Old Operating Theatre Museum, London

The Old Operating Theatre Museum
9A St Thomas' Street
London
City of 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.

A photo showing the interior of the Operating Theatre

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
City of 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

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
City of 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

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.