London Docklands |
Traveling out to the Docks is not something I get to do very often and my first impressions were really good. I was excited to be there and excited to visit one of the major London museums that I hadn’t visit before. The sense of atmosphere was striking. The juxtaposition of old against new and the character of the former warehouse building, where the museum is located, was exactly as I’d envisaged. It didn’t matter that the warehouse now houses a museum and various restaurants and bars; you could just imagine it once bustling with industry, as ships were unloaded and produce from around the world was moved into storage. It still has that Victorian age vibe and it felt as if things had happened there.
Museum Location |
However, that lack of substance didn’t just apply to the
animal trading side of things. I’m fortunate to be aware of how much trade was
being done in London across the Victorian period and preceding that, but as a
visitor I didn’t really get a sense of that from the museum. I mean it’s there
within the narrative, but the impact and sheer scale of it just gets lost. I’m
not entirely sure how you would convey it, but it just felt very flat. I can’t
really explain it. Even galleries that you would think could have bought in
some emotion, like the London, Sugar & Slavery and Docklands at War, didn’t
really do so.
Animal Related Items |
There is part of me that feels I am being overly critical
and I probably am because there were people clearly engaging with the exhibits,
I just felt disappointed. And perhaps that’s the risk of going with a
preconceived idea of what you’ll find, or hope to find.
The nearest we got to anything particularly strong in terms
of the animal trade was in Sailortown, which features the ‘Animal Emporium’ of
George Bignold. Great, we have a recreation of his shop with accompanying sound
effects and objects such as skulls and shells, but there was no information and
it just felt like there was a missed opportunity to really entice people’s interest.
I mean a group of 40+ schools kids just strolled past it without stopping to
engage and yet, I know it’s something people find interesting when they know a
little more about.
Advert in Sailor Town |
It’s a shame because the history of the docks is so
colourful and multicultural, with interesting events and characters, but none
of that really came across. Social history is the hook for me, I like to know
about people and their stories and how that fits into the historical narrative,
but the museum seem to have opted for themes within chronology and I don’t
think that particularly works. One of my favourite bits was the small exhibit
on East End identity, looking at both historic and modern perceptions, because
it took a different approach and linked the two different periods together,
making direct cultural references. It also used a range of tools to transmit
that, from audio-visual to objects and texts. That had the “wow factor” I was
looking for.
I am glad that I went and got to experience the Museum, it
was interesting and I did take some nuggets of information away, the overall
experience just felt flat. I know that isn’t a useful term to come back too,
but I can’t think of how to describe it any other way. It just needs shaking up
– making it more interactive with some wow factor, if it wants to keep pace
with the other London museums. I mean in the Museum of London itself can
achieve that, why not its sister branch?
- I was surprised to learn…. That the Romans built the first timber bridges across the Thames in 110AD and were only replaced by stone c.1176-1209.
- I hadn’t realised that…. There was an African Community in Seven Dials that pre-dates 1778.
- I was left wondering… what on earth a Hogshead was. We narrowed it down to a measurement of some sort but it’s taken some post-visit research to discover that it is in fact a measurement, usually for beer and ale, that in the UK (after 124 adoption of the imperial system) was equal to 54 imperial gallons or approximately 245.49 litres.
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