Museum of London Docklands: Top 10 things to see
Until the 20th century shipping was
vital to the existence of an island nation
like Britain and all foreign goods arrived
by sea. This Roman amphora was
an efficient early shipping container,
especially for liquids, and examples like
this are found in ship wreck sites all over
the classical world. It was probably used
to import fish sauce in around AD 100.
Bronze art from west Africa, such
as these Yoruba sculpture casts,
demonstrates the high level of craft
accomplishment that existed in the
region before the instability and
disruption created by the European slave
trade. In the later 19th century examples
of bronze castings from west Nigeria and
Benin were often brought back to Britain
as curiosities and ‘spoils of war’. These
date from around AD 1100-1400.
The medieval London Bridge was a
unique and imposing landmark, and this
huge model of it commissioned by the
museum gives a dramatic impression of
how it would have looked in both the
1400s and the 1600s. You can see how
its function changed from being part of
London’s defences, to accommodating
water mills in its arches to pump water
into the city.
Public executions were regarded as
important demonstrations of order and
social control, but as an event they were
soon over. The corpses of executed
pirates and felons would be tarred to
preserve them, then hung in gibbet
cages like this example at crossroads
or on river banks, as a reminder of the
penalty for law breaking.
This Regency library table was owned
by the MP Thomas Fowel Buxton, who
led the campaign in parliament for the
abolition of slavery. Buxton was closely
connected to important and radically
minded Quakers, and also led campaigns
for prison reform and the restriction of
the death penalty.
Museum of London Docklands: Top 10 things to see
Whale oil was a valuable and important
fuel for domestic lighting and London
needed a lot of it. As a result, London had
its own whaling fleet up until the early
19th century. At first, ships were sent
north to the waters around Spitzbergen,
but as it became harder to find whales
in the arctic by the late 18th century, the
ships were redirected to the southern,
pacific whaling grounds. These whale
jaw bones were found in the Thames and
date from the late 1700s.
Because they sailed to the far side of
the world, East Indiamen had to be large
enough to carry enough cargo to make
the voyage profitable. They also had to
carry sufficient provisions and equipment,
and cannon to defend themselves.
This cross-section model of the East
Indiaman Falmouth shows how cargo
and stores were packed inside. Ships like
this would have made several voyages to
India and China in the 1760s, returning
with tea, china and cotton.
If you were a sailor or passing trader
in the 18th and early 19th centuries,
you would probably be familiar with
the hustle and bustle of London’s
riverside districts such as Wapping and
Limehouse. Those brave enough to enter
Sailortown – our recreation of 19th
century Wapping – will find a pub, sailors’
lodging house, a wild animal emporium,
and much more...
During the war many ships were
redirected to safer ports in the northwest of Britain, but the London docks
were still busy with ships delivering food
and fuel for London and the surrounding
area. From September 1940 onwards, the
docks became a key target for German
Luftwaffe bombers, and small consol
shelters like this were vital to protect the
men who continued to work in the docks.
London’s dock warehouses stored
thousands of tons of timber and other
combustible materials during World
War II and these were a major target for
German planes. A combination of highexplosive and incendiary bombs were
dropped with the intention of creating a
firestorm – the resulting intense heat and
destruction is seen in this warped cast
iron column.
Return this guide at the end of your visit
Find out more about the Museum’s objects at www.museumoflondon.org.uk