Museum of Bath at Work
Encyclopedia
The Museum of Bath at Work is at Camden Works, Julian Road, in Bath, Somerset
, England
.
This museum was established in 1978 to present the commercial development of Bath over the last 2000 years and includes displays on four floors. The main exhibit is the reconstruction of an engineering and mineral water making business set up by Victorian entrepreneur Jonathan Bowler in 1864. 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.
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
This museum was established in 1978 to present the commercial development of Bath over the last 2000 years and includes displays on four floors. The main exhibit is the reconstruction of an engineering and mineral water making business set up by Victorian entrepreneur Jonathan Bowler in 1864. 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
Bath Stone
Bath Stone is an Oolitic Limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England, its warm, honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of Bath, England its distinctive appearance...
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.