Higgins Museum, Beford
Higgins Museum, Beford
The Higgins Bedford unites on one site three previous cultural venues : Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford Museum and Bedford Gallery. The buildings themselves date back 200 years and have their own rich history of occupation and use, even before they became used for their more recent cultural past.
The site at Castle Lane, the Higgins family and the development of the art gallery and museum are intrinsically linked. Charles Higgins and his family moved to Bedford in the 1820s, founding the brewery at Castle Lane and building the family home next to it. The family business was very successful and they were important, influential figures within the town for over a hundred years. The brewery remained in the Higgins family until the late 1920s when Cecil Higgins, then over seventy, decided to sell it to Wells & Winch Ltd. in order to focus on his ambition to found a museum.
The art gallery and museum inhabit a complex set of historic buildings. As well as the Higgins family home and the Higgins Brewery buildings, there is the Hexagonal Gallery which is the oldest part of the site, and Bedford Gallery, a Grade II listed building.
Schools
Our programme of activity sessions for schools reflects the strengths of our collections with familiar themes but new activities designed to make the most of our galleries. All the sessions are cross-curricular in their approach and provide pupils with opportunities to learn from, and be stimulated by, real and replica artefacts.
We aim to expand our offer next year so welcome your feedback on these sessions and your ideas about programmes we could be developing or adapting to meet your particular needs.
Activity sessions for all Key Stages
