| Museum of Bath at Work | |
| Established: | 1978 |
| Location: | Julian Road, Bath, Somerset |
| Map Type: | Somerset |
| Coordinates: | 51.3882°N -2.3625°W |
| Director: | Stuart Burroughs |
The Museum of Bath at Work is a local history museum in Bath, Somerset, England.
The museum was established in 1978 as the Bath Industrial Heritage Trust. Its original collection consisted of a reconstruction of the nineteenth century engineering and mineral water business of Jonathan Burdett Bowler, founded in 1872.[1] When the Bowler firm closed in 1969 its contents were bought by a local businessman with the express intention of founding a museum.[2] Photographs taken of the original business were used to carefully reconstruct the shop, workshops, offices and bottling plant.[3] [4] Over 10,000 bottles and many thousands of documents were also saved.
Today, the museum seeks to present the commercial development of Bath over a 2000-year period. In addition to the Bowler collection, other reconstructions include a cabinet maker's workshop and a Bath stone quarry face complete with crane and tools. In 1999 a rare 1914 Horstmann car was acquired, and, in 2003, a comprehensive exhibition on Bath's development, 'Bath at Work: 2000 Years of Earning a Living' opened. A local history display in the Hudson Gallery opened in 2007 and features an ever-changing display of photographs. In 2007 the museum acquired a rare Griffin six-stroke gas engine, that had been in storage in Yeovil, Somerset, after having been moved from London in 2001.[5] It was built in 1885 and for some years was in the Birmingham Museum of Science and Technology.[6] It is one of only two known examples, the other being in the Anson Engine Museum.
The museum is housed in the Camden Works building, constructed in 1777 as a court for the indoor game of real tennis.[7]