Brunel Museum

The Brunel Museum is a museum in the Brunel Engine House, Rotherhithe, South East London. The Engine House was designed by Sir Marc Isambard Brunel to be part of the infrastructure of the Thames Tunnel.

Brunel Engine House

The Engine House was designed by Sir Marc Isambard Brunel to be part of the infrastructure of the Thames Tunnel. It held steam-powered pumps used to extract water from the tunnel.

Since 1961 the building has been used as a museum displaying information on the construction of the tunnel and the other projects by Marc and Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Structural decay was prevented in 1975 by a charitable trust named "Brunel Exhibition Rotherhithe".

In 2006 the museum changed its name from Brunel Engine House to Brunel Museum and has expanded its exhibition to include a new mural on the shaft showing the tunnel shield, and other works by the Brunels, such as models of famous Brunel bridges incorporated into bench seating.

Open House Weekend

The Brunel Museum takes part in the Open House Weekend event every year and, until the East London Line temporary closure in 2007, took parties of people through the tunnel on the Underground trains as part of a guided tour of the tunnel.

The future

The museum underwent major building works in 2007. This entailed removing the Rennie flat V steam engine (now to be found at Chatham Historic Dockyard) to create a larger exhibition space, a cafe and improved toilet facilities. With the closure of the East London Line in December 2007 for extensive upgrading the museum is hoping that the access shaft into the tunnel will be capped with a shelf at the bottom above the level of the trains. This will create a large new exhibition space for a large expansion of the museum. Transport for London are currently looking into the engineering works required and how they can be integrated with the East London Line refurbishment. [ [http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/archive/5972.aspx Transport for London helps Brunel Museum | Transport for London ] ]

References

Notes

Bibliography

*"The Brunels' Tunnel", Michael Palin (Foreword), Andrew Mathewson (Author), Derek Laval (Author), Julia Elton (Author), Eric Kentley (Author, Editor), The Brunel Museum (24 May 2006), ISBN 0950436127

External links

* [http://www.brunel-museum.org.uk The Brunel Museum]
* [http://www.juerg-mueller.com/london/pictures/buildings/brunel-pump-house/index.shtml Pictures of the Brunel Museum]