19th December 2012

Geffrye Museum

Here are some pictures from the Geffrye Museum in Hoxton. It used to be an almshouse, and is now a museum of furniture and interiors. They have rooms set up showing typical London living rooms in various time periods from the 1600s onwards for families with a medium income, with information about all the objects in the room. They also have a historical garden and restored 18th century almshouse interior, but I didn’t get a chance to see them this time. In the run up to Christmas, they’d arranged each room to show how different winter festivals were celebrated in each era (until the 1800s New Year and Twelfth Night were much bigger than Christmas). The 17th Century sweets were really impressive.I’d never got round to going there before, but I wish I’d gone sooner. I’ll definitely be returning. I’m a sucker for social history, and museums showing how ordinary people lived. I also like the Six Poor Travelers House in Rochester, and the Mackintosh House at Glasgow University.