Go around the side of the imposing Bank of England building on Threadneedle St and you’ll eventually come to an open door – step through it and you’ll find yourself in the Bank of England Museum…
The Bank of England museum is dedicated to the history of the institution itself, our currency and also monetary policy. Exhibits are spread throughout the museum’s two large domed rooms, the first of which is a reconstruction of the Bank Stock Office, which stood on the site before the existing building was constructed in 1939. Along the walls of this room you’ll find glass cases full of coins – in fact every coin minted by the Bank can be found here. The room also contains large interactive exhibits which seek to explain the concept in inflation, sometimes in a hilariously ham-fisted fashion – for example, one of the displays invites you to inflate a big balloon – inflation, get it? The Bank Stock Office’s saving grace however is the attempt at recreating the atmosphere of the room when it was in use – at one end of this large space there is the figure of a clerk stooped over a set of large ledgers, with a cat sat on a stool next to him warming itself in front of a large hearth..
In the intervening space between this room and the rotunda there are displays dedicated to the Bank of England’s origins, as well as information on the construction of the present building – you’ll discover how Scottish businessman William Paterson established the Bank in 1694, letters from some of its more illustrious private customers (including US President George Washington) as well as a look at the buildings on the site throughout the centuries – I particularly enjoyed examining the diorama which depicts how the Bank of England looked in the late 18th century, complete with horses, carriages and models of people walking by along the street.
Entering the rotunda you first come across the Bank’s silver collection – much like its sister organisations, the City of London’s Guilds, the Bank of England holds an impressive collection of silver artifacts which it has gathered over the centuries. Pass between the statues of the twelve caryatids (rescued and restored from the previous building on the site) and there are displays that highlight the Bank’s role in the Victorian era, the First World War, the interwar years and the Bank’s nationalisation in 1946. I hadn’t appreciated that, despite being the nation’s bank, the Bank of England had been in private hands up until that point – of course it is still in public ownership today, but it has had the freedom to set its own fiscal policies since 1997, when the incoming Labour Government gave it independence from political control.
Other interesting displays in this room feature Kenneth Grahame, author of ‘Wind In The Willows’, who found time to act as the Bank’s Secretary when not scribbling notes about Ratty and Mole, information on how banknotes are protected against forgery, and the Banknote Gallery which, like the coin displays, contains an original of every regular bank note ever issued by the Bank of England. I made two very interesting discoveries in the Banknote Gallery – did you know that the Queen only appears on banknotes produced in 1960 onwards, or that all English banknotes are now printed at a factory in Loughton, Essex? I certainly didn’t before my visit!
Before you leave the museum you must check out the Bank’s piece de resistance – a full size ‘London Good Delivery’ gold bar (just like the ones that you’ve see in countless heist movies) which you can actually handle by reaching inside a perspex box. I was surprised by how heavy it was – each standard gold bar weighs an immense 13 kilograms! I don’t have any photographs of the interior to show you I’m afraid as photography is strictly prohibited, but why not go along and see for yourself? The Bank of England Museum is open Monday to Friday from 10am to 5pm – entry is free of charge.
March 25, 2012
London Sights