Museums & Places to Visit |
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Here are a selection of museums and places to visit either in
person or more conveniently Many other museums have telephone exhibits on show, particularly the larger museums of science and industry, some local museums of rural life and several preserved railways, tramway and transport museums. |
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| THE ALMONRY HERITAGE CENTRE | |
| Abbey Gate, Evesham, Worcs. (01386) 446944.
Open 10.00-17.00 except Sundays 14.00-17.00. Excellent local museum with surprisingly large collection of old telephones. |
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| AMBERLEY (CHALK PITS) MUSEUM | |
| Amberley, Arundel, Sussex, BN18 9LT (01798-831370, fax
01798-831831).
Opposite Amberley station, easy road access. Opening hours vary according to time of year, daily in high season. Comprehensive industrial archeology museum, with a nice section on telecomms, including a restored rural telephone exchange. From April 2002 includes the new Connected-Earth building. |
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| AVONCROFT MUSEUM OF BUILDINGS | |
| Stoke Heath, Bromsgrove, Worcs., B60 4JR (01527) 31886/31363.
Buildings spanning seven centuries have been re-erected here, from windmills to prefabs. British Telecom has assisted by supplying examples of all its designs of telephone kiosk. Open from early March to late November from 11.00 onwards. Daily in summer, weekends and Bank Holidays at other times. Closed some Mondays though. (best to ring first). Admission charge. |
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| The largest collection of vintage plastics in Britain can be found at www.bakelitemuseum.co.uk | |
| BATH POSTAL MUSEUM -‘The place from which the world's FIRST postage stamp was sent’ | |
Bath Postal Museum, 8 Broad Street, BATH BA1 5LJ Tel.
(01225) 460333
Opening Hours: Monday-Saturday 11.00-17.00 Sunday (by
request for large groups) The museum offers a wonderful source of information on many subjects relating to; e.g. many forms of transport, history of the Mail coach, Air transport and airmail, military mail, sea mail including wrecks, railways, Post Offices (all subject). Paper making and calligraphy about postal markings. |
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| BAMPTON MUSEUM | |
| Devon. Now closed but it is hoped to re-establish the museum nearby. | |
| BEAMISH OPEN AIR MUSEUM | |
Beamish, The North of England Open Air Museum, Beamish, County Durham, DH9 0RG, United Kingdom- Fax +44 (01207) 290933 Telephone +44 (01207) 231811 Set in over 300 acres of beautiful countryside, Beamish vividly recreates life in the North of England in the early 1800s and 1900s and shows the social, agricultural and industrial history of the area in a unique way. Buildings from the region have been brought to Beamish, rebuilt and furnished as they once were. Costumed staff welcome visitors to The Town and into shops, homes, sweet factory, motor works, public house, railway station and other work places of the early 1900s. Travel by tram or period bus to the nearby Colliery Village with its school, chapel, pit cottages and pithead buildings. There's lots to see... |
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| BT ARCHIVES | |
Third Floor, Holborn Telephone Exchange, 268-270 High Holborn, London, WC1V 7EE. Helpdesk (020) 7440 4220. Open certain weekdays. For the serious researcher- a wealth of information is awaiting to be uncovered. Essential to book an appointment in advance, for access and to ensure that a study desk is available. |
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| CABINET WAR ROOMS | |
| Clive Steps, King Charles Street, London, SW1 (020) 7930 6961. Churchill's underground wartime headquarters, recreated to look as if they have been left as they were at the time of the Blitz. All telephone equipment on show. Open daily 10.00-17.15, admission charge. | |
| DARVEL TELEPHONE MUSEUM | |
| After 44 years employment with G.P.O. Telephones & B.T.
and with duties covering the installation of telephones & switchboards,
from the single householder to large business customers, it was only natural
that Max Flemmich should carry on his interest in telephone memorabilia by
putting together a collection of "100 years of the Telephone".
Click here for details... |
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| DEAN FOREST RAILWAY MUSEUM TRUST | |
| Location: At Norchard on the B4324 just outside Lydney, Glos.
Tel (01594) 845840. Apart from items of railway interest the museum contains
a working UAX 13 and other telephone items.
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| DESIGN MUSEUM | |
| Butler's Wharf, Shad Thames, London, SE1 2YD (020) 7403 6933. A small number of design classic phones are on show. The shop sells a booklet on telephone design. | |
| EDMONTON TELEPHONE HISTORICAL INFORMATION CENTRE FOUNDATION | |
| Box 4459, Edmonton, Alberta, T6E 4T5, Canada (+1 403 441 2077), fax (+1 403 433 4068). Located at 10437 - 83 Avenue, Edmonton. Publishes a very handy and comprehensive World Directory of Telephone Museums. | |
| GOONHILLY SATELLITE EARTH STATION | |
| A BT visitor centre-one of the largest satellite complexes in the world. | |
| GUERNSEY TELECOM MUSEUM | |
| Re-opened in April 1996 following refurbishment. There is an abundance of telephones and related items in this delightful museum spanning the 100 year history of Guernsey Telecoms. You'll find the museum in Hermes House, check the Infoline +44(0)1481 57904 | |
| HELLFIRE CORNER | |
| At Dover Castle, Kent. Tour of once secret wartime installations buried deep inside the cliffs includes tour of communications room, with large quantities of old switchboards, amplifiers and other equipment. Dover Castle is in the care of English Heritage and a single admission fee is charged for admission to all the exhibits. Tours of the secret underground tunnels leave approximately every 15 minutes in summer and every 45 minutes in winter; the tour takes 50 minutes. The last tour starts at 17.00 in summer and at 15.00 in winter. The castle opens daily at 10.00 and closes at 18.00 (16.00 October to March). | |
| IRONBRIDGE GORGE MUSEUM | |
| In 1988 when Hollinswood exchange was converted to digital, Bob Doan (great grandson of Almon B. Strowger), presented the old Strowger exchange to this museum. Mike Lowe, Chairman of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust was present at the handover. | |
| MILTON KEYNES MUSEUM | |
| Following a bad fire in 1996, a major refurbishment has taken place and the MKM re-opened at Easter 1998. Be sure to visit the Telephone Museum within the site. | |
| MUSEUM OF SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY | |
Porthcurno, Cornwall. Open April to October, 11.00-15.00 on Wednesdays and Fridays only. |
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| NATIONAL RAILWAY MUSEUM | |
| Leeman Road, York, YO2 4XJ (01904) 621261. Mainly trains but some telephone and telegraph exhibits also. | |
| NORWEGIAN TELECOM MUSEUM | |
| An international site (English version) with pictures of phones used in Norway between 1885 and 1980. | |
| ROYAL CORPS OF SIGNALS MUSEUM | |
| Blandford Camp, Dorset, DT11 8RH (01258) 482248. Admission free, open 10.00-17.00 Monday to Friday, 10.00-16.00 weekends June to September. The museum is clearly signposted from the B3082 Blandford to Wimborne road and contains a comprehensive display of military line and radio communications from the Crimean War to the present day. | |
| ROYAL MUSEUMS OF SCOTLAND | |
| Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JF (0131) 225 7534. | |
| SCIENCE MUSEUM, LONDON | |
| Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, SW7 2DD (020) 7938 8000. Telecommunications gallery with many interesting exhibits (plus many other items in store.) | |
| The PTT (Posts & Telecoms) Museum, Denmark | |
| The PTT-Museum of Denmark is a museum for the whole family featuring interesting exhibitions for all age groups. Besides offering a splendid view of the numerous towers of Copenhagen, the Museums's roof-top café offers menus for both children and adults. | |
| TELEFONMUSEUM at Hittfeld In Germany | |
| Southwest and quite remote to the town of Hamburg you can find
the privately organized Telephone Museum of Mr. Rainer Pfeiffer accommodated
in the ancient railway station of Hittfeld. In fall 1992 Mr. Peiffer bought
the desperate looking railway property. Ever since he and volunteer helpers
spent uncounted hours of work for the renovation of the old building, which
is because of its history as important to Mr. Pfeiffer as the Telephone Museum
itself. Bit by bit the work reassembled the historic look of the old station
which visualizes nowadays a piece of railway history.
The Telephone Museum opens every Saturday and every Sunday from 2 pm. to 6 pm. Guided tours for school classes, groups and associations of all kinds with more than 20 participants can be organized by appointment. Call +49 (0)4105 126 76 for more information. |
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| TELEPHONE PIONEER MUSEUM OF TEXAS | |
| 2nd Floor, 1 Bell Plaza, Dallas, Texas, USA (00 1 214-464 4359).
Large museum, located on corner of Commerce Street and South Akard Street. Open Monday to Friday-Admission free.
Lots of audio-visual presentations help to explain both
the history and the future developments in
telecommunications, including...
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| Timeball at Crampton Museum, Deal, Kent. | |
| A THG member writes..
Just to add to Peter Trigg's excellent article about Charles Vincent Walker. On page 58 [of THJ33] he states ' to a [time] ball (believed to still exist) at Deal'. Indeed it does still exist. We visited it when on holiday in Kent a few years ago. The ball tower was originally a telegraph station and was converted to a time-ball when the military telegraph fell into disuse. The building is now a museum of time and telegraphy and is well worth a visit. I have some photos taken of both the outside and some of the exhibits. The time ball is still dropped at 1:00pm daily with a synchronising signal, which I seem to recall was fed from the local telephone exchange. There is a brief description and photo on these two sites: http://digiserve.com/peter/deal-gen.htm and http://www.shrubs.dircon.co.uk/deal.html
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| The Vienna Telephone Museum is well worth a look at www.telephonmuseum.at | |
| VINTAGE TELEPHONE EQUIPMENT MUSEUM | |
| Another excellent site in Seattle, USA. | |
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