British Railways Huntingdon Poster, c.1950

This British Railways poster promoted Huntingdon to visitors, showing Cromwell with his soldiers in front of the building which is now the Museum. This was part of a series of posters promoting rail travel to historic towns produced in the 1950s, drawn by the artist Lance Cattermole (1898– 1992).

As delightful as the image is, it is largely historically inaccurate. This building was covered in Tudor brick cladding in Cromwell’s time, so the medieval stonework would not have been visible. Cromwell’s troops did not wear stripy ‘rugby shirt’ style coats, nor is the cavalry standard correct… but it is an iconic image nonetheless!