New Guided Heritage Walks Programme

New! Guided Heritage Walks: Discover Cambridge’s industrial past.

In collaboration with Cambridge Industrial Archaeology Group, Cambridge Museum of Technology is proud to present a series of walking tours led by expert guides.

Discover Cambridge’s industrial history hiding in plain sight all around us. Access to the Museum is included in the price of each walk. Walks will start at 10:30 and reach the Museum at approximately 12 noon.

River Walk Jesus Green to Riverside

The banks of the river Cam were once teeming with industries and the river itself was an important trading route. From brewers to scientific instrument makers, from boat builders to the gas works, they could all be found along the river. Small ferries once carried passengers, vehicles and animals across the water but were replaced by bridges as Cambridge grew. If you know where to look, there are still traces to be seen and stories to be told of the industries and the workers of the past. 

The tour will begin at Jesus Lock and end at Cambridge Museum of Technology, home of Cambridge’s industrial heritage, where you will be able to explore the displays.

Prospective Dates: Friday 27th June, Friday 18th July, Friday 22nd August, Friday 19th September 2025.

Energy Walks: Cambridge Gasworks

Explore the former Cambridge gasworks (off Newmarket Road) and its impact on local society, economy and the environment. Featuring documentary sources (such as maps, photographs, company records and eyewitness reports), the tour will: explore 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.

This tour will begin at the Cheddars Lane (upper) gate of Cambridge Museum of Technology (on a step-free route around Cheddars Lane, Newmarket Road, River Lane and Riverside) will visit archaeological remains from what was the largest industrial complex in Cambridge: the University and Town Gas-Light Company. The tour will end at Cambridge Museum of Technology, home of Cambridge’s industrial heritage, where you will be able to explore the displays

Prospective Dates: Sunday 15th June, Friday 25th July, Saturday 9th August, Friday 5th September 2025.

Group size is limited (to maximum of 16) and tickets must be purchased in advance, either via the Museum’s Events Calendar or by contacting the Museum directly.

For all of the above walks

• £16pp

• Access to the Museum is included in your ticket (please bring copy of your receipt).

• Group size limited: tickets must be purchased in advance (online or from museum)

• Suitable for ages 11+.

• All-weather (come suitably prepared!)

• Please aim to arrive at least 5 minutes before the start time of the walk, which will depart promptly!

Flying into the Future Drone Workshop

Flying into the Future Drone Workshop

In Partnership with

Pye Building, Cambridge Museum of Technology
30th March 2pm-4pm
Free to attend

Cambridge Museum of Technology, The Old Pumping Station, Cheddars Lane 01223 398650, CB5 8LD

Drones are now part of everyday life. Used to survey and map areas, generate quiet and safe ‘firework’ displays, deliver post, and provide the action shots we love to see on screen. Here at the Museum of Technology we even use drones to check that our rooves and chimney are in tip top condition.

In this workshop you’ll be able to learn all about drones and there uses, talk to people who use drones as part of their day to day lives and jobs, and watch drone pilots use their skill to fly their drones around the Museum site. There will also be the opportunity to build your own non-flying drone air frame that you can take home and upgrade with parts to make it fully functional, or simply use as an interesting hanging decoration.
This event is in association with the Cambridge branch of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers – imeche.org'
Reach for the sky | Cambridge Festival

Booking not essential but is encouraged to give us an idea of numbers:

Flying into the Future Drone Workshop

£0.00

This event is free entry, but normal entry charges apply to the rest of the museum, bar and food on site through our hospitality partners .

We're Hiring! Evaluation Consultant

Cambridge Museum of Technology: Evaluation Consultant

Consultant Brief for Evaluation Consultant  

Type of contract: Consultancy / Self Employed  

Remuneration: Up to £5,000 (excl VAT) inclusive of travel and other incidental expenses, paid periodically by arrangement.  

Location: Cambridge Museum of Technology, The Old Pumping Station, Cheddars Lane, Cambridge CB5 8LD.  

Background 

Cambridge Museum of Technology is the home of our industrial heritage. Based in the city’s historic sewage pumping station, the Museum helps people to explore, enjoy, and learn about their industrial heritage by celebrating the achievements of local industries and the people who worked in them. 

Visible from all corners of Cambridge, the original chimney at the Museum stands tall as a reminder of our industrial past, and a landmark beacon of our relevance today. The Museum occupies a key Riverside site and has huge potential to grow as a community hub, leisure facility and educational centre. The Victorian sewage pumping station is a scheduled monument on Historic England’s At-Risk Register, and some of our (working) technologies on display are the last of their kind. Visitors to our museum can expect to learn the story of sewage and waste disposal in the Victorian Pumping Station, as well as discover Cambridge’s fascinating but forgotten industries. The important Pye collection displays Cambridge’s impressive early high-tech companies.   

Full Steam Ahead 

Supported through The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the ‘Full Steam Ahead’ project recruited three new heritage roles, to expand the Museum’s capacity for both general opening, and for increased education and community outreach work.  

The Museum will be able to expand its schools programme, reaching more young people and engaging with teachers to form lasting links. To facilitate this expanding engagement, there will be new opportunities to support and train community and education volunteers to help the Museum deliver this exciting programme. Digital education and family resources will also be developed alongside this new activity, to ensure the significant collections remain widely accessible for all.   

The funding will also reinvigorate existing space in the Engineer’s House to be used as a space for community hires. Building on fantastic partnerships within the local Abbey community, the Museum will offer more opportunities for engaging with industrial heritage and our collection, through events and workshops.  

Evaluation Consultant Brief 

We are seeking to appoint an experienced evaluation consultant to establish an evaluation framework (in 2025/26). The consultant must demonstrate experience of evaluating similar projects, from initial benchmarking through to the production of a final evaluation report that will be submitted to the NLHF, following an agreement of a draft by the Museum Enterprise Manager and Board of Trustees. 

We intend to appoint in February/March 2025 and anticipate that the work will take place throughout the life of the project which is currently due to end December 2026. The exact timescale and approach to be agreed as part of the appointment process 

The consultant will produce a 12-month evaluation report (June 2025), 18-month evaluation report and evaluate our project (in 2026), and provide support/advice to the project team, as required.  

Evaluation planning and delivery will be in keeping with:  
• NLHF best practice (Evaluation good practice guidance | The National Lottery Heritage Fund)  
• Our delivery stage evaluation, which aligns our work with the NLHF ten-year strategy  
• Our project outcomes  

Application will be based upon expressions of interest and interview. 

Location and Timings  

We anticipate some of this work will take place on site, however, some contact can be remote via Teams/telephone as appropriate. Due to the nature of working with volunteers, please note that it may be necessary from time to time to engage in the evening and weekends when availability is most likely. 
 

Remuneration for the Contract  

The total fee will be up to £5,000 excl VAT. Payment will be paid in instalments to be agreed upon appointment. (Our suggestion would be 25% upon appointment, 50% on delivery on first draft of the interim and final report, and 25% on completion).  

The Evaluation Consultant will be registered self-employed/employed by their consultancy company and responsible for their own National Insurance and Tax payments as required by HMRC. 

Appointment Process and Timescale  

We intend to appoint in February/March 2025 and anticipate that the work will take place throughout the life of the project which is currently due to end December 2026. The exact timescale and approach to be agreed as part of the appointment process Application will be based upon expressions of interest and interview.  

The expression of interest should include:  

• A statement of the strengths and evidence of relevant experience that you will bring to the project  

• Examples of similar projects completed since 2012 and their relevance to this contract. We would also like to see examples of similar reports produced by the consultants at the interview. 

• Your proposed methodology  

•  Your proposed timetable for carrying out the work  

• A breakdown of your budget/costings which must include all costs and travel and subsistence and VAT if charged.  

• Time allocation and day rates  

• If working as part of a team, the details of the lead consultant, who will remain available as the main point of contact throughout the project. Details of who will carry out the work, their background and experience   

Expressions of interest should be submitted via email to Lindsey.Bavin@Museumoftechnology.com  in a format of the consultant’s choice. Emails should contain the title Evaluation Consultant.  
 

Submissions must be received by 5pm on 13th February 2025.  

Remembering John Sharpe (1939 - 2024)

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our friend and a founder of the museum, John Sharpe. It is thanks to the work of him, and a few others, that meant our Pumping Station survived and became the museum it is today.

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While at the University of Cambridge Engineering Department, John had learnt that the Cheddars Lane Sewage Pumping Station was nearing the end of its life, and one lunchtime John with research students Alex Richie and Ken Moxham paid a visit to the site. The concept of preserving the Pumping Station as a Museum of Technology for Cambridge began to emerge. Supported by Ken Knell, who as librarian in the Engineering Department had access to reprographics facilities, this emerging concept was publicised by trustees and others at a number of local traction engine rallies.

Time was short, however, as the Pumping Station had already ceased operation, and Council employees were already arranging scrap contracts for the plant. John, however, engaged directly with the then Leader of the Council, and at the last minute the Council decided to support preservation. Understandably, relations with the Council employees were initially frosty!

But what to do now with a decaying building, rusting machinery left as it had been on the last day of operation, grudgingly permitted very occasional access – and no money! A two-pronged approach was conceived:

• firstly, the formation of a Board of Trustees with formal responsibility for the Pumping Station and responsibility for raising funds (no lottery funds then existed); and

• secondly, the formation of a Society to promote the then new discipline of Industrial Archaeology in Cambridge, to hold lectures and produce publications and to provide a pool of volunteers who would be prepared to work at the Pumping Station – thus was formed the Cambridge Society for Industrial Archaeology.

 John was the initial chair of the Trustees, who included Dr Joseph Needham – Master of Gonville and Caius and a world-leading specialist in early Chinese technology and two Lister brothers (from Lister Engineering). Other early trustees included John Shaw – lecturer at the University Engineering Department, and Messrs Jones and Harmer. Initial progress in fund-raising was slow, and early campaigns involved known contacts of the Trustees. Relatively small sums were raised.

Cambridge Society for Industrial Archaeology was a much more vibrant and dynamic organisation, again with John Sharpe as Chairman and with committee members including Ken Knell, Nick Smith (University Library), Don Unwin (from Cambridge Scientific Instruments) and Mr Lovell (a teacher) as treasurer. Membership was split fairly equally between town and gown. Regular meetings were held in the Engineering Department, typically attracting 40+ attendees and on occasion many more. Thanks to Ken Knell an extensive range of publications was rolled out. Holding a stall at the Freshers Fair resulted in an annual inflex of new members.

Once permitted by the Council, regular working parties were held at Cheddars Lane, and a start was made on clearing the detritus from those last days of operation, where possible making the building weather-tight – all this done with no electricity – so no power tools and lighting provided by tilly lamps and a propane powered large gas light. The top loading bay was gradually cleared and new exhibits were brought in from surrounding industries.

This initial work culminated in 1971 in the first annual Steam Weekend visited by thousands of locals interested in seeing inside Cheddars Lane. Through local connections, particularly with Chris Hall and the East Anglian Traction Engine Club, several traction engines participated, and steam from Chris Hall’s steam roller was used to power one of the auxiliary steam engines, and another steam road vehicle powered the generator set. But perhaps the highlight for most visitors was the operation of one of the gas engines using propane from large bottles. Such was the demand for gas, that the bottles cooled to the extent that a gas-burner needed to be placed on them to keep the gas flowing. The noise from the occasional backfire in the exhaust was sufficient to alert all the neighbouring households that Cheddars Lane was back operating.

After completing his research, John got a job at the Medical Research Council at Mill Hill (north London) and moved away from Cambridge. In 1982, unable to continue to devote the effort required, John resigned as a Trustee of Museum of Technology.

The developments at Cheddars Lane since that first Steam Weekend, slow initially, but most substantial since, have secured the pumping station permitting the engines to run from time to time under steam, and further developed the initial concept of a museum to celebrate industry and technology in the Cambridge area. That is a different story which many others are better placed to describe. But it remains that without John, the Pumping Station would have been demolished and there would have been no Museum of Technology on the Cheddars Lane site.

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As a museum, we would like to wish a final thank you to John for all his hard work, gumption and perseverance. We truly would not be here today if it wasn’t for the actions of him and his fellow founders, and for that we will be forever grateful.