For centuries, builders and homeowners secreted spiritual middens, such as shoes, bones and witch bottles, in the walls, fireplaces and under the floors in order to protect their property, their kin and themselves from the forces of witchcraft. Using  some rarely displayed objects from our own collection, we are exploring the customs and traditions that guarded Cambridgeshire homes against evil intent.

Before the advent of St. Valentine’s Day cards, expressions of affection in the Fenland villages came in sweet but rather unusual guises. So many of these practices of love and courtship have sadly fallen aside, but you can learn of some of them in our special Valentine’s Day Exhibition, hosted in the Fens and Fenland Room