The Cuming Museum, opened in 1906 by Lord Rothschild, is home to the vast and unusual collection of the Cuming family and also contains the history of Southwark Museum.

Between 1780 and 1900 Richard Cuming and his son Henry Syer Cuming, collected over 25,000 artefacts from around the world. Today the collection that they amassed covers archaeology, British social history, ethnography, decorative art, geology, textiles, natural history, prints, coins, ceramics, ancient Egyptian and Etruscan objects. There is also an education room for school sessions and activities for children.