitors.

We're now closed on Thursdays – but group visits, school trips, and room bookings continue as normal.

Monday & Friday mornings may occasionally have limited availability, but we're open as usual the rest of the week:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday 10am - 4pm

Visit our website for the full schedule or call us with any questions. We look forward to seeing you!

The Friends of the Norris Museum is a registered charity, whose aim is to support and promote the work of the Norris Mus...
14/10/2026

The Friends of the Norris Museum is a registered charity, whose aim is to support and promote the work of the Norris Museum and Library.

The Friends of the Norris Museum are holding their AGM tomorrow night (Thursday 15th October) in the museum at 7pm.
There will be a short meeting followed by a talk from Bridget Flanagan about the Livestock Markets of St Ives.
Bearing in mind that St Ives reputedly had the biggest market outside of London at one time, this should be absolutely fascinating from a historical perspective as well as being highly relevant to the recently published proposals for development of the Cattle Market site.

Light refreshments will also be served

Please come along if you are an existing Friend, or would like to become one!

For more information about the Friends, contact our membership secretary on [email protected]

It’s great to have the fair back in the town this year. This photograph was taken at the 0pening the Michaelmas fair in...
14/10/2026

It’s great to have the fair back in the town this year. This photograph was taken at the 0pening the Michaelmas fair in October 1948: the mayor Cllr Robb and other councillors and officials, with two policemen(!), standing on a roundabout ride and watching children scrambling for the pennies that have just been thrown; behind is the north side of the Broadway, with Deer's newsagents (No. 26-28) visible at the back left, with Muriel Deer leaning on her bicycle. The ride cost 6d in old money, the equivalent of 2½p today.

09/10/2026

The museum will have shortened opening hours on Saturday 10th October due to staff leave. Our doors will be open to welcome you from 1-4pm. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

🦔 What a lovely morning with the Little Explorers - a week ago already! 🍂We had such a wonderful time at our Hedgehugs s...
09/10/2026

🦔 What a lovely morning with the Little Explorers - a week ago already! 🍂

We had such a wonderful time at our Hedgehugs session, exploring the museum together through stories, play, movement and plenty of autumn-inspired activities.

It was lovely to see little ones getting stuck in, discovering, creating and having fun! 🦔🍁

Here’s a little look at the session setup and some of the activities we enjoyed. 💚

Our next two Little Explorers sessions are already nearly sold out, so if you’d like to join us, don’t leave it too long!

🍂 Toddlers Take Over – Friday 6 November
🎄 Stick Man’s Christmas – Friday 4 December

Both sessions are for 2–4 year olds and their adults, 10:30–11:30am.

🎟️ £6.50 per child – booking essential

Book your place through Ticket Tailor: https://tickettailor.com/events/norrismuseum/

08/10/2026

The museum will be closed to the public today - Thursday 8th October. We will be open tomorrow from 10am to 4pm. Apologies for any inconvenience.

🎨 What a fantastic start to our Autumn Art Adventure Club! 🌳✨Our first session of Patterns in Time was a great success! ...
08/10/2026

🎨 What a fantastic start to our Autumn Art Adventure Club! 🌳✨

Our first session of Patterns in Time was a great success! We explored the beautiful patterns created by ripples and tree rings, using them as inspiration for paintings and wooden jewellery designs. There was lots of creativity, experimentation and some wonderful artwork! 🖌️🌲

📸 Take a look at some of the fantastic creations from our first session!

There’s now just ONE TABLE LEFT for our next session – and it’s the last chance to join us this autumn!

🍂 Passing Time – Saturday 17 October, 2–3.30pm

We’ll be creating natural sculptures inspired by artist Andy Goldsworthy and experimenting with autumn-inspired designs in clay. You can bring along your own autumn nature materials to use, or choose from materials provided at the museum.

🎨 Family art club for ages 6–11 and their adults
💷 £12 for 2 at a table | £16.50 for 3 | £20 for 4
📅 Booking essential

🍁 Only ONE table remaining – book soon if you’d like to join us!

🎟️ https://tickettailor.com/events/norrismuseum/

We said farewell on Friday to our good friend and colleague Richard. Many of you will know Richard as the cheerful, hel...
07/10/2026

We said farewell on Friday to our good friend and colleague Richard. Many of you will know Richard as the cheerful, helpful and knowledgeable face on the Museum’s front desk. If that wasn’t enough he also worked as a volunteer, giving talks on the Witches of Warboys, Railways of Huntingdonshire and Law, Order and Disaster! We gave him a good send off and Richard has asked us to thank everyone who came along. It meant a lot to him to see so many people. We are going to miss him and wish him a well-deserved long and happy retirement.

🪄🍂 Enchanted Nature Wands! 🍂🪄Looking for something creative and magical to do this half term?Come along to the Norris Mu...
06/10/2026

🪄🍂 Enchanted Nature Wands! 🍂🪄

Looking for something creative and magical to do this half term?

Come along to the Norris Museum and make your very own Enchanted Nature Wand!

📅 Tuesday 27th October
⏰ 11am–3pm
🎟️ Free drop-in family activity

Choose a natural stick and decorate it with colourful wool, beads, feathers, buttons and more. You could create a wand inspired by autumn leaves, magical creatures, woodland adventures or the changing seasons. 🍁🌿✨

Once your wand is complete, it will be ready for magical adventures, imaginative play, storytelling – or simply to keep as a special memento of your day at the museum!

Come along, get creative and see what kind of enchanted wand you can make. 🧙‍♀️🧙‍♂️🪄

No booking needed – just drop in!

👹 Felted Monster Faces: Family Workshop! 👹Get creative this half term and make your very own wonderfully weird felted mo...
03/10/2026

👹 Felted Monster Faces: Family Workshop! 👹

Get creative this half term and make your very own wonderfully weird felted monster face with textile artist Ricki Outis!

📅 Friday 30th October
⏰ 10am–12:30pm
📍 The Norris Museum

Discover the magic of wet felting as you layer colourful wool fibres, then use warm water, soap and plenty of rubbing to transform them into a unique monster face to take home.

These four fantastic creations were made by a family when Ricki ran this workshop with us a few years ago – just imagine what wonderfully monstrous characters you could make this time! 👀👹

The workshop is aimed at children aged 5+ and their adults, with adults joining in and making their own monster too.

💷 £24 for 2 at a table
💷 £36 for 3 at a table
(At least one adult must take part at each table.)

🎟️ Limited places – online booking essential

Book here:
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/norrismuseum

Come along and create a monster with plenty of character! 👹🧡

Address

C/o The Norris Museum, 41, The Broadway Street Ives
St Ives
PE275BX

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 4pm
Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm

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