94a Southwark Bridge Rd, SE1 0EG

Phone:

020-8555 1200

Website:

www.london-fire.gov.uk

Opening times:

Mon–Fri by guided tour 10:30 and 14:00

How to get there:

Tube: Borough

Entry fee:

Admission charge

Additional information:

Shop

Located in the London Fire Brigade’s Training Centre at Winchester House, this old-fashioned museum presents the most comprehensive range of artefacts related to firefighting in the UK. The house was built in 1820 on land formerly part of the Bishop of Winchester’s estate, and became the home of the Brigade’s Chief Officer, Captain Eyre Massey Shaw, in 1878. Credited with introducing steam engines at all fire stations and pioneering the use of the telegraph, Massey Shaw lived here until 1891. The building remained the London Fire Brigade’s HQ until 1937, when it moved to the Albert Embankment. The Brigade was formed in 1833 with James Braidwood from Edinburgh as its first Chief Officer. In charge of a full-time team of 80 firemen operating from 13 different stations, Braidwood was the first to encourage the entering of burning houses to tackle the source of conflagrations and invented one of the earliest forms of breathing apparatus. He himself was killed in 1861 by a collapsing wall while fighting a fire at the Tooley Street Warehouse. His funeral procession drew massive crowds.

Three rooms on the first floor are arranged in chronological order, and begin with the Great Fire of London in 1666 and a large selection of 17th-century firemarks: insurance companies’ badges that guaranteed a house would receive the attentions of the company’s brigade in the event of a fire. The second and third rooms cover the development of the Brigade up to, during and after the Second World War. The guided tour (informative rather than hands-on; not aimed at under-12s), goes into considerable detail on the history of the Brigade and also includes the Appliance Bay, with its impressive collection of early fire engines and firefighting appliances.