Comment Walthamstow

The historic Bremer car must be kept in its birthplace

In a letter to the Echo, Linsey Collier, chairman of the Lea Valley Heritage Alliance, says it is a ‘travesty’ that Britain’s first car with an internal combustion engine may not return to Waltham Forest

Walthamstow enigneer Frederick Bremer made the first British four-wheeled car with a combustion engine. It is currently on display at Vestry House Museum but will be moved out of the borough while the museum is being redeveloped. Credit: The_wub/ Wikimedia Commons

Local heritage groups are requesting that the historic Bremer car remains within the borough whilst the Vestry House Museum is being redeveloped.

They also argued that the car could go to the Walthamstow Pumphouse Museum or the Town Hall during this period instead of the National Motor Museum in Hampshire.

Heritage groups have also argued that the conditions that the car is currently kept in would be no different if it were moved to one of these alternative venues.

The car was given to the residents of Walthamstow by Fredrick Bremer and was the first British four-wheeled internal combustion engine car which was built at his works in Walthamstow in 1894.

It is a travesty that there are no guarantees that Britain’s first car with an internal combustion engine will return to Waltham Forest in the future.


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