The Ancient House at the turn of the century

Maharajah Duleep Singh had a great affection for the historical town of Thetford and so did Prince Frederick, he noticed how empty the town was without a museum of its own and decided it was time that Thetford should have its own exhibiting house. In 1921 the Mayor of Thetford consulted Prince Frederick Duleep Singh about setting up a museum in the town.

Duchess Grafton Opening The Ancient House Museum, 1924

The Prince very generously responded by purchasing the old Tudor House in White Hart Street, known as the ‘Ancient House’ and presented it to the Mayor and Corporation of Thetford for this purpose.

The 15^th Century house was carefully restored at an estimated cost of £550 to which Prince Frederick contributed. The Duchess of Grafton officially opened the museum on the 11th December 1924.  To start the museum, Prince Frederick gave many relics and artefacts of local history from his own collection.

In 2004 the museum closed for major renovations, and a year later it opened as a large and extended exhibiting house renamed ‘Museum of Thetford Life’.

The museum houses many relics of the generous Prince and his family, including a family photo album, the bible presented to Maharajah Duleep Singh by the Earl of Dalhousie in 1854 as a parting gift, military uniform of the prince from the Norfolk Yeomanry, and many original prints and photographs.

An early coloured postcard depicting the Ancient house

 in the early part of the century

Recently the museum added a new relic of the family, being the marble gravestone of Maharani Jind Kaur, the mother of the Maharajah Duleep Singh, who was the first Sikh woman in Britain amd died in London in 1863.

Ancient House Museum

White Hart Street

Thetford

Norfolk IP24 1AA

Opening times: April – 28 Oct 2007, Mon – Sat: 10am - 5pm
29 Oct 2007 – 15 March 2008, Mon – Sat: 10am - 4pm