Kirkaldy’s Testing Works — Local services in London

I heard about this place just as I was planning a social bike ride that always takes place on the first Sunday of the month and as Kirkcaldy's only opens on the same day, I was intrigued. I am fascinated with Britain's industrial past, so to find a place that is a living testament to our heritage was sweet indeed. To find that Kirkaldy's began with analysis of the Tay Bridge disaster and continued to the crashes of the Comet made me want to go there even more. I was not disappointed, and to see something that was still in its original location and still in operation was a bit of a treat for me. The staff, volunteers all, were knowledgeable and enthusiastic, willingly answering all the questions bar one. The music to their introductory video intrigued me, as it was a horn concerto that was NOT by Mozart, as confirmed by a fellow visitor, a horn player in the LSO, if I recall correctly. It turns out that the volunteer staff are as sick of the video as she and I are of the Mozart concerti, so I never did find out. That didn't detract from a great visit to a special place, and the £5 entry fee was a bargain. If you get...

What a fascinating place full of interesting and powerful machines! I work around the corner and happened to see the name of the building when I was passing by... googled it and popped along. We had no real idea what to expect but we were greeted by some of the friendliest, most passionate volunteers of any museum. We learned a lot about David Kirkaldy and what an underrated genius he was, how materials testing works and has developed over the past 150 years and we saw the huge machine break a piece of solid iron in two, stretching it by inches. The tour lasted approx 2.5 hours and there wasn't a single minute where we weren't entertained or listening intently. Great for teenagers studying physics or anyone with any interest in science and how the world works. Thank you very much to everyone who made our visit such an...

I've been meaning to visit Kirkaldy's for ages but have struggled because it's only open on the first Sunday of the month. I'm so pleased that I finally made it. What a wonderful old place. It smells like oil and metal and wood. The volunteers are all brilliant, so committed to the museum. It's really inspiring to go and see them running the big universal testing machine. Usually they run it at 2pm. It's exciting to watch the massive aparatus pull a rod of cast iron until it snaps like dry spagetti. The rest of the museum is wonderfully underveloped. There's clearly no fat cat salaries being paid here. Definitely worth a visit. Also you should give them money - they really are operating on a...