A Royal College of Physicians (RCP) Museum exhibition exploring the unofficial story of medical practice in England 1500–1800. Discover how people’s lives and health were shaped outside the formal medical sphere through an extraordinary collection of recipe books in the RCP Museum latest exhibition. Recipe books were highly collaborative, incredibly detailed, and painstakingly handwritten household manuals. Produced mainly within rural communities, they contained recipes for preparing and preserving food, household products, and medical remedies. The books show us how medicine was understood and practiced at community level. They are glimpses into a world in which communities were self-sufficient, and people were intimately connected to one another, the land, the seasons and the cosmos. Their contents contributed to the very survival of families and communities. The exhibition is free to visit as part of your trip to the RCP Museum.

Create your own pomander, explore the plants of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) medicinal garden, get hands-on with medical history, and more in this creative half-term workshop. The RCP and the Old Operating Theatre have combined forces to provide a fascinating and fun morning at the RCP’s home next to Regent’s Park. Children will have the opportunity to learn about how medicine was practiced in the past from blood-letting and cupping to pomanders and potions. The workshop will include an introduction to our museum collections and the fascinating the plants of the RCP medicinal garden. Then creative activities including creating their own pomanders and trying their hand at smelly bingo! The suggested age for attending children is 7–11 years but all are welcome. Children must be accompanied by an adult for the duration of the event but accompanying adults can attend free.