Museum of Bath at Work
Museum of Bath at Work
Housed in an eighteenth century Real Tennis Court, the Museum traces the development of Bath as a retailing and manufacturing centre and, since the seventeenth century, as a tourist and health resort. There are three floors of displays for the whole family including the landscape of industrial Bath and exact reconstructions of factories and workshops; reconstructed Bath Stone mine, 19th century soft drinks factory, engineering works, ironmonger's shop, cabinet maker's works, 1914 Horstmann car, 1851 Bath Chair all displayed in an 18th century Real Tennis Court! Cafe, shop, temporary exhibitions and children's play space.
The centrepiece of the Museum, covering an entire floor, is the reconstructed engineering and soft drinks factory of Victorian businessman J B Bowler. When the firm closed in 1969 the original premises of the firm were cleared of all the movable objects - almost one million of them - and the interiors of this firm reconstructed in the museum.
One thousand photographs taken of the original business were used in the reconstruction of shop, workshops, offices, bottling plant, etc. Over 10,000 bottles were saved and a collection of half a million documents were also saved.
Other reconstructions at the museum include a cabinet maker's workshop and a Bath Stone quarry face complete with crane, tools, etc. In 1999 a rare Horstmann car, built in 1914 was acquired, and, in 2003, a comprehensive exhibition on Bath's development, 'Bath at Work : 2000 Years of Earning a Living' opened. A local history display in the Hudson Gallery opened in 2007 and features an ever changing display of photographs. In 2008 the only known example of a horizontal Griffin cycle gas engine was acquired.
Audio guides are available and interactive exhibits allow access to the exhibitions.
We hope to see you soon.
Please note the Museum of Bath at work is closed during the month of December.