It’s been a busy week for volunteers and trustees of Bath’s medical Museum which has had to find a new home following the sale of the historic Mineral Water Hospital.
The Min has moved to a newly-built facility at the RUH but its original home – the Georgian-built General Hospital – is going to become a luxury hotel.
I’ve reported elsewhere that the Museum of Bath at Work is going to receive the huge tavern clock that hung in the lobby entrance.
Many other artefacts are going to Great Pulteney Street to the house next door to the Pulteney Street Practice where – l am told – once things are settled people will be able to view items by appointment.
My thanks to museum supporter Paul Thomas for the images he has provided of the removal operation underway.
Paul says:
“Hetty du Pays – who is Art and Design Manager at the RUH – and Stephen Dunning – Manager of the Bath Medical Museum – supervised the removal of the remaining artefacts from Bath Medical Museum at The Min.
First to be packed away was the old clock.
The expert museum removals team discovered that the Ralph Allen bust was securely fixed to its black marble plinth and was far to heavy to be man-handled, so that particular piece will have to wait until appropriate lifting gear can be brought in.
Some of the items have been taken to the RUH. Others to the Great Pulteney Street practice and more items have been temporarily removed to a storage facility out of Bath.”
A reminder to you all that the medical Museum is also trying to develop its web-site and wants to have contact with all those people with a memory of the old Min – and that includes photographs or artefacts.
The following comment has been received by George Odam:
“Hetty has done a fantastic job for us patients and staff alike and it is great that the RUH relented on their health and safety ban on using the original 18th century collection of paintings. One or two of the collection- that of Ralph Allen for instance – are not represented in your account and, as an ex- Governor of the RNHRD I instituted a professional survey of the whole collection and informed the Bath Art Galleries of their existence. At that time they were unaware of the many pieces owned by The Min. I had always hoped that the collection would not be subject to ‘cherry picking’ by the RUH since this collection is an invaluable part of Bath’s heritage. The great old clock has gone elsewhere, the medical artefacts elsewhere. The building is destined to be a luxury hotel. Will we lose the last remaining pool that was fed by the waters of the spring? I was a patient benefitting from its healing powers before the ban.
I know that Hetty and her team have worked tirelessly to please many different interested parties. I have yet to see the finished result but will do so at my next appointment. I am confident that it will be wonderful.
The splitting up and picking of the best bits reflects the lack of interest and care by the City Fathers throughout this inevitable loss of our heritage to commerce.”