Museum of London – Review

With the Craftyguidelets learning about the Great Fire of London in KS1 and Stone Age to Bronze Age in KS2 next term, we planned a day trip to the Museum of London near St Paul’s Cathedral to do a bit of ‘research’.

The museum is right in the heart of the history it is curating.   Parts of the London Wall are ‘displayed’ through windows on the upper level.   I’ve no idea why the man in the picture appears to be taking a selfie lying down in the shade of the wall!

We were met at the door by a member of staff who asked us about our visit.   She showed us to the various activity sheets for children which you can also download before you leave home.   We picked up the War, Plague and Fire one for youngest Craftguidelet.   As there was nothing for eldest to have, the staff member got her some leaflets with pictures from the gallery, and also lent her a clipboard and A4 paper to draw pictures and take notes on.   She also met up with us later in the day and showed a genuine interest in what the Craftyguidelets had done.   It’s great when someone goes above and beyond the call of duty.

Photography is permitted in the museum but flashes aren’t so forgive the dodgy pics!
The galleries inside take you on a chronological journey through the history of London, starting in the ‘London before London’ gallery.   This took us from the Stone Age through to Bronze Age with displays of artefacts discovered in the London area.
This Bronze age helmet is supposed to demonstrate the ferocity and virility of the owner.   Not your normal head gear for a night on the pull any more!
The Roman area had this mock up of a Roman house.   I love the mosaic floor.

Moving on through Medieval London and past a 100 year old model of the old St Paul’s cathedral, we arrived in the War, Plague and Fire gallery.   There was a quite disturbing film presentation of the spread of the Black Death which we moved on from, and then on to the Great Fire of London.
It was great to show 5 year old Craftyguidelet examples of houses and how people lived in 1666 when the fire happened, as a background to what she will be learning about in the classroom.   The museum is also in the area where the fire took hold, which also gave her another perspective.
These fabulous dresses were in a recreation of the Pleasure Gardens.   I was a bit confused by the film dramatisation that was projected as part of the experience though.

After travelling through the Victorian shop recreations, we carried on moving through history to modern London.
This is a bronze lift from Selfridges from 1928.   I love the grandness of it.
The Suffragettes were also featured with a large display, including this embroidery from Holloway Prison.
This was from a display of equipment from a bakery demolished in 1966 to make way for a new development.   Being a Master Baker and Confectioner’s daughter, I am drawn to bakery memorabilia.
Probably the most thrilling part for me was the story of the development of the Olympic cauldron from the 2012 London games.   The actual petal for Great Britain was displayed.   I didn’t realise there were 3 cauldrons made – one for the Olympics, one for the Paralympics and one for testing.   The scale and the detail were staggering.

We really enjoyed our day out at the museum.   It held everyone’s interest throughout our visit, and there are probably details we missed to go back and see another time.   Entrance is free but we did leave a donation in the box.

This review is based on my own opinion of our family day out.   I received no incentives to go or to write a review.