The Museum will be closed from 19th May - c. 4th June for essential restoration. The Herb Garret and Museum collection will re-open on this date, with many special events planned, but the Operating Theatre remains closed until c. 15th June.
The Old Operating Theatre Museum & Herb Garret
9a St Thomas Street,
London,
SE1 9RY
020 7188 2679
Opening Hours/Admission Prices
How to find us
Please Note: Essential repair work is currently being carried out to St Thomas' Church (from February - August 2008). The Museum remains open, and the works will have no effect on your visiting experience, so please don't be put off by the scaffolding outside. The images below will help to direct you to the Museum.
Unfortunately, the Museum will have no public toilet facilities during the period of works. Staff will be happy to direct you to nearby toilets. There will also be no facilities for storage on the ground floor, so please ensure that anything you bring with you is small enough to carry up the 32-step spiral staircase to the Museum itself (pushchairs must be foldable). The staircase is steep and narrow, and may be difficult for visitors with limited mobility. It is the only entrance and exit.
Click on the pictures below to view a larger image:
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The Museum entrance coming down St Thomas St from Borough High St |
The full scaffolding covering the bell tower and Church |
The Museum entrance coming up St Thomas St from Guy's Hospital (Museum doorway by red signs) |
The Museum provides a memorable experience for any visitor interested in history. It is one of the most unusual places in London - a building lost in the past.
The Museum is found at the top of a wooden spiral staircase in the barn-like roof space of an old Church. The Operating Theatre is built in the old Herb Garret of St Thomas's Hospital. While the Garret has a charming old world atmosphere of oak beams and bundles of herbs, the Theatre itself is a shocking reminder of the harsh reality of life before modern science and technology. Many places claim to 'bring the past to life'. But this is not Disney cuteness or Heritage complacency. This is the past stripped bare. If you cannot come to the Museum then, take the Interactive Tour!
The Museum is found in St. Thomas's Church - built by Wren's master mason Thomas Cartwright. Britain's oldest surviving Operating Theatre has been restored with much original furniture, including a 19th Century operating table. The museum displays the history of herbal medicine, surgery, nursing at Old St. Thomas's (the original home of Florence Nightingale's Nursing School and Guy's and the Evelina Children's hospitals. It provides a dramatic insight into life before the modern era.
