Advice on Military Museums in or near London

[Zitadelle]

This June my wife has to attend a business conference in London, UK; and I am going to join her for a trek across the big lake.

I would like to visit some of the military history museums in the London area, and I would appreciate any advice and/or recommendations. Of course I know about the Imperial War Museum (although is it worth it?), and the new Churchill Museum (she wants to go to that one...).

But, what are some other options either in the city or could easily be made as a day trip (via train or bus- we won't be renting a car).

Is Bovington a possibility?

Is Portsmouth an easy day trip (for the HMS Victory and HMS Warrior)?

Thanks for any advice.

[rleete]

As a "ferriner" that went to London 16 months ago, I'll tell you what I found.

Imperial War Museum is worth about half a day, if you do it fairly quickly. If you want to study each piece, you'll need more time. Worth going to.

Bovington is a possibility. A 45+ minute train ride each way costs about 26 pounds. You'll also need to take a taxi out to the museum and back (5 pounds each way), and the fee is another 10 pounds. If nothing else, London is expensive! You'll need most of a day to go through it. Take one of the earlier trains, so you have more time to spend gawking. It closes about 5, I think. I was like a kid in a candy store My wife even liked it, and she's usually not that interested in militaria. Well worth the trip.

The HMS Belfast (pre WWII cruiser) anchored in the Thames is a good half day, and fun to poke around in. I'd highly recommend it. The guide book was worth buying as well.

Never got to Portsmouth, wish I had. Not interested in the bunker enough, as time was short even being there two weeks. You could spend a month and not see all you wanted to.

Do take the time to ride the London Eye (huge ferris wheel). The views are absolutely spectacular. Even if you are afraid of heights, it moves so slowly that there is no sensation of movement. Overlooks the Thames next to HMS Belfast. Only takes about an hour, depending on the lines.

Also recommended is one of the hop-on/hop-off bus tours. Gives a good thumbnail history, and lets you get familiar with the city a bit.

Gotta see the Tower Bridge. Really nice restored steam engine in the basement. Just a couple of hours, but worth a look.

Take a good pair of well broken in walking shoes, you'll need them!

Email one of the many forum Brits. Have them take you out for a pint or two! Flamingknives, Yeknodathon, Andreas, (former Londoner), Kip Anderson and several others whose names I've forgotton were all helpful, and it's nice to meet face-to-face.

[...................................]

Yes the IWM London is well worth it IMHO. I have just one word to say on the matter - Jagdpanther.

London to Portsmouth is approximately two hours by car, but only if you are lucky with the traffic. London to Bovington approx 3 hours and likewise. HMS Victory is very nice, but one warning, almost all of the cannon on board are plastic replicas to avoid straining the hull as she is stored in dry dock. I like Portsmouth, but a day trip could well involve a 5 hour plus round trip from London, and although I've never been, AFAIK Bovington is even further.

A good bet and most definitely worth a visit IMHO is the IWM museum at Duxford, which is only about an hour each way. A superb collection of aircraft of all kinds and a very worthy Land Warfare Hall tagged on to it as well. It's my favourite site and I think even better than the London IWM. Website is here.

You could also check out one of the Kent airfields like Biggin Hill, or go further down to Dover to see the Castle and the rooms inside the cliffs from where they ran Dunkirk. Possibly take a trip North to Bletchley Park where they broke Enigma. These aren't as well developed as the IWM sites but they are fairly close and you will probably find them interesting.

I haven't been to the new Churchill Museum yet, but I did visit the Cabinet War Rooms and they were worthwhile in their own right.

If you are loitering in the vicinity until mid-July there is the excellent War and Peace show also in Kent, which AFAIK contains the largest collection of working military vehicles in the world.

[ February 24, 2005, 04:38 PM: Message edited by: Pheasant Plucker ]

[Guest Mike]

I went to IWM Duxford and IWM London 25 years ago and spent 2 days at each and didn't have enough time at either!!

[throwdjohn]

well i went to unfortunately iwm, but it was friggin awesome! here were vehicles i have played with in CM and there the real deals are. pretty cool imo.

[Pinetree]

Also check out the National Army Museum in Chelsea.When I was there in '98 it had a huge diorama of Waterloo with lights to highlight various phases of the battle.very cool.

[Soddball]

Churchill's house, Chartwell, is a museum near Sevenoaks, Kent. A train from London to Sevenoaks takes about 25 minutes.

To track alot of these places down, type the place name into Multimap.

Are you just over for a day or two?

[Captain Pies]

I will second the Cabinet War Rooms/Churchill Museum, you can't miss those. You could do that and HMS Belfast in a morning and save the afternoon for the IWM. Depends how much your Mrs is willing to take .

Personally I wouldn't bother with Chartwell, the time would be better spent at Duxford if you are going to make a trip a little way out of London.

Bovington would take about a day but if you overnighted somewhere you could do Portsmouth on the way back. Don't miss the submarine museum there.

[mike8g]

The IWM is a must but the Battle of Britain museum is also worth a visit.

Marcus

[Michael Dorosh]

Yes, the Army Museum is very good. I toured it in 1990 so I am sure it is even better now.

I thought the Belfast was much better than the IWM, which to me was over-rated. Some nice pieces on display, but the Belfast seemed to have much more to offer.

When I went in 1990, we told the guy at the gate we were Canadian soldiers and he told us that he used to work for Canadian Pacific Railways and let us aboard for free. Buy some maple leaf flags and try your luck 15 years later.

Regimental blazers also got us into the Yeoman Warder's Mess at the Tower of London for a pint.

[Sailor Malan]

The RAF museum at Hendon (in London) is a good alternative if you can't get to Duxford.

I would definitely go to the IWM for at least half a day.

A slightly wider range of 'military' might include the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich.

At Portsmouth there is too much to do in 1 day - you can add Mary Rose to your list of ships there (half of a 16th Century major warship if you haven't heard of her). The 3 ships and assocated museums/displays at the dockyard fill a (shortish) day in my book - and my wife actually enjoyed them as well last time I went. You might have to allow queing time for Mary Rose and Victory in June, not too bad, but can be 30mins + each. There is also the submarine museum in Gosport (which is the other side of the harbour from Victory etc.)

There is also Fort Nelson on the Portsdown Hills just outside the city (a Victorian fort defending the docks from the French), which also contains the Royal Armories artillery collection. Fort Brockhurst is also open. and slightly nearer the dockyard, but doesn't have a particularly large museum

Slightly further afield (c 10-12 miles from Portsmouth), there is Porchester castle, which is a Norman castle in reasonable condition, build in the remains of a Roman legionary fort. No museum as such, but interesting as a set of remains.

Chatham id also reputedly a good see, although I have never been. It is another historic dockyard, nearer London, but without the Victory, Warrior etc obviously.

Hope this helps.

[flamingknives]

The HMS Belfast is a good visit. Although it remains in its decommissioned commission - i.e. not as it was during WWII - there's plenty to see on board. On top of that, Tower Bridge is about 1/4 of a mile along the river and the Tower of London is almost directly opposite. In fact, the quickest way to the Tower from HMS Belfast is across Tower Bridge.

Bovington is outstanding. For armour I'd recommend it over Duxford, as at Bovington you can get much closer to the tanks, and there is a better range of the real thing - the Tiger at Duxford is actually a T34 in drag. Duxford obviously scores if you'd like to see aircraft too.

[MadGav]

Originally posted by mike8g:

The IWM is a must but the Battle of Britain museum is also worth a visit.

I assume this is this means the RAF Museum in Hendon? I went last month, there are some very rare aircraft there, including pretty much every British WWII aircraft you can think of (right to stuff like a Defiant!) a Ju-87, Ju-88 nightfighter, Me-109, Me-110... imho, versus Duxford, it wins except for the American collection, and of course the land warfare hall.

Martin

[Zitadelle]

First, I would like to thank everyone for the very informative replies. I figured this would be a primary source for information. And, the wife is very surprised with the extent of the responses.

To address some questions and ask some items....

Originally posted by Soddball:

Churchill's house, Chartwell, is a museum near Sevenoaks, Kent. A train from London to Sevenoaks takes about 25 minutes.

....

Are you just over for a day or two?

Soddball-

Right now the schedule is open- except for the wife's conference. We are trying to decide whether to stay for a few more days and give her a chance to see some highlights as well.

We would probably be available for a pint, or two, or more (we both like our beer dark, bitter, and warm).

She is a real fan of Churchill ("the bulldog-man"), so she is interested in the Museum and the Cabinet War Room. Now, that she found out about Chartwell that has also sparked an interest. Is there any other information you would like to give about Chartwell.

Originally posted by flamingknives:

....

Bovington is outstanding. For armour I'd recommend it over Duxford, as at Bovington you can get much closer to the tanks, and there is a better range of the real thing - the Tiger at Duxford is actually a T34 in drag. Duxford obviously scores if you'd like to see aircraft too.

Flamingknives-

I am definitely leaning toward a trek to Bovington- I don't think that I can go to UK miss the opportunity. Since I might may a two-day trek to allow for more time (or get to Portsmouth too), are there good lodging possibilities near Bovington?

Or, would others be interested in a pilgrimage?

And to Many Others-

Thanks for the information on the two IWMs. I was aware of the London one, but to find out about the one in Duxford was a bonus. I may need to add it to the list.

It looks as though I might be doing a bit of train travel. What would be the good secrets for booking train travel- coupon books perhaps?

And, of course, we are always open to the possibility to share a cross-Atlantic pint with others.... (I can be contacted through the forum or the listed e-mail address.)

Thanks for other forthcoming advice and recommendations.

[Larry Thorne]

Just as Pheasant Plucker said

this is one good reason... JagdPanther

Half a day in IWM was not enough at all...it would have been enough for the main hall, but there is stuff beyond it too and I mean very interesting stuff

-LT

[mike8g]

I assume this is this means the RAF Museum in Hendon?

Nope, there is (or was) a small(er) museum which covers the Battle of Britain and the Blitz raids over London.

IIRC, it was somewhere south of the Tower bridge. I was there in 2001.

[ February 25, 2005, 05:09 PM: Message edited by: mike8g ]

[mike8g]

Found it:

Winston Churchill's

Britain at War Experience

64 - 66 Tooley Street

London Bridge

London SE1 2TF

http://www.britainatwar.co.uk/information.html

[John D Salt]

Originally posted by Pheasant Plucker:

[snips]

London to Portsmouth is approximately two hours by car, but only if you are lucky with the traffic.

If you are going to visit Pompey, something to bear in mind is that all the attractions in the historic dockyard (HMS Victory, HMS Warrior and the Mary Rose are the main ones) are covered by a single ticket. The price of the ticket would be frankly outrageous if considered as the price of admission to a single one of these, but looks a much better deal if you can visit a decent number of them. It is therefore worth putting aside a day or maybe more (the ticket has something like six-month validity IIRC) to do the place justice. I managed to easily spend half a day just on HMS Warrior, which looked a good deal smarter than the last time I had been aboard her when she was still in service as a fuelling hulk at Milford Haven in 1973.

Another Portsmouth museum is "Explosion", the new daft name for what was formerly the Royal Naval Armaments Museum. It was very well worth a visit when I went, but I don't know what it is like now it's open to the general public. Their web page is at

http://www.explosion.org.uk/about.html

Another fine collection that has been given a new image and silly name is "Firepower", the Royal Artillery museum formerly housed at the Woolwich Rotunda. Their home page is at

http://www.firepower.org.uk/home/home.cfm

and Woolwich is clearly very much more accessible from central London than is Portsmouth.

Finally, you should be aware that there are a large number of tiny, small and medium-sized regimental museums dotted all over the UK. A list of these and further details can be extracted from the Ogilby Trust web site at

http://www.armymuseums.org.uk/

All the best,

John.

[Soddball]

Originally posted by Zitadelle:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Soddball:

Churchill's house, Chartwell, is a museum near Sevenoaks, Kent. A train from London to Sevenoaks takes about 25 minutes.

....

Are you just over for a day or two?

Soddball-

Right now the schedule is open- except for the wife's conference. We are trying to decide whether to stay for a few more days and give her a chance to see some highlights as well.

We would probably be available for a pint, or two, or more (we both like our beer dark, bitter, and warm).

She is a real fan of Churchill ("the bulldog-man"), so she is interested in the Museum and the Cabinet War Room. Now, that she found out about Chartwell that has also sparked an interest. Is there any other information you would like to give about Chartwell.

Thanks for other forthcoming advice and recommendations. [/QB]</font>

[Zitadelle]

Another question-

As we consider a longer stay in the UK, is Stongehenge worth a visit? We are wondering especially since we will be in the UK around the Summer Solistice.

[Holien]

Stongehenge = Yes very much so...

Warwick Castle - Whole day

Stratford Upon Avon - Whole day

The Globe Theatre in London - Evening play

And don't forget a pub a night for food and beer.

http://www.goodguides.co.uk/

Don't just choose any pub try and get a recommendation as some are really naff.

H

[Soddball]

Zitadelle, I just sent an email to the address in your profile about (amongst other things) Stonehenge. Definitely worth a visit.

[Wicky]

Are you New-Age travellers by any chance?

Originally posted by Zitadelle:

Another question-

As we consider a longer stay in the UK, is Stongehenge worth a visit? We are wondering especially since we will be in the UK around the Summer Solistice.

[Tero]

Originally posted by Larry Thorne:

Half a day in IWM was not enough at all...it would have been enough for the main hall, but there is stuff beyond it too and I mean very interesting stuff

A word of caution. If you drag along your girlfriend or wife do NOT seat her below the clock which is counting the war dead.

[Zitadelle]

Originally posted by Soddball:

Zitadelle, I just sent an email to the address in your profile about (amongst other things) Stonehenge. Definitely worth a visit.

Soddball-

Just got the e-mail- thanks for putting all that effort into the message. I was thinking it would be a collection of links, but you really exceeded my expectations! It will take me some time to get through your recommendations. I will be in touch, and let you know about my scheduling and meeting up, if possible.