About
North Hertfordshire Museum in Hitchin is the principal museum for north Hertfordshire, holding wide-ranging collections of natural history, archaeology, art, and social history that document the landscape and communities of this distinctive part of England. The museum, which relocated to a modern facility in the heart of Hitchin in recent years, offers a fresh interpretation of a region whose character has been shaped by chalk downland, lavender fields, and the long continuity of market town life.
Hitchin is one of Hertfordshire's most historic and visually appealing market towns, with a medieval street pattern largely intact and a fine parish church, St Mary's, at its centre. The town's history as a market for the surrounding agricultural district reaches back to the medieval period, and the museum documents this continuity from the Iron Age settlements on the chalk hills through the Roman, Saxon, and medieval periods to the industrial era and beyond.
Perhaps the most distinctive chapter in Hitchin's history is its central role in the English lavender industry. From the 1820s onward, the firm of Perkins and Sons cultivated lavender on an industrial scale in the fields around Hitchin and Ickleford, supplying the perfume trade with essential oil and dried flowers. By the mid-Victorian period, Hitchin lavender was known worldwide — visitors came specially to see the purple fields in July, and the fragrance of the harvest permeated the town. The trade declined in the mid-twentieth century as synthetic alternatives and cheaper foreign production undercut it, but the museum's collections document this remarkable industry in detail.
The natural history collections reflect the chalk and clay landscapes of north Hertfordshire, with significant herbarium collections, vertebrate specimens, and geological material. The archaeology collection spans six thousand years of human occupation and includes material from excavations across the district, from Neolithic flints to medieval pottery.
The museum also holds a varied art collection including works by local artists and pieces acquired through the twentieth century. Temporary exhibitions complement the permanent displays and ensure regular new content for returning visitors.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- Hitchin station is served by Thameslink services from London St Pancras and Bedford, making it one of the more accessible Hertfordshire museums by train — a twenty-five minute journey from London.
- The museum is free and makes a natural base for exploring Hitchin's historic town centre, which retains fine medieval and Victorian buildings around the market square.
- St Mary's Church is a short walk from the museum and is worth visiting for its medieval architecture — one of the finest churches in Hertfordshire.
- If you visit in July, the nearby Hitchin Lavender farm (at Ickleford) is open for visitor picking — a vivid continuation of the industry the museum documents.
- The temporary exhibitions programme is ambitious and worth checking before your visit — some exhibitions involve loans from national collections.
- The museum is closed on Sundays.
- A good selection of independent cafés and restaurants are within walking distance of the museum in Hitchin's appealing town centre.
- The museum's photographic archive can be accessed for research purposes — contact the museum in advance if you want to search the collection for material relating to specific families or places.
Highlights
Hitchin Lavender Heritage
The museum's most distinctive story is Hitchin's role as the centre of the English lavender trade.
From the 1820s, the firm of Perkins and Sons cultivated lavender on a commercial scale in the fields around Hitchin and Ickleford, producing essential oil and dried flowers for the British and international perfume industry. At its height the lavender harvest turned the countryside purple in July, and the town was permeated with fragrance.
The museum documents this remarkable industry through equipment, photographs, trade materials, and the personal testimonies of those who worked the harvest before the trade declined in the mid-twentieth century.
Archaeology of North Hertfordshire
The archaeology collection spans six thousand years of human occupation in north Hertfordshire, from Neolithic flints through the Bronze and Iron Ages to the Roman period and medieval settlement. Particularly significant is the evidence for Iron Age activity on the chalk hills around Hitchin, including material from hillforts that dominated the landscape before the Roman conquest.
Roman Hitchin (situated near Hiz Ford, an important crossing on a Roman road) is well represented, and the collection includes finds from excavations across the district that have built a detailed picture of how this landscape was settled and farmed across the millennia.
Natural History of the Chalk
North Hertfordshire lies on the chalk plateau that forms the southern extension of the East Anglian uplands, and the museum's natural history collections reflect this distinctive landscape. Herbarium specimens document the chalk grassland flora including many orchid species and specialist downland plants.
Vertebrate collections include birds and mammals characteristic of the chalk and clay farmland.
Geological specimens illustrate the composition and fossil record of the chalk, which was laid down in a warm Cretaceous sea some seventy million years ago and has shaped the landscape and ecology of north Hertfordshire ever since.
Medieval Hitchin
Hitchin developed as a significant market town in the medieval period, its prosperity founded on the wool and cloth trade that flourished across the Hertfordshire chalk country in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The magnificent parish church of St Mary's — one of the largest in Hertfordshire — reflects this wealth, and the town's medieval street pattern survives largely intact.
The museum holds documents, maps, and artefacts from this period, including material relating to the town's market rights, the religious houses that served it, and the craft guilds that regulated its trades.
Collections
North Hertfordshire Museum holds over a hundred thousand objects across its natural history, archaeology, art, and social history collections, making it one of the most comprehensive regional museum collections in Hertfordshire. The archaeology collection ranges from Neolithic tools to medieval pottery with particular strength in Iron Age and Roman material.
The natural history collections include significant herbarium holdings, vertebrate specimens, and geological material documenting the chalk landscape.
The social history collections are especially rich in Victorian and Edwardian material, and the photographic archive is one of the most extensive records of everyday life in a Hertfordshire market town. The lavender industry collection is unique, documenting an industry that made Hitchin internationally known in the nineteenth century.
The Scent of Hitchin: Lavender and the Town's Perfume Trade
The story of Hitchin's remarkable lavender industry from the 1820s to the twentieth century.
📍 Lavender Heritage Gallery
North Hertfordshire Through Time
Archaeology, natural history, and social history of north Hertfordshire from the Stone Age to the twentieth century.
📍 Permanent Galleries
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.