Physically Disabled Visitors

The Museum welcomes physically disabled visitors.

There are two accessible parking bays on the East side of Lincoln’s Inn Fields for Blue Badge Holders. They operate on a first come first served basis. Please note, these are not for the sole use of the Museum.

The Museum is working to improve physical accessibility and will have a lift and accessible toilets in place by summer 2012. Our toilet facilities are currently located in our basement, down a flight of stairs. We have an accessible toilet but visitors may find this inconvenient to access at certain times. There are accessible toilets on the North-East corner of Lincoln’s Inn Fields, opposite the accessible parking bays.

The Museum has eight steps to the entrance door with a single handrail on one side. The Museum always makes staff available to assist visitors to enter the building. However, visitors must be able to negotiate, with assistance, the eight steps from the pavement to the entrance hall where a wheelchair can be provided on request. Corridors and doorways are narrower than standard wheelchairs. To overcome this, the Museum has two specially manufactured narrow wheelchairs.

By using the Museum’s narrow wheelchairs visitors can see all the principal historic interiors: the Library and Dining Room, the Breakfast Parlour, the celebrated Picture Room containing paintings by Canaletto and two series of Hogarth paintings, the Study and Dressing Room and the Dome area. Soane’s imaginative architecture also allows visitors on the ground floor to see parts of the basement ‘Crypt’, part of the Monk’s Parlour, the ‘Sepulchral Chamber’ and its centrepiece, the celebrated Sarcophagus of King Seti I as well as the Monument Court and Monk’s Yard, with their arrangements of sculpture.

The basement and the two public rooms on the first floor have no step-free access. However, if a visitor can use stairs with assistance, Museum staff will provide the necessary help and bring a wheelchair after them.

Visitors using crutches or sticks can access the whole Museum. Members of staff are available to assist as necessary and the Museum’s wheelchairs are available on request.