Video [2 mins]: Aerial views of Cambridge Museum of Technology in sunshine (and snow!) .
Video credit: Matthew Power for the Willcox Collective, 2021

Cambridge Museum of Technology – with its distinctive chimney silhouetted against the skyline of east Cambridge – offers visitors an opportunity to see a different side of Cambridge. 

This promise remains true, even while the Museum remains in lockdown! 

In early 2021 the Museum commissioned local photographers and videographers in The Willcox Collective to capture winter views of the Old Pumping Station site (at the Museum on Cheddars Lane, Cambridge), and the former headquarters of the Pye Companies, located on the Chesterton side of the River Cam. 

A snapshot in time of east Cambridge: past, present, future  

By harnessing high-resolution drone-video and time-lapse photography, The Willcox Collective has captured a snapshot of the rapidly changing landscape of east Cambridge during the third decade of the 21st century.  

Numerous recent and ongoing construction projects have been captured for posterity. 

The Museum's photo and video archive complements the 20th-century aerial surveys of east Cambridge (1930s and 1950s) that are now held in archives such as Cambridgeshire Archives and the Cambridgeshire Collection, as well as the online collection Britain From Above. 

So, take to the air, enjoy scenes of Cambridge’s contemporary landscape,  and spot these landmarks! 

Video commentary 

Video scene 1: 

Flyover across River Cam from Riverside Bridge, Logan's Meadow Nature Reserve (Chesterton) towards the chimney of the Old Pumping Station (now Cambridge Museum of Technology). 

Background: Cambridge Retail Park (formerly brickworks and quarries), Cambridge United Football Club’s Abbey Stadium, Marshall Aerospace and Cambridge Airport 

Video scene 2:  

Flyover from Cambridge Museum of Technology across River Cam towards former site of Pye headquarters (Chesterton) 

Foreground: Engineer's House, Old Pumping Station (now Cambridge Museum of Technology) 

Background: Logan's Meadow, St Andrew's Church (Chesterton) 

Video scene 3:  

Ascent of chimney of Old Pumping Station (now Cambridge Museum of Technology), looking towards Stourbridge Common (former site of Stourbridge Fair), Chisholm Trail (under construction), Cambridge North Railway Station, Cambridge Science Park, Cambridge Business Park  

Video scene 4:  

Close-up views (vertical, panorama and pull-back) of the chimney top of the Old Pumping Station, inspected by TV steeplejack Fred Dibnah in the early 1990s. 

 
Explore more of Cambridge’s industrial heritage from the air in 2021 with Cambridge Museum of Technology 

A more extensive video about Cambridge's industrial landscape from above is in production for broadcast by Cambridge Industrial Archaeology Society to coincide with the 50th-anniversary celebration of Cambridge Museum of Technology.  

For more information:

Photo gallery credit: Matthew Power Photography for The Willcox Collective, commissioned by Cambridge Museum of Technology, January 2021

Photo gallery:

Ordnance Survey Grid Reference: TL4642859345 (all-numeric format: 546429 259345)
Geographic Coordinate System (GCS): 52.212439°N 0.143445°E

  1. Cambridge Museum of Technology from the north, featuring Riverside and River Cam (foreground), looking towards Newmarket Road and Romsey.
    In the background construction cranes are visible near Cambridge railway station.

  2. Cambridge Museum of Technology from the west with Logan’s Meadow Nature Reserve and Riverside Bridge (foreground), looking towards Newmarket Road.

  3. Cambridge Museum of Technology from the south-west with Logan’s Meadow Nature Reserve (foreground), looking towards Stourbridge Common, East Chesterton, and Fen Ditton.

  4. Cambridge Museum of Technology and Engineer’s House from the south-east (Cheddars Lane) towards Logan’s Meadow, St Andrew’s Church, Chesterton.

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