NOW FULLY BOOKED!

2023 Open Cambridge: Unwrapping Creativity

FREE, GUIDED URBAN-WALKING TOUR AROUND FORMER SITE OF CAMBRIDGE GASWORKS

Explore the city's industrial heritage of energy utilities (lighting | cooking | heating) and the impact of the former gasworks on society and the environment in free, guided-walking tours around its perimeter: Cheddars Lane, Newmarket Road, River Lane and Riverside.

WHAT’S IN THE tour?

This free, guided tour will visit urban-archaeological remains from what was - in its time - the largest industrial complex in Cambridge: the University & Town Gas-Light Company.

Featuring documentary sources such as maps, photographs, company records and eyewitness reports to describe the sights (and smells) of the former Cambridge gasworks, its operations, stories of its workers, evaluate its environmental impact, and invite participants to assess its legacy: past, present and future.

Tour stops will include: the gasworks' entrance gates, former wharves on the River Cam, former retorts on River Lane, the war memorial (Newmarket Road), archaeological evidence of by-products (used on Cambridge’s roads and by local farmers).

Presented by Dr Gordon Davies, a volunteer at Cambridge Museum of Technology, in association with Cambridge Industrial Archaeology Group.

Tour information

Suitable for ages 12+

Free (subject to booking)

Accessibilty: each tour will take approximately 45 minutes and cover approximately 1.5km on marked footpaths (step-free) around the perimeter of Newmarket Rd, Cheddars Lane, River Lane and Riverside.

Meet outside the upper gate of Museum of Technology on the corner of Cheddars Lane at least five minutes before tour time (tours will depart promptly at the advertised start time).

Each tour will conclude at lower entrance of Museum of Technology on Riverside.

How to book

Open Cambridge “energy” urban-walking tours will run (in all weathers!) on:

• Friday 8 September 2023, 18:45-19:30

• Saturday 9 September 2023, 11:30-12:15

• Friday 15 September 2023, 12:00-12:45

• Sunday 17 September 2023, 13:30-14:15

Advanced reservations recommended on first-come, first-served basis (up to a maximum tour-group size of 16) via:

Contact the Museum | Subject: Open Cambridge 2023 energy walking tour [specify date/time]

Email: info@museumoftechnology.com

Telephone: 01223500652

Please note: this free, urban-walking tour does NOT include admission to Museum of Technology.

Data will be held and operated according to the Museum's data-management and -retention policies

Presented as part of 2023 Open Cambridge | Heritage Open Days Unwrapping Creativity:

Banner photograph of former site of Cambridge University & Town Gas-Light Company gasworks as viewed above Cambridge Museum of Technology: Aaron Greenwood, donated to Cambridge Museum of Technology.