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New ^7m Brunel museum to 'spread engineer's fame'


By The Bristol Post  |  Posted: April 03, 2014




 
 
A MAJOR new ^7 million museum dedicated to Isambard Kingdom Brunel is being planned for next to the ss Great Britain, it has been revealed. Called Being Brunel, it will be built within the historic Great Western Steamship Company dockyard and will give the public access to the famed engineer's collections for the first time.

It will be run by the ss Great Britain Trust, which aims to bring Brunel's worldwide reputation as a "hero engineer" to life.

It was yesterday announced that the project is in line for ^4.9 million initial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), as well as a development grant of ^176,000.

The grant of ^176,000 will enable the trust to develop a project proposal and submit a second application to the HLF. If that application is successful Being Brunel can go ahead ^ aiming to open to the public in 2016.

An HLF spokeswoman said the plans would see the restoration and completion of an authentic dockyard setting at the ss Great Britain.

A major redevelopment of the derelict buildings that overlook the floating harbour towards Hotwell Road will allow visitors to explore the life and world of the engineer and step back in time inside his original Drawing Office. The development will also form the hub of a National Brunel Network of people, places, institutions and heritage resources around the UK.

Matthew Tanner MBE, chief executive of the ss Great Britain Trust, said: "Visitors will be able to explore Brunel's life and works and then compare their own skills to his, relating his achievements to the modern world. We feel there's no better epicentre than Bristol for this to happen. We aim to inspire the next generation of young scientists and engineers with everything we do at the ss Great Britain Trust. The Being Brunel museum development and national network will do just this."

Brilliant!

However, last time I went to visit the 'Great Britain' sponsorship was still being saught for planks of this wonderful ship, to help with maintenance/ongoing restoration costs.  I can't help but think, then, that this latest project seems a bit ambitious, or have the fortunes of the Great Britain improved SO much in recent years?

Isn't there already a Brunel museum? Fairly sure I visited one in London several years ago

Yes, there's a Brunel Museum near the Rotherhithe Thames Tunnel shaft, is that the one you're thinking of?

http://www.brunel-museum.org.uk

Paul

That's the one, cheers Paul. I thoroughly enjoyed being "able to explore Brunel's life and works" circa 2006, thanks, and am not at all sure why being near Brunel's Thames Tunnel wasn't equally an "epicentre". Meh.

As the museum is on the surface directly above the tunnel, it meets this definition more or less (if we excuse the inconvenient factlet that the tunnel is a tunnel, not an earthquake). That aside, Bristol is certainly an appropriate place for a Brunel Museum. An engineer with no money behind them is a dreamer, and much of what Brunel achieved - not least the GWR - was commissioned and paid for by Bristolians. So while Bristol may not be an epicentre of Brunellian activity, it is certainly the centre.

Whether the museum will be much cop is another matter; lets hope they don't let the people who did M Shed anywhere near it!   

Thanks for your support, Cynthia!

In view of your concern, I've had a browse through the financial affairs of the ss Great Britain Trust (available on their website, at http://www.ssgreatbritain.org/about-us/downloadable-documents ) and they do seem very sound.  :D

I rather think that their appeal to 'please sponsor a plank' was actually a very good marketing tool: many overseas visitors simply love the idea that their brief visit can be immortalised by the purchase of a name-plate for a particular plank on the decking.  Many other charitable organisations offer the purchase of a similar 'souvenir', as an integral part of their ongoing fund-raising.  ;)

As to whether Bristol should have a 'Brunel Museum', I think it should - and if the Heritage Lottery Fund agree, it will!  ;D

Like most famous Bristolians, Brunel came from somewhere else, in his case being born in Portsmouth of French parents, and learned his trade elsewhere, this time Universit^ de Caen Basse-Normandie. Most things in Bristol with a tourist twang to them have Brunel in the name somewhere, the rest allude to John Cabot (otherwise the Venetian Zuan Chabotto). Cabot was the first adopted hero, and was an explorer in a time when seafarers feared falling off the edge of the earth, but he deserves credit not so much for getting to Newfoundland under sail, and without GPS, but for getting back to tell the tale.

The signature of Brunel is seen on engineering works from London westwards, but arguably, Bristol bears the greatest debt of gratitude, and has some of the better parts of the legacy covering many different aspects of engineering. In the Clifton suspension bridge, we see art and engineering combined, although Victorian "value-engineering" claimed some of IKB's intended flourishes. Sadly, it was built in his memory, but I am sure he saw the whole thing in his mind's eye, long before he put pencil to paper. One side is a metre higher than the other, not as an engineering solution, but to keep the artistic perspective. You don't get that with Bust Rabid Transit. In the SS Great Britain, we see a "proof of concept" design that established the screw propeller as a far better bet than paddles in propelling ocean liners, and of iron as more durable than wood for the hull. SS Great Britain had a maritime endurance of one sort or another of nearly 90 years, arguably extended to 170 years by her current use. Then we have the iconic Bristol Temple Meads, not Brunel's first choice for a terminal station, but firstly a mock-Tudor building, and now an example of a station that would never now be built from scratch because function now trumps form.

His greatest, yet most understated and misunderstood, gift to the city is surely the Underfall Yard, by the Nova Scotia in the soon-to-be desecrated Avon Crescent. For those forum watchers who have yet to visit Bristol, and you are missing much, I shall explain the significance.

The original Bristol docks stood at the confluence of the Avon and the Froom, where Bristol Bridge now stands today. It silted too much and too frequently even for mediaeval ships, so King John, after lobbying by the West of England Partnership, decreed that the Froom be moved slightly to the right. So in 1245 the men of Bristol, aided by the grumbling, but under Royal orders, men of the then entirely separate Port of Redcliffe, diverted the course to its present, now largely underground, course along River Street, then under the city centre, to join the Avon next to the Analfoni.

This was all very well, and re-established Bristol's trading links with not just France, Portugal, and Spain, but also Wales in pre-Severn Bridge days (think: why was Welsh Back so named), but ships began to grow with technology. The harbour remained tidal, with the Avon connecting to the Severn, and thus the second highest tidal range on the planet. So, some of the ships, on settling on irregular mud as the tide rushed out, broke their backs, and only those with extra-strong keels and backs, who were "ship-shape and Bristol fashion" could cope with this stranding.

For Bristol to survive as a port in the face of growing ships, it was essential to provide a "Floating Harbour", the ultimate contract going to a tender for a design by William  Jessop. He designed a harbour accessible by locks, with the New Cut to carry the river around the docks, allowing it still to flow, and taking up the slack of the tide. Bristol's docks are thus the original course of the Avon, along with the re-aligned, and re-spelled, Frome. It was magnificent - ships would once again visit Bristol without being at the mercy of the tides, and could moor up knowing they would not have to sit on the mud, with the risks that entailed. Jessop included in his design and Overfall Yard - a dam slightly lower than the lock gates, so that should excessive river flow fill the docks, the lock gates would not be inundated. Masterpiece!

The problems became apparent after Jessop became unavailable for remedial works, because of death. The Frome continued to flow, the Avon to a lesser extent, and silt appeared. As many drains still led directly to the river, this silt was far from pleasant, and as well as hazards to navigation, cholera resulted. This led to the rise in prominence of yet another famous Bristolian, George Muller (born Johann Georg Ferdinand M^ller in Kroppenstaedt, in the then Kingdom of Prussia), who found a steady supply of orphans, in part because of the epidemic. Something had to be done, decided Bristol City Council, and a letter was sent to Mr Brunel.

In a tradition that continues to this day, Bristol had chosen the cheaper option, only to find that it cost more in the end. IKB's father, a then youthful Marc Brunel, had tendered his own scheme for the docks, but had been rejected because of cost. Jessop was no mean engineer, but had erred this time. Isambard, son of Marc, decided the solution lay in the construction of the Underfall Yard, a system of sluices that when opened at the proper times create a strong outward current that to this very day scours much of the silt from the harbour.

Jessop saved the harbour, and the city, as a commercial port, although as ships grew in size, so they could not navigate around the Horseshoe Bend, between the Roman port at Sea Mills and Shirehampton. The main port was moved to Avonmouth, and then additionally Portbury, both of which now prosper, and may well flourish. But Jessop missed a detail that could have killed the city as a habitat.

Cabot's first voyage was a triumph. It is said that he outdid Christopher Columbus (himself, as a Venetian sailing under a Portuguese flag, famous as the son of a nation he wasn't born in) because Columbus, when he left had no idea where he was going. When he got there, he had no idea where he was, and when he got home, he had no idea where he had been. The replica Matthew voyage used the same technique as Cabot did to get out of the Bristol Channel - let the ebb tide carry you, then anchor to let the tide pass you. Two days into the journey, she was still visible off Clevedon. Cabot did the same voyage again. To this day, no-one knows whether he made it back to Newfoundland, to open a chain of pizza restaurants, or whether he sank with all hands off the Gower.

Muller saved a generation of Bristol's orphans, never asking for donations, relying entirely on his faith in God, and famously giving thanks for breakfast with 30 orphans at his first orphanage in Wilson Street (next to my place of work), knowing there was no crumb of food in the house. As he said "Amen", there was a knock at the door from a baker with some excess bread, followed by a milkman whose cart had suffered a broken wheel.

Against these giants, I think Brunel's achievements put the stovepipe hat on it, so to speak. He connected the city of Bristol to the east, by his railway, and to the west by his ships. He connected the north to the south by his bridge, and he literally saved the city by his unsung Underfall Yard.

I would argue strongly for a museum but for the fact that, as Red Squirrel so eloquently points out, so much of what he built remains in daily use to this very day, and is about to be updated for yet anther century's use. The city harbour has gone from commerce to leisure and residential use, made practical only by the Underfall Yard. The Great Western Railway is about to be electrified - Brunel's Atmosphere Railway was a stab at separating the power supply and fuel from the vehicle, and I think he would approve wholeheartedly. I don't oppose a museum, but would hope it firstly outlines the context in which Brunel's engineering feats were made, as well as the difference thay made. I hope especially that it also includes a guide to a trail around his still extant works. In less than 500 working days, I will be available as a volunteer guide.

I have based this on my memory of things I have read over the years, and am open to correction. Fin

A most insightful, scholarly resume FTN, beautifully penned in purple prose, with authority, poise and grace, unlike many journalistic 'hacks' of today. I can almost see the elegant flowing lines of impeccable copperplate handwriting!. One of your best contributions to this forum.

I spent many an hour poring over the English Heritage survey of structures on the Great Western Railway, and it is quite enlightening (sadly I can't find it online now or I'd post a link).

It is clear that Brunel designed the GWR as a procession, with Bristol as the grand finale. With one or two notable exceptions, the structures at the London end (i.e. west of Chippenham!) were very ordinary, similar to those found on lesser railways; it is only as you approach Bath from Chippenham that things start to get really interesting. The bridges and tunnels are designed as complementary sequence and are all in a classical style, as befits the approach to Bath. Once past Bath, the structures take on a picturesque Tudor style, terminating in the grand mock-hammerbeam Tudor hall that is Brunel's Temple Meads (or 'BTM').

There's a good reason it was done this way, to which I alluded in my earlier post: the GWR was built by and for Bristolians, principally with Bristol money, and Brunel did an excellent job of showcasing his adopted home. Bristol chose its favourite engineer well; as to a debt of gratitude - we paid the b*gger, dinnus?

Does Bristol need a Brunel museum? Actually I think probably not; I suggest all that is required is a simple plaque somewhere near the SS Gurt Biggun or perhaps Temple Meads bearing the words 'si monumentum requiris, circumspice' (or perhaps 'si vous cherchez son monument, regardez autour de vous').

Is this it, Red Squirrel?  Consultation Document (http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/content/imported-docs/f-j/gwml-consultation-document-april-2012.pdf) and Gazetteer (http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/publications/gwml-gazetteer/gwml-gazetteer.pdf).

I too enjoyed that little read about the 'Little Giant'. The deliberate typos raised a chuckle. 'Froom' and 'Analfoni' indeed!  ;D

Also, who knew that the West of England Partnership was around in the time of King John! Were they heavily backing a CRT* back then I wonder?  :P


*Cart Rapid Transit.

Oh well done; yes, the Gazetteer is the thing.

'Froom' is not a typo - it's an alternative spolling. Reece Winstone always used it. See Wikipedia item (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Frome,_Bristol).

Thank you, chuffed, and merci beaucoup ^cureuil roux. I haven't necessarily finished yet, so do revisit.

And no, BNM, it was not a typo. Froom became Frome at some point, and both variants appear in street and building names. The Arnolfini has staff who have their own slant on what it does. I couldn't possibly comment.

Indeed - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Froomsgate_House,_Bristol for example.  ;)

You're welcome, CfN, and I'll be at the front of the queue when the museum opens in 2016!

An update, from the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-28950808):

On the BBC TV report, this was described as "a cigar smoked by Brunel", whereas it is clear it was never even lit.

(May belong in pedantry thread)

From the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-33636296

From the Great Western Railway press release:



So there you are - 'Coach A' was Brunel's idea:


 ;)