On Wednesday evening our latest acquistion, a painting by William Ratcliffe, called ‘Reflections, Ickleford’, was unveiled in the Council Chamber. The painting shows part of Hyde Mill, a flour mill at Ickleford, which was demolished in the 1930s. It was purchased from the Fine Art Society in Bond Street (where it was on sale as a painting of a pond in Letchworth) with grant aid from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the V & A, and the local Hertfordshire Heritage Fund. We knew that it was of Ickleford, as we have a photograph of the artist looking at the picture on exhibition in Letchworth Museum in 1954. The picture is shortly going off for glazing, and will be kept at Letchworth until the new museum opens.
Unveiling our most recent acquisition, William Ratcliffe’s ‘Reflections, Ickleford’
A very Happy New Year from all at North Herts Museum. We have Behind the Scenes Tours coming up in January and February at both Hitchin and Letchworth Museums.
The Museum Van at Lincoln University – you may be able to make out the Cathedral Spires behind the Freezing Fog! We have formed a partnership with The Conservation Dept of De Montfort University, Lincoln, whose students will be conserving and consolidating objects from the Museum collection. The first batch included a coffin plate, various archaeological copper alloy work, an 1889 football cap and the late Victorian cardboard doll’s house. We are very pleased and excited that these delicate but highly signifcant items will now be able to be safely displayed in the new museum.
The museum van in Lincoln