Some snapshots of our collections
Fire-lighting
1200 items from the Stone Age to today, from North American Eskimo fire drills to Vestas, ‘strike-anywhere’ matches.
Patent office
Bennet Woodcroft was the man who secured ‘Puffing Billy’, Stephenson’s ‘Rocket’ and the engine of Henry Bell’s ‘Comet’ for the nation.
Aeronautica
Letters sent by balloon, the world's first air mail stamp and many other ‘aeronautica’ items, collected together by Miss Penn-Gaskell.
Metallurgy
A collection containing part of the original great bell of the Houses of Parliament, the first ‘Big Ben’ and other intriguing metals.
X-ray tubes
X-rays were discovered by Professor W C Rontgen on the evening of Friday 8 November 1895 while he was engaged on the study of cathode rays.
Wellcome collection
Over 114,000 items, from the world’s oldest surviving medicine chest of 1570 to a Chinese acupuncture training model of about 1727.