Peckover House and Garden

About the museum

Peckover House stands on North Brink in Wisbech, in one of the best-preserved Georgian streets in England. It was built in about 1722 of local brick, and the Southwell family, who owned it from 1752, were responsible for the fine plasterwork and carved decoration inside. In 1794 it was bought by Jonathan Peckover, a Quaker who had come to Wisbech from Norfolk, and a bank occupied a purpose-built wing, which is why the building was long known as Bank House.

The Peckovers were bankers and philanthropists who supported schools, hospitals, prison reform and the campaign against slavery. Alexander Peckover, later Baron Peckover, added a library wing in 1878 to hold his collection of early bibles, atlases and printed books. His aunt Priscilla Hannah Peckover was a noted peace campaigner who travelled widely and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize several times. The family also kept watercolour albums and travel diaries, and a cabinet of curiosities records their journeys.

The last family member to live in the house, Alexandrina Peckover, left it to the National Trust, which refurnished it, mainly in an eighteenth-century style, and in recent years has shown the family’s own taste and history more fully. Behind the house lies a large walled Victorian garden in the “gardenesque” style, with a rose garden, an orangery with very old orange trees, an orchard lawn and a thatched Reed Barn.

Highlights

• Georgian rooms with original plasterwork and carving
• Library built in 1878 for Alexander Peckover’s collection of books
• Former banking hall exhibition and the surviving bank vaults
• Cabinet of curiosities from the family’s travels
• Victorian walled garden with rose garden and orangery, free to enter

Permanent exhibition

• Peckover House – Georgian rooms including the library, dining room, a cabinet of curiosities and an exhibition in the surviving part of the family bank’s banking hall.

Operated by

National Trust

Admission & discounts

The garden is free to enter all year round. House admission is free for National Trust members. Prices shown are standard admission without Gift Aid.

Accessibility

• Partially wheelchair accessible
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

The garden is reached without steps, with gravel paths, a small cobbled area and some steps and slopes elsewhere. The house entrance has three steps and no ramp or handrail, but a stair climber gives access to the ground floor and booking ahead is advised; the basement and first floor have no step-free route, and a photograph album shows those areas. A manual wheelchair and a powered mobility vehicle can be borrowed, with pre-booking advised. An accessible toilet and a Changing Places toilet (Radar key) are by the Reed Barn, and the tea-room has level access. Blue Badge holders may park on the double yellow lines in front of the house for up to three hours and visitors can be dropped off there. Braille and large print guides can be borrowed. Only assistance dogs are admitted.

Kids & families

Picnic blankets and wellies for children can be borrowed for the garden.

Getting there & parking

The house is on the B1441. From the car park, walk through the passageway to Exchange Square and turn right by the river. National Cycle Network route 1 is ¼ mile away, and bicycles can be left in the courtyard.

Amenities & dining

• Café
• Museum shop

The tea-room in the thatched Reed Barn serves hot and cold drinks, cakes and light bites. There is a second-hand bookshop and plant sales in the courtyard. Toilets are by the Reed Barn and in the house.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit