Octavia Hill Museum

Viewing numbers 7 and 8 South Brink from across the river it seems that, in spite of the two front doors, this was originally one very large house. It was built for Charles Vavasor, Receiver of Land Tax in Cambridgeshire in the early eighteenth century. In 1818, the property was bought by a wealthy young merchant from Peterborough. This was James Hill, Octavia's father. Unfortunately he went in for banking (his banking chamber was in number seven) and became involved in the national banking crisis of 1825 from which he never really recovered. The notice for the 'Sale by Auction' of his house in 1840, when he was finally declared bankrupt, indicates that he did own this very large house, in which Octavia Hill had been born in 1838.In 1874 the property was described as 'recently divided', so it was then that it became three houses.

In February 1994 the Octavia Hill Birthplace Trust purchased the western section with its two doors on to South Brink Place. It has now been developed into a well planned and well-stocked museum devoted to Wisbech's most famous daughter.Octavia Hill ranks with, for example, Elizabeth Fry among the great social reformers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. People who are interested in social history come from considerable distances to spend a long time studying the contents of the Museum.

Now enter through the left-hand door on South Brink Place. At the desk they will lend you a guidebook which you should take and use. The room on the left will take you back to Octavia's maternal grandfather, Dr. Thomas South wood Smith, and his reforming work and to James Hill's connection with Robert Owen, whose model housing development at New Lanark he hoped to reproduce at Manea.

Next descend the steps into the basement. Press the button in front of you and watch the outsize bed bug fill up with blood. Then turn left and make the acquaintance of the poor family living miserably in one room. This has been reconstructed from photographs of the poor dwelling that Octavia found in Marylebone, London

Upstairs in the Housing Room the story of Octavia's redemptive work among the London poor is told. There you will see her leather rent bags She always collected the rent herself (there was no avoidance of payment) and at the same time listened to the story of the tenants' troubles and offered advice. This personal involvement was at the heart of her success.

On the top floor there is the Open Space and National Trust Room. Octavia was one of the three founders of the National Trust, which had its centenary in 1996. Her interest was not so much the acquisition of great estates for the nation, as in the provision of tiny areas of land, with grass and flowers and trees, where the poor of London might breath and find peace.