London Museum

Meet Winkie the war heroine 🎖️

On 2 December 1943, Winkie was one of three pigeons honoured with a Dickin Medal (the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross) for saving an air crew.

According to the Illustrated London News, after her plane was downed, Winkie "fell into the oil-covered sea". Freeing herself, she flew the 120 miles back to base, where she arrived exhausted and "the search for the crew was then successfully redirected."

Winkie was awarded "for delivering a message under exceptional difficulties and so contributing to the rescue of an Air Crew while serving with the RAF in February 1942."

Winkie was toasted as guest of honour at the survivors' celebratory dinner (where pigeon was almost certainly NOT on the menu!)



📷 'Winkie' shown with the rescued crew, ©️ alamy
📷 Image © Illustrated London News Group, 26 February 1944

William Shakespeare – arguably the greatest ever playwright - had his fame forged in a golden age of English drama in the late 1500s, which played out in open-air theatres around the city.

Outdoor playhouses sprouted in several places. Most copied the round or many-sided shape too. These theatres became wildly popular venues.

The first was The Theatre, Shoreditch. Built in 1577, this was London’s first purpose-built outdoor playhouse, although it also hosted fencing competitions.

Just three years earlier, a law had banned the building of any playhouses in the centre of London. That’s why many theatres were built in the suburbs, beyond the city’s walls and its laws.

The Curtain, Shoreditch - London’s second open-air playhouse was built nearby, on Curtain Close, Finsbury Fields, in 1577. The Museum of Shakespeare now occupies the site, allowing you to view the remains of the stage.

Newington Butts, South London’s first theatre was also built around 1577 on the road that headed to Portsmouth. It remained open for almost 20 years. Today, the site lies under the junction at Elephant and Castle and hasn’t been excavated.

The Globe is undoubtedly the most famous of the Tudor theatres. It was built in 1599, using timber from The Theatre in Shoreditch.

The first Globe burned down in 1613 after a fake cannon misfired. It was quickly rebuilt and remained open until 1642, when the English Civil Wars brought a ban on mass gatherings.

In 1997, a reconstruction of the Globe was built at Bankside, a short distance from the original site. Shakespeare’s plays are still performed here today, giving you the chance to experience the Tudor world of theatre.

in 1599, The Globe Theatre opened. Click the link in our bio to find out about more about the Tudor theatres of London.

🎨 William Shakespeare, 1610, ©London Museum
📷 The Globe theatre exterior, Bankside, 2024, ©London Museum
🎨 London from Southwark oil painting, around 1630, ©London Museum

This trolley was used for transporting a very specific item. Can you guess what it might've been?

We'll be back with the answer tomorrow!

Regarded as the first female press photographer, breaking into a trade dominated by men, Christina Broom was a photographer whose pictures of Suffragettes, soldiers and royal occasions offer a glimpse of London from the 1900s to the 1930s. Thanks to her daughter Winifred, her photos are held in our collection.

Born Christina Livingstone, Mrs Albert Broom – as she called herself professionally – made a late start as a photographer. In 1903, at the age of 40, Broom borrowed a plate box camera to photograph the Prince and Princess of Wales opening the new tramways at Westminster.

Inspired by her results, she took a camera to Epsom on Derby Day and photographed the horse which went on to win. Broom realised that photography was a way of earning a living.

Her husband, Albert, had been injured in a cricket accident, and couldn’t work, so Christina stepped up as the main breadwinner, bought a half-plate camera and set out to produce photographic postcards of local scenes.

Helped by living so close to Chelsea Barracks, in 1904 she became official photographer to the Household Division, whose soldiers stand outside Buckingham Palace and Horse Guards. It was a role she kept until her death in 1939.

Find out more about her journey as a photographer here: https://bit.ly/4kx3Op4

📷 Christina Broom (1862-1939) pioneering Scottish press photographer in 1910 - ©️ London Museum
📷 1st Life Guards, Knightsbridge Barracks, SW - ©️ London Museum
📷 The Bermondsey B'Hoys - Christina Broom - ©️ London Museum
📷 Christina Broom - 1909 - Suffragists - ©️ London Museum

Temple Bar: London’s last surviving gateway.

If you've wandered near St Paul's Cathedral recently, you may have passed through this ancient relic.

Rebuilt in Portland stone by Christopher Wren in the 17th century after the Great Fire, the 'bar' was first recorded in 1293 - though it was probably little more than a chain between wooden posts back then!

Its long history takes in royal pomp, political ceremonies and even a brief spell outside the capital.

The stone gateway was dismantled in 1878 to help ease congestion, and later found its way to Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, where it was bought by the socialite Valerie Meux and her wealthy brewer husband, Henry, to display at their estate.

By the mid-1900s, Temple Bar was in a sorry state, and the Temple Bar Trust formed to rescue the run-down landmark and bring it back to the City.

Eventually, in 2004, the gate was cleaned up and reconstructed in Paternoster Square, near Wren’s most famous Portland stone landmark, St Paul’s Cathedral.

1. Temple Bar, Fleet Street, 1878, by Strudwick, William, Bool, Alfred & John, Dixon, Henry

2. The Enfield Chace Hunt meet in front of the Temple Bar in Hertfordshire 1937. Courtesy of alamy

3. Temple Bar, now, at Paternoster Square. Courtesy of alamy

Discovered by workmen in 1912, the Cheapside Hoard is the greatest single collection of Elizabethan and Stuart jewellery in the world.

Buried around 1640, this hidden treasure lay undisturbed for almost 300 years below Cheapside, one of London's busiest streets. The workers who found it took their finds to a jewellery dealer nicknamed “Stony Jack”. He bought everything and offered the items to London Museum.

So who buried it? The hoard’s location, in Cheapside, is a big clue. This street was the hub of the goldsmiths’ trade. The location and the items suggest that the hoard was the stock of a goldsmith jeweller.

Why they might have buried it remains a mystery. We know it was probably buried around 1640, and that leads us to a couple of theories. Click here to find out more https://bit.ly/4jkZxEp

"Coins, bottles, rings and Roman pottery alone wouldn't have lured me into the mud.

But when I learned of the existence of decorated clay pipes, I was captivated. I couldn't believe that these marvellous miniature moulded sculptures – with a seemingly infinite variety of designs – were lying out there, just waiting to be rescued.

I owe my discovery of pipes to a fellow called Tom. Long before I knew much about mudlarking, I’d been leading a series of community activities which involved exploring the foreshore. Tom was one of the regular participants, but always ventured much further than the rest of us – past the dry sand and shingle to the uninviting wet mudflats beyond. And he'd return with pipes that left us in awe – decorated with faces, figures, symbols and pictures.

Intrigued, I began to investigate the muddy stretches myself, and sure enough, I started to discover small treasures of my own."

Germander Speedwell shares her love of mudlarking, and fascination with decorated clay pipes, in our latest blog: https://bit.ly/4duZQv0

📷 Germander on the Thames foreshore searching for decorated clay pipes.
📷 A masonic pipe design on the foreshore. You can make out symbols like the open book and the all-seeing eye.
📷 This dog pipe was made by French pipe makers Dumeril of St Omer, and demonstrates the playfulness of French pipe design.

©️ All images courtesy of Germander Speedwell

❗ Remember, you need a permit from the Port of London Authority to mudlark on the River Thames!

These mudlarked finds come with a tasty twist...

Made by the supremely talented Dr Ella Hawkins - a design historian and artist who draws on her academic work to create edible art - they're quite literally good enough to eat! 🍪

Do you recognise any of the treasures that have been lovingly rendered in cookie form here?

From far left, baked object inspired by:

1. Yellow glass cufflink decorated to look like flower, 1600s to 1700s.

2. Green glass bottle seal depicting a medieval male bust, 1600s to 1700s.

3. Button with white and green dots on the border.

4. Sherd from a Roman hunting cup decorated with a hare, 200s.

5. Sherd from a Roman Samian bowl decorated with lovers, 100s.

6. Sherd from a Delftware dish, decorated with a bird, 1600s.

7. Brass button decorated with a star, 1600s – 1700s.

8. Early Bronze Age flint arrowhead, 2,500 BCE.

9. Silver Viking Thor’s hammer pendant, 800s.

10. Sherd from a Delftware dish, 1600s.

Who was Mother Brownrigg?

Elizabeth 'Mother' Brownrigg was hanged at Tyburn on 14 September 1767 for the long-term abuse of three young female apprentices in her care. Her husband and son also took part in the abuse, which included stripping and beating the women. They only received six-month prison sentences.

Brownrigg’s crimes horrified the public, who were particularly shocked that a woman could be so cruel. The thousands who gathered for the ex*****on were furious. One person shouted “pull off her hat, that we may see the bitch’s face.”

Brownrigg became a figure of evil, known for many years as Mother Brownrigg. Her body was displayed at the Surgeons’ Hall, close to Newgate Prison.

From the 16th century, surgeons and physicians were provided with executed bodies for their studies. The Surgeons Hall’ opened in 1752 – providing a venue for paying members of the public to watch these dissections.

There was no shortage of bodies – a new law passed in the same year commanded that all executed murderers should have their bodies either displayed or publicly dissected. The fear of dissection was meant to add “some further terror” for those considering crime.

Elizabeth is just one of tens of thousands of people who were executed in public in London. Here’s a closer look at how 13 people – from a cook to a king – came to meet this brutal end: https://bit.ly/3Zpyala

Queen Victoria as you've never seen her before 📸

These images may seem somewhat faded and old-fashioned today, but in the 1850s they were the absolute pinnacle of photographic technology.

They are stereoscopic daguerreotypes, two very similar pictures which, when seen side-by-side through a special viewing device, create a three-dimensional image of their subject.

In this case, Queen Victoria.

Photographed in about 1854, when Victoria was just 35, these images show a younger, elegantly dressed queen, quite different from the traditional public conception of an older Victoria. Still dressed in black mourning clothes after the death of her husband Prince Albert.

Victoria and Albert were the early adopters of their day, popularising the new technology in Britain.

📷 Daguerreotypes of Queen Victoria, from about 1850, created by Antoine Claudet

Find out more here: https://bit.ly/4dta2UD

Do you have a favourite London garden? 🌳

Gardens have long been a feature of London’s landscape. They’ve been used to grow food and medicinal herbs, for studying plants from across the world, or to find a moment of calm among the city chaos.

Gardens were often attached to monasteries and other institutions, or began as the retreats of royals and the wealthy. Many are now open for all to enjoy.

Follow us up the garden path for more, as we explore London's green oases:
https://bit.ly/4mu5Bx6

📷 Kew Gardens, Richmond upon Thames
📷 Hampton Court Gardens, Richmond upon Thames
📷 Chiswick House Gardens, Hounslow
All images courtesy of alamy.

Can you guess what this mystery object is? 🤔

Found on the Thames foreshore, it's made of iron and measures 430mm long, 135mm wide and 44mm high.

Check back tomorrow for the answer!

Tower Bridge is one of London’s most famous landmarks and a key feature of the city’s skyline. Even if people confuse it with London Bridge nearby...

You’d be forgiven for thinking Tower Bridge is older than it is. With its turrets and Gothic-style towers, it looks just as much like a Middle Age castle than it does a bridge.

But this was by design. Tower Bridge was planned to complement the 11th-century White Tower in the Tower of London on the bridge’s north bank.

The bridge was actually built in the late 19th century – and it’s a feat of Victorian engineering.

It’s not a drawbridge, but instead features a ‘bascule’ bridge (a French word for seesaw). Both sides of the road open on a pivot, letting cargo ships pass through the busy Pool of London port. It was once the largest bascule bridge in the world.

When it first opened in 1894, a staff of over 80 people were needed to maintain the engines and raise the bridge.

Today, the bascules are operated from a control room using buttons and a joystick.

Find out more about this Gothic-style icon: https://bit.ly/4mbJ4VL

1. Tower Bridge in the 1930s, Henry Turner
2. Tower Bridge open to allow the 'Sir Alan Herbert' to sail through, 1974, Henry Grant.
3. Tower Bridge, raised to allow ships to pass, 1973-03, Henry Grant
4. Billingsgate Fish Market jetty looking north towards Tower Bridge, 1920-1933, George Davidson Reid
5. Tower Bridge with City of London behind, July 2019, John Chase

Nursing didn’t have the best reputation in Britain before Florence Nightingale.

There was no professional training, so many nurses lacked knowledge and skills. They often had a bad reputation and were given little respect.

But Nightingale turned this stereotype on its head.

Best known as the ‘Lady with the Lamp’ who cared for wounded British soldiers during the Crimean War, Nightingale’s radical ideas on nursing also had a huge impact on hospitals back in Britain – particularly in London.

She pioneered new hospital wards, still known as Nightingale Wards, designed to prevent infection and improve recovery. She also set up the world’s first professional nursing school at St Thomas’ Hospital.

Nightingale was widely recognised in her time and influenced in Britain and abroad. She was the first woman to receive the British honour of the Order of Merit in 1907.

Modern nursing has a lot to thank this 19th-century trailblazer for. Find out more:
https://bit.ly/4j2fQWr

It was in 1941, that the Blitz ended.

Starting on 7 September 1940, London faced 57 straight nights of bombing by N**i Germany, part of a concentrated eight-month campaign known as the Blitz.

London was one of the main targets. Thousands died. Many more were injured or left homeless. Areas of the city were left unrecognisable. But Britain didn’t surrender. Amid a raid on the City of London, the iconic dome of St Paul’s cathedral remained standing, becoming a symbol of London’s survival.

Across Britain, around 43,000 civilians were killed during the Blitz, almost 30,000 of which were Londoners.

1 - The Monument to the Great Fire of London, 1940 vs 2025
2 - King William Street, before London Bridge 1940 vs 2025
3 - Threadneedle Street, 1940 vs 2025
4 - 86 Cannon Street and 7 Budge Row, 1944 vs 2025
5 - Bank of England by the underground station, 1941 vs 2025
6 - Paternoster Square, 1940 vs 2025
7 - The City, 1941 vs 2025

"Mudlarking came to me at a challenging time in my life.

In 2018, I was unwell and had to have major surgery. While recovering, I read Ted Sandling's beautiful book, London in Fragments, getting lost in the stories of the historic fragments he found on the foreshore. I became fixated on finding an early 17th-century clay pipe featured in its pages.

When I was well enough, my daughter Miriam and I made the journey from Brighton to London. Miraculously, we found not one but two pipes, exactly like the ones I coveted. It was the most magical moment.

Since then, my mudlarking permit from the Port of London Authority has been one of my most prized possessions."

Famous as the finder of the rare memento mori bead that took the mudlarking world by storm, Caroline Nunneley shares her love of the foreshore and the gifts she’s received from the Thames: https://bit.ly/451flII

80 years ago, huge crowds spontaneously gathered, many of them dressed in red, white and blue. Around 50,000 people in Piccadilly, and almost 100,000 outside Buckingham Palace.

There was joy all over on VE Day. People sang and danced together, joining conga lines in the streets. Strangers hugged and kissed. The partying went on after dark as pubs and dance halls were allowed to stay open late, with most of the pubs being drunk dry of booze by last orders.

A historic day, remembered as “one of the most memorable nights of my life,” by Princess Elizabeth, who would later become Queen.

Read more about the celebration and the start of the end of the Second World War here: https://bit.ly/43gVtA2

A royal reading list truly fit for queens and kings 📚

Our museum's library holds several rare books owned by British monarchs. Amongst the volumes are these two royal beauties.

1. Elizabeth I’s embroidered ‘Geneva Bible’ (aka Breeches Bible)

This Bible with an intricately embroidered reddish-brown velvet cover is said to be associated with Queen Elizabeth I. It was printed by Christopher Barker in 1577. The Bodleian Library holds a similar covered Bible, presented by Barker to Queen Elizabeth on New Year's Day in 1584.

This is an example of a ‘Geneva Bible’, thus called because it was written by English Protestant scholars who had fled to Geneva. One of the important English translations of the Bible from around 1560, it would have been used by the likes of William Shakespeare and John Milton.

This translation is often called the ‘Breeches Bible’ because it describes Adam and Eve as sewing fig leaves to make "breeches" (a 16th century term for trousers), instead of the commonly used ‘aprons’ or ‘loincloths’, to cover their nakedness (Genesis 3:7).

2. Charles I’s 15th-century book of sermons

Produced around 1400–1430, this is the oldest volume in the Library. It’s a manuscript book in parchment, with 119 sermons, believed to have been part of King Charles I’s personal collection.

The sermons were written by preacher William Perault (France, about 1190–1271) and were most probably copied in the early 15th century. A leaf of an earlier manuscript (late 14th century) has been used sideways as part of the binding. This is an excellent example of a ‘palimpsest’, ie, recycling parts of an old book to make a new one.

The volume was also owned by Thomas Vyvyan (about 1473–1533), prior of Bodmin (Cornwall), and R Jones, an 18th-century music master from Bath, before coming to London Museum as a part of items associated with the English Civil War and Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate.

For three more regal reads, from George IV to Queen Victoria, head to our website: https://bit.ly/4cU9Hdm

These 2,000-year-old boots were made for Romans 🦶

Did you know that London possesses one of the most important collections of Roman leatherwork from the Empire?

A few years ago, we decided to take a closer look at this ancient footwear in our collection, and uncovered some intriguing insights into the wearers of the time.

We tend to think of the Romans only wearing their iconic caliga sandals; the robust hobnailed marching shoe of the Roman military. But these shoes weren’t in vogue for very long, going out of style less than half a century after the conquest of Britain and the foundation of Londinium.

In their place came a vast array of fashionable footwear.

The simplest are carbatinae – a sort of moccasin-like sandal made from a single piece of cattle hide with a seam up the back, cut into loops and laced over the foot.

As they would have worn down quickly, carbatinae may have been used as indoor shoes, and are found mainly in women’s and children’s sizes.

Sandal styles changed rapidly, indicating the spread of fashion trends across the empire, from Northern Britain to Egypt. Although initially only worn by women, they were adopted by men in later centuries.

Shoes have also been modified or manufactured to accommodate health problems that affect the feet. In London, several shoes have hobnails on the inside of the shoe. These may have been uncomfortable, but perhaps they were added because of the belief in the healing properties of metals in the Roman world.

Roman footwear gives us an intimate connection to people of the past; find out what else we uncovered here: https://bit.ly/42TmYOH

Have you heard of The Great Exhibition? 🏰

Opening on this day, 1 May 1851, it became one of the most popular public attractions in 19th-century London.

It was quite the spectacle: over 100,000 products from all four corners of the world were housed in a giant glass building.

Outlandish exhibits included an iron piano frame and a stuffed elephant bearing a magnificent Indian howdah (seat).

There was also the Koh-i-Noor, the world’s largest known diamond. Queen Victoria had acquired the diamond in 1849 following British victory in the second Anglo-Sikh war. It was surrendered as part of the Treaty signed after the violent conquest and annexation by the British of the Punjab, northwestern India. The diamond still forms part of the Crown Jewels as a symbol of Britain's exploitative colonial past.

Designed by architect and gardener Joseph Paxton, the building was constructed in just nine months by over 2,000 workers. It was huge, tall enough to house full-grown elm trees, a pipe organ and an 8 metre glass fountain.

The satirical magazine Punch dubbed it the ‘Crystal Palace’.

Read more about its curiosities, creations and celebration of empire here: https://bit.ly/3EM9H2r

Do royal weddings make you want to break out the bunting, or plot an uprising?

From Queen Victoria to Prince Harry, royal romances have long been loved and loathed by Londoners. But it's only really since the mid-19th century that these ceremonies have evolved into a lavish public occasion.

Queen Victoria was highly unusual among British royals in marrying her German beau, Prince Albert, for love. The ceremony was held in the Chapel Royal of St. James's Palace, London, on 10 February 1840. It was the first royal wedding for over a century to be held in the afternoon, about 1pm, rather than at night. This drew huge crowds of Londoners eager to see and cheer the royal couple.

During the 19th century, the royal family became more skilled at staging a show.

Queen Victoria's children and grandchildren offered many opportunities for royal weddings. These began to be held in larger, publicly accessible London churches rather than in private chapels.

Londoners were encouraged to support shows of royal spectacle. Images of the wedding were sent around the world, so these flag-waving, patriotic crowds boosted Britain’s reputation as an imperial power.

Prince Charles and Diana Spencer married on 29 July 1981 at St Paul’s Cathedral. The venue was chosen over the now traditional Westminster Abbey to fit the large guestlist – and the hundreds of thousands of people watching along the procession route.

Photos of the people who assembled to watch the wedding capture the continued fascination with royal weddings. They also show the cheekiness of the London crowd.

📸 A badge-collector at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, by Jim Rice
📸 Spectators at the wedding hold up a cardboard cut-out of Prince Charles, by Jim Rice
📸 Some onlookers used periscopes to get a better look at the event, by Jim Rice

From celebrating to protesting, we chart 200 years of royal weddings in London: https://bit.ly/4iNTiJ2

Anna Pavlova’s ‘Swan’ tutu is undoubtedly one of the most iconic ballet costumes of all time and is inseparably connected to the image of the ballerina.

Pavlova, one of the most celebrated ballerinas of the early 20th century, is possibly best known for her role as ‘The Dying Swan’, choreographed by Mikhail Fokine, which she first danced in 1907.

Her name became synonymous with the solo piece she performed for 24 years wearing numerous interpretations of the ‘Swan’ tutu. However, only three of those are known to have survived.

If we want to know where to position the London Museum ‘Swan’ tutu in the timeline of historical tutus we need to go back a few hundred years... click here to find out more! https://bit.ly/4cIFDRL

📷 Anna Pavlova's costume conservation / London Museum
📷 Anna Pavlova's costume conservation / London Museum
📷 Anna Pavlova in practice clothes rehearsing / London Museum
📷 Swan dress reconstruction / Courtesy of Kathy Kincel
📷 Anna Pavlova dress conservation / London Museum

Suffragette leader Christabel Pankhurst sitting for her sculpture at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, London, 1909.

In 1925, a fire caused by an electrical fault raged through Marylebone Road in London; it took until April 1928 for Tussauds to open its doors again to the public.

The sculptor seen in the image is John Tussaud, great grandson of the founder of the museum.

As well as Christabel Pankhurst, Madame Tussaud's also displayed wax models of Emmeline Pankhurst, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence and Annie Kenney.

They were placed in the museum facing Asquith's current government, which prompted Annie Kenney to comment that the government figures may melt under the combined glare of the four Suffragette leaders !