Museum of Watford - The MoW

05/09/2026

🎒 Back to school, Watford!

New term, new teachers, new friends… and apparently, at one point, a lot of very serious-looking school photographs. 📸

These snapshots from our collection take us back to school days in Watford in the 1930s and 1940s:

📚 Leavesden Church of England School, Class of 1947
🏃‍♀️ Leggatts School Girls’ Sports Team, 1948
🏃 Leggatts School Athletics Team, 1935

Classrooms, uniforms, technology and teaching might look very different today, but some things about going back to school haven’t changed quite so much: seeing your friends again, learning something new, joining a team - and trying to look vaguely sensible for the school photo.

Do you recognise anyone in these photographs? Or what do you remember most about your school days in Watford? 👇

💛 The Museum of Watford is made possible thanks to The National Lottery Heritage Fund, with thanks to National Lottery Players.

03/09/2026

As part of the will be opening their doors again for tours around their building. Learn about the history of the building, as it was a pump station and then prominent in the history of the local health board.

Tours are on Friday 11th September from 4pm - 5pm and then again on Saturday 12th September from 11am - 12pm.

To book please email [email protected] or phone 01923241362

📸:Museum of Watford

03/09/2026

☕ Progress is happening on the Town Hall Quarter site, including the creation of the dedicated entrance to the Museum and Café, which will have an improved, fully accessible ramp.

🏛️ The grand interior staircase at Watford Town Hall, a listed 1930s Art Deco Imperial staircase featuring stone paneling and a distinct bronze balustrade, will also be opened up for the public to enjoy and access the Museum.

To find out more about the project, visit watford.gov.uk/townhallquarter

03/09/2026

🔎 One of the Museum’s little mysteries…

While looking through our documents archive, the Collections team came across this tiny egg-shaped container, intricately decorated with seed beads in geometric patterns.

Lovely enough on its own - but then we picked it up.

It rattled. 👀

Inside were seven miniature dominoes, seemingly handmade from shell.

Were they ever intended to be played with? Were they made simply as a curiosity? And why were they tucked away inside this tiny beaded container?

For now, we don’t know - and sometimes that’s part of the fun of working with a collection of around 40,000 objects. Every so often, something leaves us with more questions than answers.

Any theories? 🎲

💛 The Museum of Watford is made possible thanks to The National Lottery Heritage Fund, with thanks to National Lottery Players.

03/09/2026

is returning this year. The UK's biggest free festival of heritage across the country.
This year you can join the Friends of Watford Museum on Friday 11th September 2026 from 2pm, for a free lecture on the Canadian Khaki University, which existed just after the war around Leavesden. Sure to be an interesting talk on local history from Helen George.
To book a free ticket please email [email protected]
📸: Museum of Watford

28/08/2026

🏳️‍🌈 What would you put in a Museum of Me?

Last weekend at Herts Pride, we invited people to turn their memories into museum objects.

Inspired by the work happening behind the scenes at the Museum of Watford, where our team is busy documenting and labelling around 40,000 objects, we asked visitors to create something that captured a memory, person, place or moment that mattered to them - and then give it its very own museum label.
The result was a brilliant little collection of memories: from family stories and childhood moments to rainbows, favourite foods and tiny objects with very big meanings. ❤️

Because collections aren’t really about things. They’re about the people and stories we attach to them.
A huge thank you to everyone who added something to our Museum of Me.

Now the important question: if one of your memories became a museum object, what would it be? 👀

💛 The Museum of Watford is made possible thanks to The National Lottery Heritage Fund, with thanks to National Lottery Players.

27/08/2026

Have a read of what's coming up in September!

🌟 MoW Monthly -

At Herts Pride, visitors were invited to make and model an object for their very own Museum of Me🌈 - capturing a memory, moment, place or piece of joy and pride they would choose to preserve in a museum collection. 💛 These are a few of the brilliant creations made by visitors throughout the da...

26/08/2026

📣 WE’RE HIRING!

Want to be part of the team bringing the new Museum of Watford to life?

We’re recruiting for three Visitor Experience roles:
⭐ 1 × Senior Visitor Experience Assistant
👋 2 × Visitor Experience Assistants

These roles will be right at the heart of the Museum - welcoming visitors, supporting day-to-day operations and helping us create a brilliant experience for everyone who walks through our doors.
Think you should be part of it? 👀

👉 Find out more and apply via the link: https://careers.watford.gov.uk/Watford/Home

💛 The Museum of Watford is made possible thanks to The National Lottery Heritage Fund, with thanks to National Lottery Players.

24/08/2026

24/08/2026

🧵 Chosen by Museum Next Gen: a tiny gown with a much bigger story.

This Victorian child’s christening gown from the Museum of Watford collection is made from white/cream linen and decorated with layers of intricate lace. Gowns like this were popular throughout the Victorian period and into the early 1900s, often becoming treasured family objects passed between children and across generations.

But clothes can tell us much more than what people wore. This little gown opens up questions about childhood, family, faith, tradition and the expectations placed on children from the very beginning of their lives.

As part of Museum Next Gen, Deborah Akowa selected this object from our collection to bring into the spotlight.

What would you want to know about the child who once wore it? 👀



💛 The Museum of Watford is made possible thanks to The National Lottery Heritage Fund, with thanks to National Lottery players.