| Octavia Hill (1838-1912) was a woman ahead of her time. An artist and a radical, she was a pioneer of affordable housing and can be seen as the founder of modern social work. Her formidable achievements as an environmental and open space campaigner led to her co-founding the National Trust, which today protects over 300 historic properties and keeps 250,000 hectares of land open to all.
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See what life was really like for the poor in the days before sanitary reform!
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Her life and work is documented in Octavia Hill’s Birthplace House in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, a handsome Georgian house facing the river Nene. The house and its displays demonstrate this remarkable woman’s influence on our life today: her fight against poverty and disease and her quest to bring peace and beauty into the lives of ordinary working people.
Developments
We have now completed the major building programme, which restored the Georgian Grade II* listed building to its original size.This added the new Education Centre and a Tea Room and Gift Shop. We will open next season from 17 March 2010 to the end of October.
Displays include:
| • | Sense and Sanitation: living conditions before the sanitary reform activities of Octavia Hill’s grandfather, Dr Thomas Southwood Smith | | • | Bed Bugs and Back-to-Backs: a history of social housing |
| • | Art and Open Space: commemorating Octavia’s civic amenity work | | • | For Ever, For Everyone: the founding of the National Trust, one of Octavia’s finest achievements | | • | The Secret Garden: a recreation of one of Octavia’s “outdoor sitting rooms” |
Visit us soon! For opening times, see the right hand column.
>> Who was Octavia Hill? >> Birthplace House |
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