Latest News
Towering polymath pays a call
05 Jul, 2019
A giant of the Victorian art world has paid a visit to the first home of his protégée, Wisbech-born Octavia Hill, the celebrated social reformer and co-founder of the National Trust. The actor and art historian, Paul O’Keeffe, stepped into the shoes of the mutton-chopped polymath, Joh
Continue Reading →Championing arts and rights for all
02 Jul, 2019
A pioneering ballerina who fought for human rights in the European court has taken her place in a growing memorial to heroes at Octavia Hill’s Birthplace House in Wisbech. Elaine McDonald OBE, who shared her passion for the arts and human justice with the town’s most famous daughter,
Continue Reading →Stepping into Ruskin’s shoes
25 Jun, 2019
A costumed re-enactment of the Inaugural Lecture to the Cambridge School of Art by John Ruskin is to take place at the first home of his protégée, Wisbech-born Octavia Hill. The 1858 lecture by the Victorian polymath, an early mentor of the town’s most famous daughter who went on to b
Continue Reading →Artists against apocalypse
13 Jun, 2019
Artists displaying their work in the ground-breaking Anthropocene exhibition at Octavia Hill’s Birthplace House in Wisbech are set to tell the story of their creative response to environmental catastrophe. Members of the Precious Earth Art Collective will explain the background to the
Continue Reading →Greek treat for gourmets
10 Jun, 2019
A taste of fine dining with a twist of the Mediterranean deep south attracted a full house at Octavia Hill’s Birthplace House in Wisbech. The pop-up supper staged on Saturday at the first home of the town’s most famous daughter, the celebrated social reformer and co-founder of the Nat
Continue Reading →Call for light touch gardener
07 Jun, 2019
A green-fingered helper is needed at a Wisbech museum dedicated to the town’s most famous daughter. Octavia Hill’s Birthplace House at 7 South Brink, Wisbech, is on the lookout for a gardener who is willing to join the team of volunteers which helps to run the first home of the celebr
Continue Reading →Sparking dream of Fen utopia
27 May, 2019
A founder of utopian socialism who inspired a bid to build a colony in the Fens is being remembered at Octavia Hill’s Birthplace House in Wisbech. The vision of the philanthropic social reformer, Robert Owen, whose birthday will be celebrated in a talk at the Wisbech museum, inspired
Continue Reading →Menace of man’s world
27 May, 2019
A topical exhibition drawing attention to the devastation that mankind is wreaking on the environment is opening at Octavia Hill’s Birthplace House in Wisbech. In ‘Anthropocene: of our own making’, a contemporary arts exhibition inspired by the environmental crises earth is facing, t
Continue Reading →Merry maypole’s ageless appeal
27 May, 2019
Merrymakers of all ages have flocked to Centenary Green in Wisbech to revive the lost arts of maypole dancing and weave some May Day magic. Boys and girls from Tydd St Mary Church of England Primary School, who travelled to the festivities with Judd’s Coaches, together with pupils fro
Continue Reading →Boxing legend’s striking legacy
04 May, 2019
A nickname given to a nineteenth century boxing giant could be the origin of the tag for the iconic clock tower that has been chiming the hour for the nation for 160 years. Taking up the cudgels for the view that Big Ben is named after the bare-knuckle boxing legend, Ben Caunt, will b
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