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Wisbech Museum reopens after £616k repairs to leaky roof

The Wisbech and Fenland Museum Restored façade, the Wisbech and Fenland MuseumThe Wisbech and Fenland Museum
The museum façade has also been repaired and the front door repainted

A Grade II* listed museum has reopened after the majority of the "urgently needed" £684,000 repairs to its leaking roof were completed.

The Wisbech and Fenland Museum was one of the first purpose-built museums in England when it opened in the 1840s.

It houses anti-slavery campaigner Thomas Clarkson's "campaign chest" and an original Charles Dickens manuscript.

Curator Robert Bell said specialist contractors, Brown and Ralph, had done "a marvellous job".

Getty Images Benjamin ZephaniahGetty Images
Poet Benjamin Zephaniah told BBC's Inside Culture Show the museum is his favourite thanks to the Thomas Clarkson connection
Wisbech & Fenland Museum/S Cousins Thomas Clarkson's chestWisbech & Fenland Museum/S Cousins
Wisbech-born Thomas Clarkson toured the UK with this box of African-created artefacts, as well as torture instruments used on slaves, in a bid to win the public's support for the abolition of slavery

The repairs were largely funded by a grant from Historic England, which had placed the building on its Heritage at Risk Register in 2018.

Visitors will be able to explore the main gallery, entrance lobby and library.

Other rooms, including a new ground-floor entrance, will be reopened in the coming months as the contractors complete the restoration.

The Wisbech and Fenland Museum Townsend Room ceiling before repair, Wisbech and Fenland MuseumThe Wisbech and Fenland Museum
Repairs to the roof were urgently needed due to leaks
The Wisbech and Fenland Museum Townsend Room ceiling lantern window after repair, Wisbech and Fenland MuseumThe Wisbech and Fenland Museum
The ceiling lantern in the museum's Townsend Room has now been restored

Mr Bell said: "Displays in our original Victorian cabinets and glazed wall cases have been overhauled and anyone who's been before - especially children - will find many exciting changes have been made."

The classical Greek-style museum in Wisbech was designed by architect George Buckler, and built between 1847 and 1848.

It retains period details including cornices, doors and fireplaces, as well as original bookcases and display cases.

Wisbech & Fenland Museum Great Expectations manuscriptWisbech & Fenland Museum
The museum was bequeathed this original Charles Dickens' manuscript in 1868

Collections include public records, photographs, a 12,000-volume library and an original manuscript of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations.

But it had suffered years of funding struggles, before it set up its Re-founders scheme in 2017 and Wisbech Town Council increased its annual contribution from £5,000 to £20,000.

The contractors also repaired windows, as well as restoring glazed structures over galleries.

The Wisbech and Fenland Museum Revised port display, the Wisbech and Fenland MuseumThe Wisbech and Fenland Museum
And while the museum was closed, displays in the original Victorian cabinets and glazed wall cases were overhauled
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