After hearing about the opening of the new gallery at the Museum of London Docklands I couldn’t resist checking it out. I’d never been particularly interested in museums, but as a northerner who doesn’t know much about the history of London I decided to give it a go.
Called No. 1. Warehouse, the gallery aims to reveal the inner workings of London’s docks and warehouses.
The first thing you see when you enter are photographs of what the warehouse where the gallery is housed used to look like. My favourite exhibit was the cargo box, which reminded me of a massive picnic basket. I could picture the box being swung from the ship to the quay on ropes, stuffed full of exotic goods from somewhere far away.
The gallery allows you to go back in time and experience what a 19th Century warehouse was like. You can see the machinery that was used and read the descriptions of what it was used for. After walking around to get a sense of how the building was run, the perfect way to end your visit is to sit down and watch the film.
I enjoyed everything about my visit to London’s oldest docklands warehouse – except for the mummified cat and rat!
