Higgins Art Gallery. The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum, Bedford is the principal art gallery and museum in Bedford, Bedfordshire, England, run by Bedford Borough Council and the Trustees of the Cecil Higgins Collection. The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum is situated in the Castle Quarter which occupies the site of Bedford Castle to the east of the High Street on the north side of the River Great Ouse Embankment. The quarter includes the Castle Bailey gardens, the Castle Quay development of flats, restaurants and shops, the Castle Mound, the John Bunyan Museum and the Art Gallery & Museum itself. The Art Gallery & Museum reopened after an extensive refurbishment in June 2013. AE5.8m project has allowed the buildings to be joined together and redeveloped throughout, uniting on one site three previous cultural venues: Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford Museum and Bedford Gallery. It was felt within the organisation and the council that the new single building needed a new name that encompassed the history of the site and collections while being more straightforward than the interim merged name. 'The Higgins' was chosen for its connection with the site as the Higgins family home and business, and the prominent role the family played in the town including Charles Higgins being mayor in 1848. The redevelopment of the Art Gallery & Museum was a phased process. Phase 1 was completed in April 2009 when Bedford Gallery was reopened. Bedford Gallery, a Grade II listed building and part of the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery & Bedford Museum complex, had fallen into disuse in 1973. The reopening of Bedford Gallery as a venue for touring exhibitions, lectures and events gave an insight into what Phase 2 of the re-development process would offer. Phase 2 of the redevelopment unified three previously separate buildings, Bedford Gallery, Cecil Higgins Art Gallery and Bedford Museum, creating one flagship facility and uniting Bedford's unique collections beneath one roof. Building work began in August 2011. The building work and refit of the new galleries was completed in June 2013. Phase 2 of the redevelopment was made possible through funding from Bedford Borough Council, the Heritage Lottery Fund, Bedford Charity and several other sources. The new facility includes space for touring and temporary exhibitions, spaces for learning and activities, a cafe and shop as well as displays throughout. Among the displays, nationally significant collections of work by the Victorian architect-designer William Burges and the 20th-century designer-printmaker Edward Bawden are housed in dedicated galleries. The Higgins Fine & Decorative arts collections were previously an entirely separate institution known as the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery and within the new Gallery & Museum those collections are still owned by the Trustees of the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery. The gallery was known for its collections of watercolours, prints, ceramics and furniture as well as two of the largest groupings of works outside London by the art-architect William Burges and the painter Edward Bawden. The Cecil Higgins Museum, as it was formerly known, opened its doors to the public on 25 July 1949. It was originally occupied the house built in 1846 as the home of Charles Higgins and his family next to the Higgins & Sons Brewery. The Museum had been created by the philanthropic brewer, Cecil Higgins to house his collection of ceramics, glass and objets d'art for the benefit, interest and education of the inhabitants of, and visitors to, Bedford. Higgins realised that public museums were vulnerable, and to protect his collection he left a complex will, which stipulated how the museum was to be organised. He also left a trust fund, to be used for museum purposes, but principally for acquiring works of art. While the collection of ceramics and glass was of high quality, the collection lacked any notable paintings, save a few 18th-century oils and a small collection of miniatures. The Art Gallery Board made the important decision to collect English watercolours in 1951. By the terms of Cecil Higgins' will, all acquisitions have to be approved by a recognised artistic authority such as. the Victoria and Albert Museum and in 1951, the then-Director of the V&A, Sir Leigh Ashton, nominated Graham Reynolds, then Deputy Keeper of the Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design, to approve all watercolours and drawings for acquisition. Graham Reynolds remained an advisor until 1955 when he was succeeded by two authorities in their respective fields who were to shape and expand the collection significantly; Edward Croft-Murray of the British Museum and Ronald Alley of the Tate Gallery, from 1957. The period between 1952 and 1964 were the most productive in terms of collecting watercolours.