Chambers at Large in Churchill’s War Rooms and The Dockland’s Museum, London, England
- Amelia Chambers
- Apr 30
- 5 min read
As a child I visited almost all of the sights in England’s capital city: The Tower of London, Tower Bridge, St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Madam Tussauds, Trafalgar Square, the museums and the art galleries, many more than once. When something new comes along it’s a welcome treat and recently I visited Churchill’s War Rooms near Parliament Square, and the London Museum Docklands in Canary Wharf. Both were well worth my time.
Queen Elizabeth’s Tower aka Big Ben looked great in the sunlight, but the War Rooms are an underground facility from where the War Cabinet led its operations during World War II. Hundreds of people worked here, day and night, and it must have been quite cramped, smelly and damned difficult. I’m not claustrophobic but by the time I left after a little over two hours I was delighted to be in the open air again, thus I have a high regard to those who worked there for hours on end, but was not surprised when I learned some people did not stay to sleep there but risk the blackouts and bombings outside.
The tour is self-guided via a headset and if I could operate it anyone can! Following the one way system I passed where the heads of the armed forces met with Churchill who was Minister of Defence as well as Prime Minister. The room is relatively small considering its importance, but space was at a premium and many of the rooms are confined.
Churchill himself stayed here and his bedroom is somewhat bigger than most and he had his own separate dining room. Despite rationing Churchill ate well and liked to have a drink with a meal. I too can appreciate that! His wife, Clementine, had her own quarters too, and the higher the rank the better one’s sleeping quarters.
A small telephone room ensured Churchill could speak with the American President Franklin D Roosevelt. The phone line was made secure in 1943 via a scrambler system and there were other rooms where people worked including a typing pool and a switchboard.
The Map Room was my final stop where every wall is covered in maps and sheets of statistics, but centre stage is a line of coloured telephones as those who worked here processed information all day, every day. The map room was the hub of the war effort receiving intelligence from the armed forces from around the world and a record was written every morning for the king, the Prime Minister and others in the War Cabinet.
A large area of the museum is dedicated to artefacts and information regarding Churchill, his life as a politician and military leader, and statements from those who worked with and for him. One of the most surprising artefacts is a crimson siren suit he wore on a number of occasions (and had many more of different colours and fabrics). He wore them for leisure, but it was something very quick and warm to put on when the sirens sounded warning of bombing. So, it could be said, Churchill invented the “onesie”.
Churchill loved to paint, possibly in a “onesie” and several of his paintings are on display. I was fortunate enough to visit Camara de Lobos, a fishing village he loved in Madeira, where a statue of him painting sits in his honour.
The War Rooms were extremely interesting and I’d recommend a visit, but please book in advance. It will save you having to queue.
The same could not be said for The London Museum Docklands in Canary Wharf which was once a warehouse in one of the largest dock complexes in the world. The day I visited there was no queue and I enjoyed a coffee and a muffin in the café before embarking on my tour. I was told by a lovely member of staff to start the top floor and work down and this is what I did.
The River Thames has always connected London with the rest of the world, thus a hive of trade and industry. The warehouses were filled with cargo hoisted off the ships or carted by hand on trolleys or barrows, then Customs and Excise Officers weighed and measured everything to prevent theft, fraud and misplaced goods.
During the 18th century shipping routes were plagued by pirates and those caught were hanged at Execution Dock near on the Wapping shore, not far from Canary Wharf. Their bodies sometimes put on a gibbet to deter others.
By the mid 1800s the docklands saw other trades develop including rope making, lead working, food processing and iron founding. All this brought more and more people to the area for manual labour leading to overcrowding, poor housing and unsanitary conditions.
The docks expanded and the Industrial Revolution brought mechanisation to the ships and the docklands, but a large workforce was still needed although much of the labour was casual, dependent on the arrival of ships. By the end of the 1800s and into the beginning of the 1900s the men and women who lived in the docks went on strike for better pay and better living conditions.
Having been to the War Rooms I was interested in learning about the role of the docklands during the World Wars, where work continued and air raid shelters and consul shelters were built. The latter look like large bullets with a door, but were used by policemen, ARP Wardens and Fire Watchers guarding the docks.
However, what was fascinating was learning of the secret technology made at the docks: an undersea pipeline between Britain and France through which to pump petrol, Churchill’s idea, of course.
I spent most of the day at this museum and learned a great deal, from ship building to the companies who traded there, the people who worked there and even the slave trade, a dark epoch of Britain’s history, and it was interesting to see anti-slavery sugar bowls on display, sugar being the trade for many slaves shipped from Africa. I even attended a twenty minute talk on Frost Fairs, a time when the Thames froze over and fairs were held on the ice.
The docks suffered horribly during the Second World War and by the end of the twentieth century the area fell into disrepair. Now it is a thriving office community, a fabulous airy part of London with restaurants, a floating church and even a spa! It’s readily accessible via the Elizabeth Line and it’s a handy place to go if you are staying at Heathrow and have a late night flight. Even if you’re a Londoner, the War Rooms and the London Docklands Museum are well worth a visit.
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I mention Madeira in this blog and like Churchill I am extremely fond of the island. To read more about my visits please click on the links.
When visiting the Docklands Museum I noticed signs from all over the world including Valparaiso, Chile, and Buenos Aires in Argentina, which I had visited earlier in the year. To learn more about this particular dockland city, please click on the link.
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