Museum of London - London Wall

About the galleries at Museum of London Docklands

Mudlarks

'Mudlark' is the name given to someone who explores the river mud for treasures. This hands-on gallery enhances cross-curricular learning at Foundation Stage, KS1 and KS2 through exploration and structured play. Highlights include loading and balancing a tea clipper's cargo, damming a river and moving pulleys to shift cargoes.

Mudlarks is available to schools between 10.15am and 2pm from Tuesday to Friday, and sessions must be booked in advance.

Session times: 10.15am, 11am, 11.45am, 12.30pm and 1.15pm.

To book please call the Box Office on 020 7001 9844.

Thames Highway: AD43–1600

Follow the story of settlement in the early ports of London and discover the vessels and merchants involved in overseas trade from Roman, Saxon and Viking times right up to the Tudor period.

Trade Expansion 1600–1800

Witness London's expanding port and the growth of mercantile wealth between the 16th and 18th centuries. Learn about the formation of trading companies such as the East India Company, and take a walk down an atmospheric recreation of a legal quay.

London, Sugar & Slavery: 1600 onwards

Discover the only permanent gallery in London to examine the city's involvement in transatlantic slavery. Challenge what you think you know about the transatlantic slave trade and find out how this terrible traffic made the London we know today.

City and River: 1820–1840

At one time, London had the largest fleet of whalers in the world and this gallery examines the whaling trade from the Port of London.

Sailortown: 1840–1880

Venture into the dark alleyways of a Victorian street with authentic sights, sounds and smells! Pass an exotic animal emporium, chandlery and sailors' lodgings then pay a visit to the Three Mariners pub.

First Port of Empire: 1840–1880

Trace the change from sail to steam during the Industrial Revolution and find out how the docks changed due to technological advances.

Warehouse of the World: 1880–1939

Examine some of the major commodities traded through London with our tobacco weighing station, a replica bottling vault and exhibits detailing the tobacco, timber, grain and sugar trades.

The Sampling Warehouse (Warehouse of the World gallery)

Test your senses in this mini-warehouse recreation where you can see some of the exotic goods brought into London's docks during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Docklands at War: 1938–1945

Experience an air-raid shelter, see a recreated mobile kitchen and discover over 30 personal stories of life in wartime Docklands.

New Port, New City: 1945 onwards

Follow the industrial decline of the docks during the 'swinging sixties' and their regeneration in the 1980s, through the eyes of the developers, the local workforce and Docklands communities.