LONDON A-Z An alphabetical journey through the capital's museums Erith Museum
Location: Walnut Tree Road, Erith DA8 1RS [map] Open: Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays (2:15pm-4:45pm) Admission: free Brief summary: local life remembered Short term prospects: imminently doomed Website:www.erithmuseum.org.uk Time to set aside: half an hour
Most museums are about history. But Erith Museum is different - it's about to become history. And I visited only just in time.
That's Erith, pronounced Ee-rith. It's on the south-eastern flank of London, alongside the ThamesEstuary, and not somewhere on any tourist itinerary. Even if you turned up out of curiosity you'd never notice the museum, not unless you knew it was there. It's close to the station, but not on the main walking route to the town centre. It's hidden inside Erith library (an ornate 1906 building), not that there's an obvious sign outside announcing the museum's existence. Step inside, past the librarian's desk, and look towards the stairs to your left. For just seven and a half hours a week a small sign hangs here reading 'MUSEUM OPEN'. But not for much longer. Not for very much longer at all.
Erith Museum is little more than a library's attic - an upper chamber divided into two well-stocked rooms. The place is run by volunteers, a couple of whom who sit patiently at the desk at the top of the stairs awaiting infrequent visitors. It's only thanks to these good folk that the museum has survived this long, battling heroically against the indifference of the local council. That battle may soon be lost.
There's a modest collection of local exhibits and ephemera to explore. The usual flints and fossils feature in one cabinet (I think it's mandatory for all small museums to include these), plus a collection of objects excavated from nearby LesnesAbbey. King Henry VIII's warship the GreatHarry was fitted out in Erith dockyard, so there's a model of that, along with a selection of more recent Thames boats and barges. There's a pianola, presumably because the museum was bequeathed it, and also "the popular Edwardian kitchen display" - not proper local, but proper history all the same. A recurring theme is the industry that once thrived here beside the estuary but no longer exists. Borax Consolidated Ltd, long shut; Atlas preservatives, gone; Sovex, departed; Royal Doulton, moved on. More poignantly, older Erith residents will appreciate the photographic display of vanished shops, pubs, schools and other buildings. The library's next on the deathlist.
A new Erith library is under construction closer to the heart of the town. It's very nearly finished, indeed it should have been open a couple of weeks ago, but until it's completed the old library lingers on. The new place will have lots of computer terminals for public use, and some books, and greater footfall, and did I mention the computers? But there'll be no attic, nor any appropriate space for the museum to inhabit, so the collection can't follow on. And there's no way that the museum can continue in the old building once all the library staff have moved out, so an enforced limbo awaits.
The volunteers who run the museum are worried. They have nowhere to go, and none of the other heritagesites in Bexley fancy taking on an Erith-specific exhibit, so the entire collection may be about to be split up or mothballed. As for the old library, it may be Grade II listed but there are genuine fears that its vacant shell will prove too tempting a target for destructive vandals. No simple padlock will keep them out, and some fear that the council are just looking for an excuse to knock the place down and sell off the land to property developers.
I had a lovely long conversation with the lady and gentleman on duty. They'd not been expecting to have the place open into March - every additional week is a bonus at the moment. They told me of the expansion plans they've had to put on hold - there's no point opening up the back room to visitors if there are no visitors. They told me that their group of volunteers aren't getting any younger, and it's nigh impossible to find replacements to make up their declining numbers. They expressed concerns for the future of their enterprise with an eloquent mixture of despair and resignation. They gave me three souvenir bookmarks, presumably because they couldn't see any subsequent visitors ever taking one. They even made me a mug of hot chocolate and offered me a custard cream while we chatted. You don't get service like that in the V&A.
The rest of London won't miss Erith Museum, won't miss it at all. But the local community, if only they were interested, are about to lose a lovingly preserved slice of their social and industrial heritage. Living history needs tangible connections to the past, not digitised artefacts on a computer touchscreen in a virtual learning centre. I'm delighted that my alphabetical trek brought me here before the museum shut down for good, but saddened that the place probably won't survive until the end of the month. Like so much in Erith, progress has wiped the past away. by train: Erith
That's Erith, pronounced Ee-rith. It's on the south-eastern flank of London, alongside the Thames Estuary, and not somewhere on any tourist itinerary. Even if you turned up out of curiosity you'd never notice the museum, not unless you knew it was there. It's close to the station, but not on the main walking route to the town centre. It's hidden inside Erith library (an ornate 1906 building), not that there's an obvious sign outside announcing the museum's existence. Step inside, past the librarian's desk, and look towards the stairs to your left. For just seven and a half hours a week a small sign hangs here reading 'MUSEUM OPEN'. But not for much longer. Not for very much longer at all.
A new Erith library is under construction closer to the heart of the town. It's very nearly finished, indeed it should have been open a couple of weeks ago, but until it's completed the old library lingers on. The new place will have lots of computer terminals for public use, and some books, and greater footfall, and did I mention the computers? But there'll be no attic, nor any appropriate space for the museum to inhabit, so the collection can't follow on. And there's no way that the museum can continue in the old building once all the library staff have moved out, so an enforced limbo awaits.
I had a lovely long conversation with the lady and gentleman on duty. They'd not been expecting to have the place open into March - every additional week is a bonus at the moment. They told me of the expansion plans they've had to put on hold - there's no point opening up the back room to visitors if there are no visitors. They told me that their group of volunteers aren't getting any younger, and it's nigh impossible to find replacements to make up their declining numbers. They expressed concerns for the future of their enterprise with an eloquent mixture of despair and resignation. They gave me three souvenir bookmarks, presumably because they couldn't see any subsequent visitors ever taking one. They even made me a mug of hot chocolate and offered me a custard cream while we chatted. You don't get service like that in the V&A.
