Museum Week: Isambard Kingdom Brunel Superhero?
Listen to this article: Recently watching a re-run of the Crystal Skull, I mused on a vague similarity between Indiana Jones and IKB. Both extremely attached to their different hats and with a touch of the same reckless disregard for their own safety! During his lifetime there are many accounts of his daring and frequently …
Saturday Spotlight: Elisha Ralls
We are always excited to see art and design inspired by the Brunel family or the museum itself. We have therefore decided to spotlight some of the wonderful work that we get sent by the community we are proud to be a part of. If you are interested in your works (or those of your …
Our Volunteers and Our Mission – What Would You Like From Us?
Whilst we cannot physically open the museum, our volunteers are still working hard to fulfil the mission of the museum: To preserve and share widely the ground-breaking stories of the Thames Tunnel project and the outstanding achievements of the Brunel family and their relevance to our lives today. We inspire communities through exploration, learning and …
Amazon Smile – Support the Museum for Free!
Are you shopping online a bit more rather than heading to the high street? Did you know that you can donate to us at zero cost to yourself? If you shop on Amazon, just access it via this link: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/ch/1003287-0 The Brunel Museum This will not change your Amazon experience or the prices that you …
Do You Have Any Brunel Memorabilia?
We know that many of our visitors are Brunel enthusiasts and have collected or inherited various wonderful items. This gem is from the collection of volunteer Gill Howard. What treasures of Brunel memorabilia have you collected? Brunel’s Own Copy of An Explanation of the Works of the Tunnel Under the Thames from Rotherhithe to Wapping …
A small museum in Rotherhithe with a very big story!
The Brunel Museum is in the Engine House on the site where Marc Brunel’s world famous 1843 Thames Tunnel was created. Arising from COVID-19 and the ensuing government guidance, the Museum’s doors have had to close and the impact of the loss of income is significant – and will be for many months to come. …
Working at the Face – Inspiration
It is often suggested that Marc’s inspiration for his tunnelling shield was the humble shipworm, Teredo Navalis. This tiny creature bores into ships’ timbers. Marc saw first hand the impact of Teredo Navalis up close when he worked in Chatham Dockyard. Ship worms, which are in fact clams rather than worms, use their shells on …
Pioneer of Prefabrication – Brunel’s Hospital at Renkioi
Would you believe that our hero Isambard Kingdom Brunel was a pioneer of prefabrication?
Doesn’t sound Victorian-style but in times of national crisis some extraordinary things can be achieved. We have recently been amazed by the speed of the herculean task of turning conference centres such as Excel into fully functioning hospitals for high-risk patients. In 1855 Isambard Kingdom Brunel was set a similarly daunting task. To design and create a state of the art modular hospital that could be produced in the UK and then transported and erected on an unknown site in a war zone thousands of miles away. He achieved the entire project in 5 months, here is the story:-
Happy East London Line Day!
What is your favourite train-related fact? For us, it has to be that the Thames Tunnel is the oldest structure on the oldest underground network in the world! Originally built for horses and carts, it was opened as a foot tunnel and tourist attraction in 1843. By the end of the 1860s it had been …
Digging the Tunnel
Thirty-six miners stood in individual cells inside the Tunnelling Shield. They faced a wall of wooden planks held in place by iron rods and butted up against the soil. Each miner would remove one plank at a time and dig away the soil to a depth of four inches. Then, replacing that plank he would …