London has a wealth of excellent museums and galleries including the unmissable British Museum, Natural History Museum and National Gallery. However, there are a number of other smaller museums which offer quirky collections or have a fascinating history and are definitely worth a visit.
So, in no particular order, here is our list of London’s 5 best small but fascinating museums.
Grant Museum Of Zoology
The weird and wonderful Grant Museum Of Zoology is a free museum and is part of University College London. As you enter, you are greeted with a jar of moles and some other creepily fascinating specimens.
The museum was established by comparative anatomist, Robert Edmond Grant in 1827 as a teaching collection for students of the university. Grant’s work and radical evolutionary views are said to have influenced the young Charles Darwin.
The museum itself has a great ‘old fashioned’ interior which adds to its charm and despite being relatively small you can still easily spend an hour or two here.
Price: Free
Address: Rockefeller Building, 21 University St, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 6DE
The Old Operating Theatre Museum
The Old Operating Theatre Museum is located near London Bridge in the attic space of an eighteenth-century church next to the original site of St Thomas’ Hospital. The female surgical ward of the hospital abutted the church and in 1822, the church’s attic space was utilised and turned into an operating theatre. In 1862, the hospital moved to Lambeth and the old operating theatre was sealed up and lay undiscovered until it was found by accident in 1957.
The museum is open all week but the best time to go is on the weekend when you can book a talk where they explain the old operating methods in gruesome detail. You need to book for these talks as the space is limited.
Price: £6.50 (Concession and family tickets available)
Address: 9a St Thomas St, London SE1 9RY
Museum Of The Order of St John
The Museum of the Order of St John can be found in St John’s Gate, a 16th-century gatehouse in Clerkenwell, London. The museum tells the fascinating story of the Knights of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, from their 11th-century origins through to the humanitarian work of the modern Order of St John and the public first aid and ambulance services they now provide.
If you get the chance, visit the neighbouring Priory Church with its twelfth-century Crypt. The Church and Crypt are open to visitors by appointment.
Price: Free
Address: St John’s Gate, 26 St John’s Ln, London EC1M 4DA
Petrie Museum Of Egyptian Archaeology
Not far from the Grant Museum is the Petrie Museum Of Egyptian Archaeology which is also part of University College London. Flinders Petrie was an English Egyptologist who led many important excavations in Egypt. In 1913 he sold his collections of antiquities to University College, creating the Flinders Petrie Collection of Egyptian Antiquities, transforming the museum into one of the leading collections outside of Egypt.
The small museum is crammed full of exhibits and like the Grant museum, it has a gloriously old fashioned presentation style. Although small, you still need to allow a good couple of hours to look around.
Price: Free
Address: Malet Pl, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 6BT
Sir John Soane’s Museum
Sir John Soane’s Museum is located in the former house of the renowned Regency architect. One of his most famous projects was the Bank of England. The house is crammed with his extraordinary collections of sculptures, paintings and architectural models amassed during his life.
The fact that the house and collections have remained intact is because Soane negotiated a private Act of Parliament to preserve his house exactly as it was arranged at the time of his death and to keep it open and free for ‘inspiration and education.’
Due to the size of the house, only a limited number of visitors can enter at any one time. They did have a system to prebook a time slot, however, we have heard that this may have changed recently. It is best to check with the museum before your visit.
Price: Free
Address: 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Holborn, London WC2A 3BP
As Mel doesn’t like taking the Tube we usually try to stay in a central hotel such as The Piccadilly Hotel London. It’s close to Soho and Chinatown and you can walk to 4 of the museums mentioned. You can actually walk to all 5 if you are up to it!
