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London Museum of Water & Steam

2 ft gauge railways in EnglandBrentford, LondonBuildings and structures on the River ThamesCornish enginesEuropean Route of Industrial Heritage Anchor Points
Former pumping stationsHeritage railways in LondonInfrastructure completed in 1838London water infrastructureMuseums established in 1975Museums in the London Borough of HounslowMuseums on the River ThamesPreserved beam enginesPreserved stationary steam enginesRailway museums in EnglandSteam museums in LondonTowers completed in 1838Use British English from March 2015Water supply infrastructureWaterworks museums in England
London Museum of Water & Steam entrance
London Museum of Water & Steam entrance

London Museum of Water & Steam is an independent museum founded in 1975 as the Kew Bridge Steam Museum. It was rebranded in early 2014 following a major investment project.Situated on the site of the old Kew Bridge Pumping Station in Brentford, near Kew Bridge on the River Thames in West London, England, the museum is centred on a collection of stationary water pumping steam engines dating from 1820 to 1910. It is the home of the world's largest collection of working Cornish engines, including the Grand Junction 90 inch, the largest such working engine in the world. The site is an anchor point on the European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH). The museum reopened on 22 March 2014.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article London Museum of Water & Steam (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

London Museum of Water & Steam
Heritage Walk, London Grove Park (London Borough of Hounslow)

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N 51.489 ° E -0.2904 °
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Steam Hall

Heritage Walk
TW8 0EF London, Grove Park (London Borough of Hounslow)
England, United Kingdom
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London Museum of Water & Steam entrance
London Museum of Water & Steam entrance
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Musical Museum, Brentford
Musical Museum, Brentford

The Musical Museum is a charity, museum and concert venue located in Brentford, London Borough of Hounslow, a few minutes' walk from Kew Bridge railway station. Its stated purpose is to conserve, preserve, and develop nationally important collections related to the history of music reproduction; inform, engage and entertain the public regarding the evolution of music reproduction; and conserve, preserve, promote and present the theatre pipe organ as an instrument with a significant role in the development of light music on radio and in the cinema and as a musical art form. The Musical Museum contains a significant collection of self-playing musical instruments, and one of the world's largest collections of historic musical rolls. The museum houses rare working specimens of player pianos, orchestrions, reed organs, and violin players. The largest exhibits include a fully restored Wurlitzer theatre organ (attached to a roll-playing mechanism and Steinway grand piano) and a 12-rank roll-playing residence pipe organ. The instruments and exhibits are arranged in three main galleries; the building also houses a concert hall which doubles as a cinema that seats up to 240 people, and a cafe. Mostly run by volunteers, the museum is open on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays. Guided tours are available, which include live demonstrations of the instruments. The museum also stages regular concerts and events, dances and screenings of both contemporary and silent films, often featuring their Wurlitzer Cinema Organ. Many of their events are broadcast live to their YouTube channel: Musical Museum Live.

Kew Herbarium
Kew Herbarium

The Kew Herbarium (herbarium code: K) is one of the world's largest and most historically significant herbaria, housed at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London, England. Established in the 1850s on the ground floor of Hunter House, it has grown to maintain approximately seven million preserved plant specimens, including 330,000 type specimens. The herbarium's collections, which include specimens dating back to 1700, represent about 95% of known vascular plant genera and 60% of described fungi, with specimens collected over 260 years of botanical exploration. The herbarium processes around 5,000 specimen loans annually and hosts approximately 3,000 visitor-days of research visits each year, supporting a wide range of botanical research. The herbarium's development has been closely tied to British botanical exploration and colonial expansion, with contributions from influential directors like Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker and major acquisitions including the Gay Herbarium. Research at the herbarium has contributed to botanical taxonomy, with publications such as the Index Kewensis, initiated with funding from Charles Darwin in 1882, and the Kew Record. The facility has undergone several major expansions since its first purpose-built wing was constructed in 1877, with Victorian architecture that includes spiral staircases, iron columns, and vast handcrafted wooden cupboards. In 2022, the herbarium initiated a £29 million digitisation project to produce high-resolution images of its collection, with a target completion date of 2026. The herbarium is a resource for botanical research in taxonomy, conservation, ecology, and climate science. Its specimens offer data that aid in tracking environmental changes, studying plant diseases, and identifying new species, as demonstrated by the 2022 discovery of Victoria boliviana, the world's largest water lily species, which had remained unrecognised in the collection for almost two centuries. The herbarium's future is currently subject to debate, with controversial plans announced in 2023 to relocate the collection to Thames Valley Science Park, prompting discussion about the balance between preservation needs, research accessibility, and maintaining the historic connection between the herbarium and Kew's living collections.