Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery

Finding its roots in the Peterborough Natural History, Scientific and Archaeological Society formed in 1871, the museum's collection officially started in 1880. Originally displayed in a room on Long Causeway, Peterborough, it moved in 1887 to Becket Chapel on Cathedral grounds and again in 1907 to Barrass Memorial Hall, Queen Street. All sites have subsequently been demolished. It would remain there until 1925, when the premises would be purchased by a printing company. The Society would then rent an unnamed building on Park Road which would eventually house the Theatre Royal until its closure. • Illustration — Victorian operating theatre The current building on Priestgate was acquired and donated to the Society in 1931 by Sir Percy Malcolm Stewart. The art gallery was later constructed in 1939. Originally a private house dating from 1816, with parts of the cellar dating back to an older house built in the 16th century, the Priestgate mansion had been sold to Earl Fitzwilliam in 1856. He allowed it to be used as a public dispensary and infirmary – the city's first hospital – from 1857 until the opening of the War Memorial Hospital in 1928. In 1968, it was presented to the city by the Peterborough Museum Society. From 2010 to 2019, the museum was managed on behalf of the city council by Vivacity, an independent not-for-profit organisation with charitable status, which also ran the Key Theatre and the city's libraries. It is currently managed by Peterborough Limited, a Local Authority Trading Company under Peterborough City Council.