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The Rhodes Museum was established in 1938 in two listed Victorian Buildings, one of which is the birthplace of Cecil Rhodes, Victorian Empire Builder. As such it is a significant local landmark and has national and international links. Today, the Rhodes Museum and Local History Museum have merged to become the Bishop's Stortford Museum. The collections are housed together and provide a new focus on the town's rich local history and unique links with the story of Cecil Rhodes, Empire and Africa.

There are modern galleries with interactive displays featuring:

Victorian Bishop's Stortford

A Victorian Drawing Room

Trades and Buildings of the town

The Gilbey Gallery

History and Heritage of Bishop's Stortford

The Miss Pye Collection (A local Edwardian lady's personal belongings)

Europe and Africa

Rhodes and Africa

The African Gallery Southern

Africa after Rhodes

There is also an Education Room and a Temporary Exhibition Gallery (The Thorleybourne Gallery) hosts a variety of exhibitions throughout the year, art exhibitions, touring exhibitions and displays from the museum's reserve collections.

The Bishop's Stortford Museum is also involved in a wide range of projects.

Remembering Slavery 2007. This project supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery fun will make a wider range of the museum's resouces available for schools, will provide an exhibition on Southern Africa in the late 19th Century and will include other related events. Look out for the fabric mural on Africa being created by Middleton and Pinewood schools in Ware. Find out about the Arts Complex events related to the project. For more information click here.

The Nettleswell Gardens. This project supported by the Big Lottery Fund and BBC Breathing Places, is developing the museum and arts complex gardens. We are creating a more wildlife friendly space with lots of sensory areas. If you would like to learn more about this project, or are interested in volunteering to help click here.