Herbert Art Gallery & Museum

The collections at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum focus on George Eliot’s time in Coventry and the friends she made in the city. It was these free-thinkers and radicals, known as the Rosehill Circle, that encouraged her to write and eventually move to London where her literary career took off.

The museum holds items owned by George Eliot, including her writing desk and piano. Many of these are on permanent display.

Ali Thomas and Victoria Northridge introduce the George Eliot collection at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum and Coventry Archives