Small and Perfectly Formed

During the week we went to the Brunel Museum in Rotherhithe. This must be one of the very smallest Museums in London. Set in the building that used to house the steam engine that pumped water from the foot tunnel that Marc Brunel and his son - Isambard Kingdom - dug under the Thames between 1825 and 1843.

This was the first tunnel successfully bored under a navigable river, and was a wonder of the age.

The Wikipedia article on the Tunnel is quite comprehensive. The tunnel never did service the horse traffice it was intended for - the ramps at either end were never built. Foot traffic reached the tunnel through vertical shafts (you can just see the top of one painted blue to the far left of the picture above). The tunnel is till used to carry the East London Line of the tube network under the river. It is thus, as a panel in the Museum says, 'The oldest section of tunnel on the oldest underground railway in the World'.

What Wikipedia doesn't tell you is how small the Brunel Museum is. An upper floor has some lively panels explaining the tunnel project and what happened in the end, with a few objects (eg a note book, some engineering drawings). Below this is a small multimedia area (about 15 seats, a telly and a dvd player), and schools/children's activity space. A mezzanine level houses the entrance, gift shop and cafe in a space about ten yards by eight.

As for staff, he was sitting outside having a fag when we arrived. He meeted and greeted us, sold us tickets, told us the best away around the place so we didn't get confused, started the multimedia display up when we said we were interested in the film, and offered us merchandise from the gift shop. He didn't seem busy - in the 60 minutes we spent on the visit we were the only people there.

(And for the record, its Web site consists of just one page)

And yet it was really very intersting, and was a good visit. Being just on one subject, and with just one gallery, and a small one, you end up paying really close attention to everything there is. You focus, and miss nothing. The displays and panels are very good, and the story the Museum tells is extremely interesting (at least I thought so) - and a World first.

There is a planned development which would make use of the shaft down to the Tunnel for further displays and so forth, but they are still fundraising. I also gather that every so often (once a year?), pre-booked visitors can go down the shaft and explore the Tunnel (the trains are switched off on those days!)

So go, but, please, not all at once.

All around the Museum the street names reflect the tunnel and the Brunels, and it is set in an area of historic Rotherhithe.

The Mayflower pub is built close to the landing steps from which the Pilgrim Fathers set sail for America, and is a well-known old pub with terrific views over the river from its own jetty. I haven't had a pint there in years, but have very fond memories...
There has been a lot of gentrification around about here, with wharves and warehouses converted to house yuppy flats and 'creative' industries, but although it feels a bit twee it hasn't been badly done.
This tiny little area is very close to the Rotherhithe (road) tunnel - which is horrible. But the chief attraction for those who live there is, I guess, its nearness to the centre.
Finally, we stepped out briefly and surveyed the river under which Brunel's tunnel still travels. 1200 feet wide at this point, it very hard to grasp what runs underneath...