Discover the 17th century at the Museum of London
In the galleries of the Museum of London are relics from all walks of life, vividly recalling the momentous history of the city during the 17th century - from early fire-fighting gear to shocking records of the Plague, and from brightly coloured flags, carried by the king's troops into battle, to Oliver Cromwell's death mask. Alongside these reminders of particular events, you will also find clothing, furniture and personal effects of the men, women and children who experienced Fire, Plague and Civil War.
The Great Fire
of London
• Eyewitness paintings of the Great Fire.
• A fireman's helmet, buckets, primitive fire extinguishers, a fire hook
and a fire engine.
• Burnt barrel staves and bricks from the ruins of a building in Pudding
Lane, destroyed during the very first minutes of the Great Fire.
• The audio-visual 'Great Fire Experience'.
The museum also possesses a very important collection of contemporary printed books, pamphlets, proclamations, tracts and letters on the Great Fire of London, assembled by the journalist and antiquarian Walter George Bell. The material is not on display but can be consulted by researchers on written application to the museum librarian.
The Great Plague
• Bills of Mortality and broadsheets recording the number of deaths
each week during the Plague of 1665.
• A hand-bell rung to announce the collection of the dead.
• Surgical instruments, a bleeding bowl and drug jars of the type in use
during the Great Plague.
Oliver Cromwell
and the Civil Wars
• A set of Royalist cavalry flags, colourfully adorned with propaganda
messages.
• A pikeman's armour, a magnificent decorated musket and other military
equipment of the Civil War period.
• Oliver Cromwell's coffin plate and funeral escutcheon.
• Death mask of Oliver Cromwell.