From energy efficient waste disposal via Royal Colleges, my third and last Open House trip of the day was to possibly the most unusual museum I have ever visited. Based on the original site of St Thomas’ Hospital, St Thomas’s Street adjacent to London Bridge station, the Old Operating Theatre is the only one of the surviving hospital buildings not to have been turned into offices and is now a museum.

St Thomas’s Hospital was formed some time in the 12th Century in Southwark, initially as a monastery providing care to the sick and destitute. The neighbouring St Thomas’ Church provided the associated chapel, as well as a large attic space which was converted into a herb garret for the drying and storage of medicinal herbs. This garret adjoined the women’s ward, and in 1822, part of the garret was converted into a new operating theatre. Operations continued until 1862 when the expansion of the railway line forced the hospital to move to its present site in Lambeth and a nursing school was set up in its place. No longer required, the operating theatre was bricked up in 1859 and remained hidden until 1959.

Reinvented as a museum, the old theatre and the herb garret are now filled with original and replica furniture and the most bizarre collection of exhibits I have ever seen in a single museum. Words fail me: instead, a selection of pictures:

A cabinet of curiosities: featuring animals in medicine.

A former operating table: a similar one to this in the theatre itself had a rather alarmingly titled “blood box” underneath it.

The old operating theatre:

A collection of surgical tools:

Rules for the admittance of patients. Number 2, proof of ability to pay for the burial shroud, gives an idea of success rates.

Even the shop is unusual: a huge collection of books, toys and other gruesome medical curios piled high on every shelf with no obvious order, even piled on the huge round windowsills:

These are only a few of the highlights: much recommended as probably the smallest place in London to keep yourself and your kids entertained and educated for a good couple of hours.

The Old Operating Theatre is open every day from 10:30am to 5pm. It runs weekly demonstrations and special half term and holiday activities. See https://www.thegarret.org.uk/opening.htm for details.