About
Ware Museum documents the rich history of a Hertfordshire market town that owes its character and prosperity to the River Lea, the malting industry, and the long traffic between this productive countryside and the great markets of London. Located in the centre of the town, the museum holds collections relating to Ware's maltings, its position on the Lea Navigation, the famous Great Bed of Ware, and the wider social history of one of the most historically interesting small towns in southern England.
The River Lea, which flows through Ware on its way south to join the Thames at Bow, was made navigable by a series of cuts and locks from the seventeenth century onwards. This Lea Navigation became one of the most important commercial waterways in southern England, carrying agricultural produce — most importantly malted barley — from the rich Hertfordshire countryside to London's breweries. Ware became the centre of the English malting industry, with vast malthouses lining the riverbanks. For more than two centuries the town's distinctive skyline was defined by malthouse cowls — the rotating wooden ventilators on the roofs of these long, low buildings — and its economy was inseparable from London's beer.
Ware's other claim to fame is the Great Bed of Ware, an immense Elizabethan oak bed measuring approximately ten feet square and capable of accommodating multiple sleepers. Probably made around 1590 as a marketing curiosity for one of the town's inns, the bed became famous across England — it is mentioned by Shakespeare in Twelfth Night ('as many lies as will lie in thy sheet of paper, although the sheet were big enough for the bed of Ware in England'), Ben Jonson, Byron, and many others. The original bed is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, but the museum documents its history and legend.
The museum also documents Ware's grammar school heritage, its market traditions, the impact of the New River — the seventeenth-century aqueduct that supplied fresh water to London from springs at Chadwell near Ware — and the broader social history of a market town that was always closely tied to London but retained a distinctive Hertfordshire character.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- Combine your museum visit with a walk along the Lea Navigation — the towpath is accessible from the town centre and offers an attractive riverside walk past former maltings.
- The Great Bed of Ware itself is in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London — combining a Ware Museum visit with the V&A makes a memorable London-and-Ware day.
- Check opening days carefully — the museum is volunteer-run and currently open Tue, Fri, Sat, and Sun afternoon only.
- The New River Path follows the seventeenth-century aqueduct from Ware all the way to north London — a beautiful long-distance walking route.
- Ware railway station has frequent trains to London Liverpool Street, making the town a convenient day-trip destination.
- Hertford and its museum are three miles away by frequent bus or train — an easy extension to your visit.
- The museum is free but donations support its volunteer running.
- Ware retains many handsome historic buildings in its High Street and on the riverside — allow time to walk through the town centre.
Highlights
The Great Bed of Ware
The museum tells the extraordinary story of the Great Bed of Ware — an immense Elizabethan oak bed measuring approximately ten feet square and capable of accommodating multiple sleepers, made around 1590 probably as a tourist curiosity for one of the town's inns.
The bed became famous across England, mentioned by Shakespeare in Twelfth Night and by Ben Jonson, Byron, and many others. Although the original bed is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the museum's display includes replicas, prints, and interpretive material tracing the bed's career through five centuries.
Ware Maltings
Ware was the centre of the English malting industry for more than two centuries, with vast malthouses lining the River Lea and supplying barley malt to London's brewers. The museum holds extensive material on the maltings — equipment, photographs of the long low buildings with their distinctive rotating cowls, malting tools, and personal accounts from former maltsters.
The work was skilled and seasonal: barley was soaked, germinated on long floors, and kiln-dried before being shipped down the Lea Navigation to London.
The industry shaped Ware's distinctive townscape and economy.
The Lea Navigation
The River Lea was made navigable by a series of seventeenth-century cuts and locks, creating one of southern England's most important commercial waterways. Ware was a key port on the navigation, with wharves and warehouses handling malt, grain, timber, and general goods. The museum documents the navigation through maps, photographs, models of working barges, and material on the boatmen and lockkeepers whose lives were shaped by the river.
The Lea Navigation remains today as a leisure waterway forming part of London's Olympic legacy through the Lea Valley.
The New River
The New River, an artificial channel constructed between 1609 and 1613 by Sir Hugh Myddelton, brought fresh water from springs at Chadwell near Ware to supply the City of London. This extraordinary engineering achievement — a forty-mile aqueduct that followed contours rather than crossing valleys — supplied London's drinking water for centuries and operates in part to this day.
The museum documents this story through maps, prints, and interpretive material, with the New River Path now a popular long-distance walking route from Ware to north London.
Collections
Ware Museum holds approximately 6,000 objects, documents, and photographs relating to the town and surrounding area. The maltings collections are nationally significant — including equipment, photographs of the great malthouses, and material on the industry that defined Ware's economy for centuries.
Lea Navigation material includes boat models, lockkeeper records, and photographs of the working waterway.
Material relating to the Great Bed of Ware traces the legend through five centuries. Archaeological collections include Roman and medieval material from the town. Social history collections cover schools, chapels, trades, civic life, and twentieth-century domestic culture.
The photographic archive is extensive and includes donations from many local families.
Ware: A Hertfordshire Market Town
Chronological display tracing the history of Ware from medieval origins to the twentieth century.
📍 Main Gallery
Malt and the Lea Navigation
Display dedicated to the malting industry and the Lea Navigation that connected Ware to London.
📍 Maltings Gallery
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.