Ely Museum

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Market Street, Ely, CB7 4LS

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Upcoming events at Ely Museum

Little Explorers at Ely Museum – April 2026
Children & FamilyWorkshops & Classes

Little Explorers at Ely Museum – April 2026

Our Little Explorer mornings are a workshop for accompanied pre-school children held monthly at the museum. Join us for creative sessions of themed activities, crafts, stories and songs. Enrich your day with opportunities for social interaction, development of fine motor skills and imaginative play. Tickets, which should be pre-booked online, are £3.50 for children.  The session usually takes place on the third Friday of the month, and runs from 10:00am – 12:00pm. Children must be accompanied throughout. Accompanying adults must have a museum annual pass or purchase an admission ticket. As space in the room is limited, please try to keep numbers of accompanying adults to one per child, unless agreed by Ely Museum staff in advance. There is lift access to the Aedwen room, a place for pushchairs & baby changing facilities on both floors of the museum. Our April theme is Down by the Pond.

Fri 17 Apr10:00Ely Museum
via Ely Museum
Make a Silver Ring Workshop
Arts & CultureWorkshops & Classes

Make a Silver Ring Workshop

Make a Silver Ring – Lost Wax Casting Saturday 25th April 1pm-4pm Create your own sterling silver ring! Learn about the lost wax casting process with Nathan Frazer of imadeacoolthing, then design and make a wax ring ready for casting. In a small group of no more than 6 people we will be making our very own solid silver rings using the lost wax casting technique. In the workshop we will be creating our rings out of wax, which is a wonderful and adaptable material to work with, even beginners will find it easy to work with, and the detail is remarkable. The wax rings will then be taken offsite for casting, Nathan will finish and polish your silver ring and post back to you. What to bring: You should have a couple of ideas and images of the type of ring you would like to make, if you use reading glasses you should bring those too. No under 16’s. All tools and materials will be provided. Workshop includes tea and cake. This workshop is sold out.

Sat 25 Apr13:00Ely Museum
via Ely Museum
Willow Swallow Decorations
Arts & CultureWorkshops & Classes

Willow Swallow Decorations

Willow Swallow Decorations Saturday 9th May 12pm-4pm Join local Master Basketmaker, Nadine Anderson, to weave Swallow and Swift decorations in locally grown willows using basic frame basketmaking techniques. The swallows are 18cm x 25cm and the swifts 25cm x 25cm. There should be time in the workshop to complete 1 of each.   Delicate fine willows will be used making it accessible to anyone who may have strength issues with their hands. All materials, tools and instruction provided. It is 29 years since Nadine Anderson wove her first willow basket, a rather strawberry shaped affair, but still it gripped her becoming her obsessive hobby and gradually full-time job. She has a City and Guilds qualification in Creative Basketry, and has served as course coordinator for The Basketmakers Association committee, is an active member of Cambridge Open Studios and became a Yeoman Basketmaker to The Worshipful Company of Basketmakers in 2017.  She has woven props for films and created two full sized Green men costumes in Rush for The Lord Mayors Show.  She grows her own willow and harvests the wild freshwater Rush in waterways around Ely, this small-scale domestic practice is especially important to the integrity of her work. All tools and materials will be provided. Workshop includes tea and cake. £65 Tickets

Sat 9 May12:00Ely Museum
via Ely Museum
Farming on the Medieval Fen
Talks & LecturesHistory & Heritage

Farming on the Medieval Fen

Farming on the Medieval Fen A talk by Professor Susan Oosthuizen Tuesday 12th May 7pm This talk offers a new perspective on Cambridgeshire’s medieval peat fenlands, well-known to have been dominated since time immemorial by extensive commons including pastures and meadows, marshes and meres. It shows how essential the rich ecology of different kinds of grasses and herbs were to commoners’ livelihoods and prosperity – and why ‘in no part of England were common rights more important’. It illustrates how, across the centuries, free peasant farmers and stockmen were able to make good livings only because they knew every inch of their local landscapes. And it outlines how their success depended not only on managing their beasts, the varying qualities of different grassland pastures and other fen resources, but also on their mastery of often complex engineering aimed at successfully controlling seasonally variable levels of water across their commons. Susan Oosthuizen is Professor (Emerita) of Medieval Archaeology in the University of Cambridge. She is particularly interested in commons and the development of landscapes and society between about 400 and 1300 AD, often focusing on Cambridgeshire examples. A list of her publications, both books and papers, often with downloadable copies, can be found at: https://profsusanoosthuizen.wordpress.com.

Tue 12 May19:00Ely Museum
via Ely Museum
Little Explorers at Ely Museum – May 2026
Children & FamilyWorkshops & Classes

Little Explorers at Ely Museum – May 2026

Our Little Explorer mornings are a workshop for accompanied pre-school children held monthly at the museum. Join us for creative sessions of themed activities, crafts, stories and songs. Enrich your day with opportunities for social interaction, development of fine motor skills and imaginative play. Tickets, which should be pre-booked online, are £3.50 for children.  The session usually takes place on the third Friday of the month, and runs from 10:00am – 12:00pm. Children must be accompanied throughout. Accompanying adults must have a museum annual pass or purchase an admission ticket. As space in the room is limited, please try to keep numbers of accompanying adults to one per child, unless agreed by Ely Museum staff in advance. There is lift access to the Aedwen room, a place for pushchairs & baby changing facilities on both floors of the museum. Our May theme is Construction.

Fri 15 May10:00Ely Museum
via Ely Museum
via Ely Museum
Dig it! Archaeology Discovery Day
Children & FamilyHistory & Heritage

Dig it! Archaeology Discovery Day

Dig it! Archaeology Discovery Day Love Digging for Britain or perhaps have a budding archaeologist in your family?  If so, join us for Dig It! – our archaeology discovery day.  Discover how archaeologists dig up the past, record what they find, piece together the clues and discover the story in their hunt for history. Supported once again by Oxford Archaeology, you can meet the archaeologists as well as try out a range of hands-on activities suitable for all ages.  Have a go at excavating and crafts and take a look at local archaeological finds and discover the stories behind them.  This year there will also be a finds identification team so bring your local finds to discover more about them. For Scouts and Brownies wanting to do their archaeology badges, the Cambridgeshire Scouts Archaeology Squad will also be here to support the event. No pre-booking required.  Included with your standard admission ticket or valid annual pass.

Tue 26 May10:30Ely Museum
via Ely Museum
Living by the Rule: Contemporary Art and the Medieval Monastery
Arts & CultureTalks & LecturesHistory & Heritage

Living by the Rule: Contemporary Art and the Medieval Monastery

Living by the Rule: Contemporary Art and the Medieval Monastery A talk by Dr Jessica Barker and Dr Ed Krčma Tuesday 2nd June 7pm This talk will be given by the two curators of a major new exhibition, Living by the Rule: Contemporary Meets Medieval, on view at the Sainsbury Centre, Norwich, 16 May – 4 October 2026. The exhibition and accompanying book explore the structure and priorities of everyday life by putting contemporary conditions in dialogue with a seemingly remote and alien form of life: medieval monasticism, and specifically the Rule of Saint Benedict (6th Century). Ely Cathedral was once a Benedictine monastery, and for the exhibition the curators have been able to loan important objects from its collections: the Ely Cope, and four examples of 14th century choir stall fragments, which not been seen by the public since the 19th Century. In addition, the exhibition includes a rare example of pre-Reformation English panel painting that were originally made for Ely Cathedral, the Etheldreda Panels, which have been newly conserved for the show. These and many more examples of medieval monastic objects and artworks are put in dialogue with works by contemporary artists, including two Turner Prize winners, Elizabeth Price and Richard Wright. This talk will introduce the exhibition and explore some of its highlights, including the objects from Ely. Dr. Jessica Barker is a senior lecturer in medieval art at The Courtauld in London.

Tue 2 Jun19:00Ely Museum
via Ely Museum
Little Explorers at Ely Museum – June 2026
Children & FamilyWorkshops & Classes

Little Explorers at Ely Museum – June 2026

Our Little Explorer mornings are a workshop for accompanied pre-school children held monthly at the museum. Join us for creative sessions of themed activities, crafts, stories and songs. Enrich your day with opportunities for social interaction, development of fine motor skills and imaginative play. Tickets, which should be pre-booked online, are £3.50 for children.  The session usually takes place on the third Friday of the month, and runs from 10:00am – 12:00pm. Children must be accompanied throughout. Accompanying adults must have a museum annual pass or purchase an admission ticket. As space in the room is limited, please try to keep numbers of accompanying adults to one per child, unless agreed by Ely Museum staff in advance. There is lift access to the Aedwen room, a place for pushchairs & baby changing facilities on both floors of the museum. Our June theme is Minibeasts.

Fri 19 Jun10:00Ely Museum
via Ely Museum
via Ely Museum
Little Explorers at Ely Museum – July 2026
Children & FamilyWorkshops & ClassesHistory & Heritage

Little Explorers at Ely Museum – July 2026

Our Little Explorer mornings are a workshop for accompanied pre-school children held monthly at the museum. Join us for creative sessions of themed activities, crafts, stories and songs. Enrich your day with opportunities for social interaction, development of fine motor skills and imaginative play. Tickets, which should be pre-booked online, are £3.50 for children.  The session usually takes place on the third Friday of the month, and runs from 10:00am – 12:00pm. Children must be accompanied throughout. Accompanying adults must have a museum annual pass or purchase an admission ticket. As space in the room is limited, please try to keep numbers of accompanying adults to one per child, unless agreed by Ely Museum staff in advance. There is lift access to the Aedwen room, a place for pushchairs & baby changing facilities on both floors of the museum. Our July theme is At the Seaside

Fri 17 Jul10:00Ely Museum
via Ely Museum

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