The Brunel Museum

E-mail

Director

Education

Telephone

0207 231 3840

All information is supplied by the venues or providers themselves and every effort is made to ensure it is correct. Please remember to double check opening hours with the venue concerned before making a special visit.

Brunel Museum in award winning sculpture gardens

Isambard Kingdom Brunel's first and last projects are on the River Thames. The Thames Tunnel with his father Sir Marc Brunel is now an International Landmark Site and the oldest section of tunnel in the London Underground. The Great Eastern Steamship, his monster ship, was launched just down the river and is the prototype for the ocean liner of today. The Museum is a Scheduled Ancient Monument in award winning riverside gardens.

Venue Type:

Museum, Heritage site, Industrial heritage site, Transport heritage site, Gallery

Opening hours

Everyday: 10am to 5pm, Tuesday late till 9.30
London Walk every Tuesday 6.15pm from Bermondsey tube or 7.15pm from Museum. Descent of the Grand Entrance Hall, re-opened after 145 years. This is the huge underground chamber where Brunel nearly lost his life. Also on advertised dates and for booked parties

Admission charges

Adults: £2.00
Concessions: £1.00
Children under 16: Free
Family: £5.00

General services and facilities

Guided tours
Pre-booking service for groups
Cafeteria
Gardens open to public
Picnic area
Refreshments
Shop
Licensed bar
Late night openings
Toilets

Children and families

Events and resources for children and families
Children's play area

Disability access

Parking for disabled available
Toilets for disabled
Wheelchair access to all public areas

Schools services and facilities

Direct teaching services for schools
Member of staff available with responsibility for education
Primary school education service available
Secondary school education service available
Education facilities available
Reception and lunch facilities for educational groups

Research and adult learning

Adult lectures and courses held
Mail order service available

Commercial and hire services

Facilities for private functions and events

Additional info

The licensed riverside cafe/bar also serves tea/coffee and home made cakes.

Brunel Engine House
Railway Avenue
London
Greater London
SE16 4LF
England

Website

E-mail

Director

Education

Telephone

0207 231 3840

An exhibition in the restored Engine House tells the story of the men who worked in the dark, dodging flames and showered with raw sewage every day. Watercolours, peep-shows, engravings, and models, explain this epic feat of engineering. There is an extraordinary collection of souvenirs sold underneath the Thames over 160 years ago in the world's first underwater shopping precinct.

Collection details

Architecture, Industry, Land Transport

Collections services

General guide to collections available
Specialist publications on collections available

Brunel Engine House
Railway Avenue
London
Greater London
SE16 4LF
England

Website

E-mail

Director

Education

http://www.brunel-museum.org.uk/education.aspx

Telephone

0207 231 3840

Resources listed here may include websites, bookable tours and workshops, books, loan boxes and more. You may need to scroll down or click on headers to see them all.

Boxes, objects and other kit

Educational Programmes

Half day and full day educational visits are available, and can cover cross-curricular areas through different themes including The Banquet in the Tunnel, Meet Brunel Local History/Literacy, Brunel and the Local Area, The Underwater Shopping Arcade, The Thames Tunnel Fancy Fair, Science: Forces, Bridge Building Workshop and History, and
Citizenship and Gifted and Talented Arts Projects.

How to obtain

Email the Education department at education@brunel-museum.org.uk or call 020 7231 3840 for more information and to make a booking.

Digital and online resources

Thames Tunnel Virtual Tour

http://www.brunel-museum.org.uk/tunnel_virtual_tour.aspx

The virtual tour shows the Thames Tunnel at almost the mid-point of the river. As the image rotates you can see the cross passageways linking the two tunnels. When the Tunnel opened in 1843 there were shops in each of the sixty arches. Before the trains came in 1869 this was the world's first underwater shopping arcade.
When refurbishing in the 1990s, London Underground preserved the Tunnel's original profile with arches and Doric capitals. Brunel had the walls rendered, but the first four arches on the southern side have been left in their original state with brickwork exposed.

Paper-based and downloads

Activities Pack Files

Downloadable sheets of suggested activities for students: debates, writing and art activities based on the Tunnel's dangers and disasters, its uses, its engineering, as a tourist attraction, the men who built it, the Thames, Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Marc Brunel.

How to obtain

Email the Education department at education@brunel-museum.org.uk or call 020 7231 3840 for more information.

Build a Bridge Templates

Three templates available as free downloads. Print out on cardboard, cut the pieces out and assemble them to build your own suspension bridge.

How to obtain

Email the Education department at education@brunel-museum.org.uk or call 020 7231 3840 for more information.

Brunel Engine House
Railway Avenue
London
Greater London
SE16 4LF
England

Website

E-mail

Director

Education