Hertfordshire Heritage Exhibition

Paintings and objects from museums across Hertfordshire that have been acquired with help from the Hertfordshire Heritage Fund

Exhibition at North Herts Museum, 15 Jan – 27 February 2022

The Hertfordshire Heritage Fund was launched in 1988 in response to grave concerns that historic treasures and artworks were leaving the county, and often the country. The aim of the Fund is to help museums and archives to purchase items for public museums and archives, for us all to enjoy. Over the years the Fund has helped many of the county’s museums buy hundreds of examples of art, archaeology and history, giving out over £86,000 in grants. In 2021, help from the Fund allowed North Hertfordshire Museum to acquire its latest work by the ‘Camden Town’ painter William Ratcliffe; The Red Curtain, an oil painting from 1916.

The exhibition will display over 60 different objects and paintings, from museums right across the county. The oldest pieces on show are implements from a Bronze Age hoard lent by Welwyn Hatfield Museum Service; the most recent include two items from 1968; a small 3-dimensional painting by Richard Smith, entitled M3, from the collections of North Herts Museum, and a tapestry by master weaver Percy Sheldrick, lent by Ashwell Village Museum, and Edmund Walker’s evocative 1987 painting of the lost heritage of De Havilland. From Bushey to Dacorum, from Hertford to Royston, St Albans to Stevenage, Ware to Watford to Welwyn; there will be a wonderful array of loaned items to enjoy.

The Hertfordshire Heritage Fund is run by a tiny number of highly committed volunteers, under the leadership of Miss Dorothy Abel-Smith MBE. They have around 50 supporters and would welcome more. The website is www.hertfordshireheritagefund.co.uk

North Herts Museum, Brand Street, Hitchin, SG5 1JE
Opening times: Tues – Sat 10.30am – 4.30pm; Sundays 11am – 3pm.
Admission free
Tel: 01462 474554 www.northhertsmuseum.org

For more information visit https://northhertsmuseum.org/north-hertfordshire-museum/whats-on-2/exhibitions/