14 March 2010
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Old Operating Theatre Museum, London

The Old Operating Theatre Museum
9A St Thomas' Street
London
SE1 9RY
England

Website

Museum's innovative website

www.thegarret.org.uk

E-mail

Museum Staff and enquiries

curator@thegarret.org.uk

Director

kpflude@chr.org.uk

Telephone

020 7188 2679

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.
venue representative image
Guided tours icon Shop icon Hearing disability facilities icon Visual disability facilities icon

Hidden in the roof of a church, a 300-year old herb garret houses Britain's only surviving 19th century operating theatre. This museum, one of London's most intriguing historical interiors, contains the Operating Theatre, in use between 1821 and 1862 in the days before anaesthetic and antiseptic surgery. The Herb Garret, a "delightful experience of oak beams" was used by the apothecary of St Thomas' Hospital to store the herbs used within patients medicines.

The museum offers a full education service combined with cutting edge public events, including Victorian Surgery, Horror Hospital, and regular art exhibitions and special guest lecturers.

Venue Type:

Museum

 Opening hours

Open daily, Mon - Sun, from 10.30-17.00. Admission is up a steep, narrow 32 step spiral staircase, in the bell tower of St Thomas' Church

Closed 15 Dec - 5 Jan inclusive

 Admission charges

Adults: £5.80
Concessions: £4.80
Child: £3.25
Family (2 adults up to 4 children): £13.75

Groups are welcome when pre-booked (over 10 people) and will receive a free lecture/introduction to the Museum.

Discounts

  • Museums Association
  • International Council of Museums
 General services and facilities
  • Brochure or leaflet available with directions to museum
  • Foreign language leaflet or brochure available
  • Guided tours
  • Pre-booking service for groups
  • Shop
 Children and families
  • Activities for pre-school children
  • Events and resources for children and families
  • Children's play area
 Disability access
  • Braille information and/or interpretation
  • Induction loops in lecture theatres
  • Large print information and/or interpretation
  • Touch exhibits
 Schools services and facilities
  • Direct teaching services for schools
  • Member of staff available with responsibility for education
  • Primary school education service available
  • Printed/audio-visual information available for schools
  • Secondary school education service available
  • Education facilities available
 Research and adult learning
  • Academic publications and resources available
  • Adult lectures and courses held
  • Teaching/resources available for HE/FE students
  • Mail order service available
 Commercial and hire services
  • Facilities for private functions and events

Additional info

Please note that unfortunately there is no disabled access to the museum.

The Old Operating Theatre Museum
9A St Thomas' Street
London
SE1 9RY
England

Website

Museum's innovative website

www.thegarret.org.uk

E-mail

Museum Staff and enquiries

curator@thegarret.org.uk

Director

kpflude@chr.org.uk

Telephone

020 7188 2679

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.

The Museum has a diverse collection of medical, surgical and herbal objects, including amputation sets, bloodletting instruments, pharmaceutical jars, and nursing and obstetric instruments and items.

Collection details

Architecture, Industry, Medicine, Natural Sciences, Personalities, Science and Technology, Social History

Key artists and exhibits

  • The Old Operating Theatre - the oldest operating theatre in Britain and the Herb Garret exbitition.

Collections services

  • General guide to collections available
  • Object identification and/or written enquiry service
  • Public access available to collections information

The Old Operating Theatre Museum
9A St Thomas' Street
London
SE1 9RY
England

Website

Museum's innovative website

www.thegarret.org.uk

E-mail

Museum Staff and enquiries

curator@thegarret.org.uk

Director

kpflude@chr.org.uk

Telephone

020 7188 2679

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.
Events details are listed below. You may need to scroll down or click on headers to see them all. For events that don't have a specific date see the 'Resources' tab above.

Surgery by Gaslight & Other Medical Tales

15 May 2010

Experience the fear and the emotion of a patient in the 19th century - come and have your leg amputated in the oldest surviving operating theatre in England. When the light gets dim ... the surgery comes alive!

Suitable for

  • Family friendly
  • All ages

When

6-9pm

Where

The Old Operating Theatre

Admission

Admission charge. Price N/A. Check website for details and bookings.
www.thegarret.org.uk

The Old Operating Theatre Museum
9A St Thomas' Street
London
SE1 9RY
England

Website

Museum's innovative website

www.thegarret.org.uk

E-mail

Museum Staff and enquiries

curator@thegarret.org.uk

Director

kpflude@chr.org.uk

Telephone

020 7188 2679

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.
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.
 Face to face resources

Public Health in the Victorian Period Guided Walk

http://www.thegarret.org.uk/education.htm

The walk is complementary to a visit to the Old Operating Theatre, Museum & Herb Garret, it provides a tour of surviving parts of Old St. Thomas’s Hospital, historic parts of Guy’s Hospital and a detailed look at the conditions in Victorian London. It can be delivered both to school groups and to medical groups. The school’s walk is closely tied to the National Curriculum, and can be tailored either to Key Stage 2 Victorian Britain, or to ‘Medicine Through Time.
The aim of the walk is to give an overview of Victorian Life with a particular emphasis on how conditions affected public health. We give graphic illustration of the effects of ignorance and poverty in Victorian Southwark. We

Creator

  • Museum Staff

Publisher

  • The Old Operating Theatre

How to obtain

http://www.thegarret.org.uk/education.htm or ring
020 7188 2679

THE HERB GARRET: Activity Hour programme

http://www.thegarret.org.uk/education.htm

The session is led by one of the curatorial staff, who lead the class through a wide range of activities, designed to teach them about the medicines of the past. All the children can try grinding herbs, with some assisting in making pills, tablets and poultices.

Creator

  • Museum Staff

Publisher

  • The Old Operating Theatre Museum

How to obtain

http://www.thegarret.org.uk/education.htm or ring
020 7188 2679

The Old Operating Theatre Museum
9A St Thomas' Street
London
SE1 9RY
England

Website

Museum's innovative website

www.thegarret.org.uk

E-mail

Museum Staff and enquiries

curator@thegarret.org.uk

Director

kpflude@chr.org.uk

Telephone

020 7188 2679

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.
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