Bushey Museum

Bushey Museum in Hertfordshire is dedicated to the history of the local area, including many works from its notable local artists.

Bushey Museum history

The village of Bushey was first mentioned as ‘Bissei’ in the Domesday Book of 1086, from which it grew up on the coaching route from London to the North of England.

Its reputation as a centre of artistic output derives from the 19th century, when Hubert von Herkomer moved to the area from Bavaria in 1874. He founded the Herkomer’s Art School in 1883, which over its 21-year lifespan attracted some 500 art students to the area, many of which stayed there to set up their own studios.

When this was sold in 1904, local artist Lucy Kemp-Welch purchased it and turned it into the Bushey School of Painting, before in 1912  Herkomer once again bought back the building. He demolished it, following which a rose garden was planted where it once stood.

These art schools, along with their founders and students, formed the basis of the Bushey Museum and Bushey’s wider artistic legacy.

Bushey Museum today

Today the Bushey Museum tells the story of Bushey and its artistic past. On the ground floor, there is a wide selection of local historical artefacts, maps showing the development of the village, and a temporary exhibition room with exhibitions showing different aspects of local history.

On the first floor is the art gallery, reflecting the school of art set up by Hubert von Herkomer in the area. The pictures on display are regularly updated, as the museum cannot display them all at the same time. Also on view are the paintings of Lucy Kemp-Welch and her cousin Margaret Kemp-Welch.

Getting to Bushey Museum

Bushey Museum is located in the village of Bushey in Hertfordshire, near Junction 5 of the M1, and there is free parking in the nearby Kemp Place Car Park. Bushey train station is 1 mile away, while a number of buses run into the village from the surrounding stations of Watford Junction and Stanmore Underground station.