PIN The Cuming Museum

Great Local Museum

The Cuming Museum comprises the worldwide and local collections of the Cuming family as well as local and social history collected by the borough during the 20th century. Recently ‘fire-damaged’ by what is widely believed to be mis-used blow torches by roof top workers the Cuming museum is based on the worldwide collection of the Cuming family and is also the museum of Southwark`s history. Collections include archaeology, ethnography, art, local history, social history and natural history. We are part of the Council’s heritage service alongside Southwark Local History Library and Archives on Borough High Street.







Richard Cuming, and his son Henry Syer Cuming, lived locally and had a passion for collecting. Between them, during the late 18th and the 19th century, they acquired all kinds of objects from around the world. Henry left funds in his will to create a public museum, which opened above the Newington public library in 1906. As well as the Cumings’ worldwide collection, the museum has many local history objects which reflect Southwark’s rich and diverse history and its unfolding story. The museum, which like many of London’s similar establishments is free to enter, opened new public spaces on the ground floor of the former Walworth Town Hall in 2006. The changing exhibition space and activity room housed regular events and exhibitions plus two permanent displays showed key items from the collections.