Cuming Museum

May 11, 2009 at 9:56 pm | Posted in General, London, Out and About, Tourism, Travel, UK | Leave a comment
Tags: Cuming, Free, London, museum, review, Southwark, Tourism, Travel, UK

In South London you’ll find the Cuming Museum. It wasn’t until it appeared in a list of London’s most underrated museums that I became aware of the Cuming. Frankly, it should have stayed off.

That’s not to say it’s bad. It has some interesting things like a sample of the Cuming Family collection of artefacts from around the world. The family didn’t buy them overseas rather purchased them all at auction in London between 1780-1902. The collection was subsequently donated to the local government. The items are in their own way interesting but similar items (in larger number) can be found at other museums throughout London.

Besides the Cuming collection you’ll find a room filled with a history of Southwark, its people and it modern developments. The curators have tried to make the most of the small space, utilising drawers and what not but felt rather unsatisfied with the content and display.

The last section is a temporary gallery space with a changing rotation of exhibits.

The museum is beneficial to local people (appropriate given it is a local government museum) but if you’re not South London/ Elephant and Castle based it can be missed without a second thought.