The museum's website [visit link] tells
us:
"The Pumphouse Educational Museum
is a unique venue on the Rotherhithe peninsula. It houses the Rotherhithe
Heritage Museum and a variety of historical exhibitions and in addition offers
further educational opportunities in the environmental study centre using the
Lavender Pond and Nature Park, an oasis of peaceful relaxation in an urban
environment."
It further adds [visit link]:
"Rotherhithe Heritage
Museum
Housed on the ground floor, is the Rotherhithe Heritage Museum, a
collection of artefacts dated from Roman times to the present
day.
The story of Rotherhithe and its
people as told by a unique collection of objects found on the Thames
foreshore.
A fascinating glimpse in to the
ordinary daily life of one of the oldest villages in London. The collection is
the result of over 14 years mudlarking on the river shore by a local man, Mr Ron
Goode. The museum is in the Lavender Pond Pumphouse which originally housed dock
machinery and is surrounded by a tranquil Nature Park and pond.
Exhibitions
The first floor has
a permanent hands-on exhibition of everyday artefacts from twentieth century
homes and the Victorian era through to present day. Used by children to
understand the past and by visitors simply to recall those childhood memories
the exhibition allows different generations to recall and compare everyday
objects.
A Blitz Room is another permanent
display to show home life during the war years.
The 1950's display has a working
jukebox with authentic records from that era, household objects and kitchenalia,
documents and ephemera.
The second floor houses the six
foot replica of Queen Elizabeth's wedding cake, designed and iced at Peek
Freans, Bermondsey, once the employer of many Rotherhithe residents. It is hoped
to obtain a grant to display other items from this lost industry of
Southwark.
Here also are the classroom
facilities for schools, the office, the children's reference library and the
lunch area, as well as the exit to the 1-hectare Nature Park and pond visited by
herons and with a resident pair of swans, tufted ducks and mallards.
In summer
months the pond is teeming with wildlife, dragonflies and damselflies, an ideal place for
quiet reflection or pond dipping.
The Pumphouse Educational Museum is open to visitors Monday to
Friday 10am-4pm. Group visits can be at anytime above, but on a Friday, the
Museum does not have schools, in order to welcome older people who would prefer
to visit in relative peace!"