1. Access key 1 to the homepage
  2. Access key 2 to What is the City?
  3. Access key 3 to What to see
  4. Access key 4 to Where to stay
  5. Access key 5 to Where to eat and drink
  6. Access key 6 to Where to shop
  7. Access key 7 to Venues for hire
  8. Access key 8 to Getting around
  9. Access key 9 to Practical info
  10. Skip navigation to content

City of London Information Centre
St Paul's Churchyard,
London, EC4M 8BX

> City map
Photo: The 'apothecary's garret'
Photo: The old operating theatre Photo: The old operating theatre
CLICK TO ENLARGE

Old Operating Theatre, Museum and Herb Garret

9a St Thomas Street

London

SE1 9RY


See map >>


T: 020 7188 2679

E: curator@thegarret.org.uk

W: www.thegarret.org.uk


Visitor Information

Open: 10.30am-5pm daily (closed from around mid-December to early January check website for exact dates).

Part of the original St Thomas Hospital, the Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garret are located at the top of a spiral staircase in the barn-like roof space of an old church. The theatre is complete with wooden operating table, blood box and tiered stands from which medical students witnessed the ordeal of surgery without anaesthesia – a shocking reminder of the harsh reality of life before modern science and technology took over.

The 300-year-old Herb Garret, with bundles of medicinal herbs hanging from its oak beams, has pill-making equipment, specimen jars and surgical paraphernalia – a fascinating insight into the history of herbal physic.

Accessibility
Artsline rate the Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garret as having difficult disabled access due to "very narrow, dark, unavoidable spiral stairs at the entrance and numerous steps within the venue." Read more.