#MuseumShopSunday: Starboard by Nicola Skinner
YThis Sunday you can get 10% off all books in the Musuem’s shop including, Starboard by Nicola Skinner. To whet your appetite, we’re delighted that Nicola has shared the first chapter with us so you can enjoy it for free. Like a Lot of people, Kirsten Bramble had no idea what was missing from her …
Guest Blog: Learning through Play with Alom Shaha
We love learning through play at the Brunel Museum! So we thought we’d get our good friend and science teacher Alom Shaha to help explain why its so beneficial! Learning Through Play My eldest daughter started in reception at primary school in September, and in a “getting to know you” type of exercise, …
Guest blog: Castles in the air
To launch our brand new collaboration with History Hit and our new Clifton Suspension Bridge display, Hannah Little from Clifton Suspension Bridge has written a guest blog on how a near-death experience at the tunnel led the younger Brunel to Bristol… In 1826 Marc Isambard Brunel’s son, Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859) was appointed as Resident …
Guest blog: Picture the Docklands
To mark the final few weeks of Picture The City, Kirsty Parsons, Curator Bank of England Museum, reflects on what makes the Docklands so fascinating. The Docklands is an often overlooked part of London’s history. Today it is the centre of London’s second financial district, with the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf dominating the skyline. Historically …
The Thames Tunnel Diving Bell
In David Copperfield (1849-50), Charles Dickins wrote about a speculator’s scrap yard in a rundown area of London now known as Pimlico. Sited on marshy ground alongside Millbank Prison on the bank of the river Thames, half buried in the mud were “rusty iron monsters of steam-boilers … anchors … diving-bells … and I know …
Motilal Signh – Thames Tunnel Visitor and First Nepalese in London
The Brunel’s Thames Tunnel was called the Eighth Wonder of the World and attracted plenty of visitors – both during its construction and once it was built. For #SouthAsianHeritageMonth we take a look at one visitor, Motilt Singh, the first Nepali to migrate to London
Motilal Signh – Thames Tunnel visitor and first Nepalese in London
The Brunel’s Thames Tunnel was called the Eighth Wonder of the World and attracted plenty of visitors – both during its construction and once it was built. For #SouthAsianHeritageMonth we take a look at one visitor, Motilt Singh, the first Nepali to migrate to London Motilal Singh was born in Bhaktapur in the Kathmandu …
Tunnel Vision – The Genius of Marc Brunel – by John Bostock
John Bostock writes about the Extraordinary life of Marc Brunel and the construction of the Thames Tunnel
Womens History Month: Going underground
March is #WomensHistoryMonth and we’re sharing the stories of women who made engineering history: from the lesser known Brunel women, trailblazing female engineers from the past or the women making history today with their feats of engineering. Today, Cate Anthony, reflects on a career following in Brunel’s footsteps underground. As a young girl I loved doing …
Guest Article: THE CRYSTAL PALACE – THE BRUNEL CONNECTION
In 1846, at the opening session of the Council of the Society of Arts, Queen Victoria’s Consort, Prince Albert, expressed a desire to wed high art with mechanical skill. In the 1840s he, along with Henry Cole (1808-1882) and other members of the Society, visited a number of exhibitions of industrial design in England; the …