Community Gallery, Second Level
London has long been a city shaped by hard work and by the tools that made it possible. This exhibition highlights historical hand tools housed in Museum London’s material culture collection and used by tradespeople like woodworkers, blacksmiths, and masons from the mid-19th to early 20th centuries.
Some tools, like saws and hammers, remain familiar to us today, whereas others–molding planes, drawknives, and spokeshaves–have faded from mainstream use, replaced by power tools and industrial machinery. In Tools of the Trade, each carries the marks of its use, and the stories of those who wielded them.
Among them are Charles Wray, a trim-maker and farmer-carpenter; Chris Nielsen, a cabinetmaker with the Grand Trunk Railway; James Nicol, a blacksmith and machinist; and George Putherbough, a bricklayer whose work helped shape London’s built environment.
Though trades and technologies have changed, the need to extend the work of our hands remains. These tools offer a glimpse into the lives of London’s past workers, inviting us to reflect on the tools we use today.
