Into Spring/Summer 2026
New Temporary Displays
An exhibition detailing the draining of the Fens in relation to Chatteris with many photographs, tools, documents and maps.
The display narrates an overall background to the draining of the Fens featuring the key participates, King Charles I, 4th Earl of Bedford and the 13 ‘Adventurers’, all of whom invested in Cornelius Vermuyden’s plan to improve access to the land. The greater part of the display centres on how the drainage plans affected the landscape around Chatteris, the improvement to summer pastures, the loss of the River Ouse tributary known as the West Water which also resulted in the loss of the ferry towards Somersham. The resources of the fenland landscape are detailed with methods of hunting and fishing. One cabinet explains the digging of peat for fuel with spade and beckett. Many tools are exhibited so you can view slubbers and hodders.
Always popular, an exhibition illustrating the pubs and beer houses of Chatteris, so far we are up to about 50+ and counting! A map of the town marks all the known beer houses and pubs, 2 large folders contain many photographs and information along with numerous objects relating to the pubs and breweries of Chatteris.
Our large display case features an array of hats from the 19th and 20th Centuries with the addition of many hats, including some silly ones, you can try on for fun and gaze into the mirror!
Other displays currently feature:
The Roman settlement on Langwood with many objects found over the years.
History Beneath Our Feet features many objects relating to the first settlers on the island of Chatteris.
Ice Age fossils and bones of the animals that roamed the landscape around Chatteris.
Fenland Skating. A popular display illustrating the winter activities on fen and drain
Crested China. Part of the collection donated to the museum in 2023 by Chris Pope of Chatteris. A cabinet full of crested china ware, mainly produced by the Goss family, who in the late 19th Century created numerous little pottery knick-knacks crested with almost every town in the UK. Chatteris has the town sign and two versions of the Abbey seal. It is estimated that at one time 95% of households had a piece of crested china on the mantelpiece!
Volunteers are working hard on finishing two new public galleries in the courtyard which are due to open in summer 2026. These galleries will focus on agriculture, trade and industry in the town plus the newly recreated model railway of Chatteris, which sadly had to be completely dismantled during the move to Park Street. Watch trains pass through Chatteris Station as if was in the 1950s and 60s.
Chatteris Museum 