Free Museums in London - Two Lesser Known
The Ragged School Museum and The Geffrye Museum are Worth a Visit
From schools to almshouses and musical instruments, museums that concentrate on one aspect of history can entertain, and what’s more enlighten, the way of life in former times. Well known museums like the V. & A., the British Museum, and the Natural History Museum, are deservedly popular, but the smaller venues, especially those that appeal to children and offer chances to see how the past coped with daily life, should rate a visit as well. In London’s East End, are two popular museums.
The first on the list, The Ragged School Museum is hands-on and interactive and affords a chance for young people to dress up as Victorian school children. Learning how their ancestors wrote on slates and learned by rote is a fascinating experience for today's children - especially as they are schooled by a no-nonsense teacher.
The Ragged School Museum. 46-50, Copperfield Road, Bow, E.3 – Free admission. Open to the public Wednesdays, Thursdays and first Sunday of every month (when everyone can take part in the Open House Activities).
Ragged Schools are where children from the poorest families who could not even afford the penny a week for the London Board Schools were educated. The Ragged School Museum in Bow, is housed in three Victorian canalside warehouses, the highlight of which is the restored Victorian classroom furnished with wooden desks and benches. Many schools book interactive tours to the museum, and their 6 to 11 year olds get a chance to dress up in caps, braces and ragged trousers, mop caps and pinafores while being “schooled” by a Victorian-style teacher. They use slates on which to write, chant sing-song fashion as they learn by rote, and obey the shouted commands from the teacher. A fascinating introduction into education and a slice of Victorian life in that age of improvement.
Geffrye Museum, Kingsland Road, E2. Free Admission
This terrace of 18th-century almshouses is one of London’s best-loved museums. It introduces different periods of history by exploring English domestic interiors in a series of period rooms from 1600 to the present day. The Elizabethean period has an excess of dark panelling which lightens up as you move into the Stuart period and nearby rooms. The Regency period is awash with elegant colours and styles and pride of place goes to an satinwood harp. The Victorian period with its clutter and its every surface covered with pictures and knick-knacks comes a something of a shock after the earlier rooms, and the 1930’s period with jarring chair colours and carpet comes as quite a shock. There are also various exhibitions through the summer.
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