Battle of Huntingdon revealed in new exhibition
The exhibition at the Cromwell Museum in Huntingdon runs until November. - Credit: Archant
An invading army arriving in Huntingdon, looting households, torturing inhabitants and taking away hostages including the town’s mayor may seem far-fetched, but it did really happened 375 years ago.
One of the exhibits at the Cromwell Museum. - Credit: Archant
A new exhibition at the Cromwell Museum, in Huntingdon, looks at what happened when the Civil War reached the area in 1645.
A Royalist army, led by King Charles I, took Huntingdon on August 24, 1645 after a brief skirmish at Stilton and some fighting on the north side of the town. King Charles established his royal court at the George Hotel for the next two days, whilst his army was billeted in Huntingdon and Godmanchester. Parliamentarian propaganda made much of the Royalist soldiers causing chaos in
the town and mistreating the population during their stay.
Stuart Orme, curator of the Cromwell Museum says: “This is a fascinating and little-known part of our local history, showing the brutal impact of the Civil War on people in Huntingdon. There will be some rarely seen artefacts displayed for this exhibit, including a newspaper from 1645 relating the story of the occupation, and bullets excavated during the recent A14 archaeological digs which may have come from this period. We’re very grateful for the support of the Huntingdon Freemen’s Trust who
have enabled this exhibition.”
The ‘Battle’ of Huntingdon exhibit will run until November 15 during normal museum opening hours. The museum is open from Tuesday –
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Saturday, from 11am till 4pm, with admission free of charge.
For more information about the museum’s website, visit: www.cromwellmuseum.org, follow it on Facebook at @thecromwellmuseum or on Twitter at: @museumcromwell.
The Cromwell Museum is operated by an independent charity, the Cromwell Museum Trust. The Trust is dedicated to preserving and communicating the assets, legacy and times of Oliver Cromwell in a way that inspires interest. The museum holds the best
collection of objects relating to the life and times of Oliver Cromwell on public display in the world, located in the former Huntingdon Grammar School building, which is both the oldest building in the town and the place where Cromwell went to school. The collection comprises nearly 1000 items, including portraits, clothing, miniatures, arms and armour, and historical documents.
