Page 254 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - London

252  L ONDON AREA B Y AREA

East of the Centre 0 V&A Museum
of Childhood
8 Geffrye Museum centuries. The museum is Cambridge Heath Rd E2. Tel 020
currently closed until 2019 8983 5200. 1 Bethnal Green.
136 Kingsland Rd E2. Tel 020 7739 Open 10am–5:45pm daily (to 9pm
9893. 1 Hoxton. Open Closed for for a £15m redevelopment, first Thu of month). Closed 1 Jan,
renovation until 2019. Garden: which will bring to life 24–26 Dec. 7 - = Workshop,
Open Closed for renovation until additional almshouse buildings children’s activities.
2019. 8 tours of restored almshouse and more than double the ∑ vam.ac.uk/moc
on selected days; check website. 9 museum’s space.
7 - 0 = Exhibitions & events. After the success of the Victoria
∑ geffrye-museum.org.uk and Albert Museum in South
9 Sutton House Kensington (see pp214–17),
This delightful museum is 2–4 Homerton High St E9. Tel 020 8986 an idea was mooted to open
housed in a set of restored 2264. 1 Bethnal Green then bus 253. similar museums in other
18th-century alms houses. Open noon–5pm Wed–Sun (daily in parts of the city. Only one
The almshouses were built in Aug). Closed Christmas, Jan. & 7 was opened: the Bethnal
1715 on land bequeathed by limited. 8 at weekends, phone first. Green Museum, in 1872.
Sir Robert Geffrye, a 17th- - = Regular events. Over time the museum
century Lord Mayor of London. ∑ nationaltrust.org.uk gradually evolved into today’s
Inside, you take a trip through Museum of Childhood, officially
historic room settings, each One of the few London Tudor re-opening as such in 1974.
providing an insight into the merchants’ houses to survive in With an array of toys, games,
domestic interiors of the urban something like its original form, lavish dolls’ houses, model
middle classes from1600 to Sutton House was built in 1535 trains and costumes, dating
the present day, reflecting for Ralph Sadleir, a courtier to from the 16th century to the
changes in society, behaviour, Henry VIII. It was owned by present day, the museum
style and taste. Each room several wealthy families before has the largest collection of
contains superb examples of becoming a girls’ school in the childhood-related objects
British furniture of the period. 17th century. In the 18th in the UK.
Outside, a series of period century, the front was altered, There are plenty of activities
garden “rooms” show the but the Tudor fabric remains to keep children amused,
designs and planting schemes surprisingly intact, including including story-telling, arts and
popular in urban gardens original brick work, fireplaces crafts, and fun trails.
between the 16th and 20th and panelling.
q St Mary,
Rotherhithe
St Marychurch St SE16. Tel 020
7394 3394. 1 Rotherhithe.
Open 9am–6pm daily.
5 10am & 6pm Sun, noon Tue,
6pm Thu, 9:30am Fri & Sat. 7
∑ stmaryrotherhithe.org
St Mary was built in 1715 on
the site of a medieval church.
It has nautical connotations,
most notably a memorial to
Christopher Jones, captain of
the Mayflower, on which the
Pilgrim Fathers sailed from
the westcountry port of
Plymouth to North America.
The communion table is made
from the timbers of the Temeraire,
a warship whose final journey to
the breaker’s yard at Rotherhithe
was evocatively recorded in
Turner’s painting at the National
Gallery (see pp108–11).
The church also contains a
fine example of 18th-century
A typical Victorian-era room at the Geffrye Museum organ building by John Byfield.

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