Last week I promised to write more about the charming London Canal Museum so here we go.
The ground floor is an atmospheric gallery of large exhibits on the two themes of the museum, the canals and the ice trade …
The 1960 Wickham tractor is a rare survivor of a what was a common sight in the 1960s in London. Miniature tractors like this took over from horses to tow unpowered barges around the capital …
The narrowboat Coronis dominates the ground floor …
You can go inside and imagine what it must have been like living in a tiny cabin with the whole family …
The cupboards open up to make a bed and a table …
An extraordinarily successful entrepreneur, Carlo Gatti built a large ice warehouse capable of storing tons of ice in two large ice wells, and this is the building that is now the museum. He began importing ice from Norway from around 1860, shipping the ice from that country up the Thames then transferring it to canal barges at the Regent’s Canal Dock and then via the canal to here. Starting with a single ice well in 1857, he built a second ice well around 1862 and became the largest ice importer in London. He is credited with being the first to make ice cream available to the general public.
The ice well today (show people a well and they can’t resist throwing coins into it!) …
‘Stop me and buy one’ …
The man himself …
… and the lovely little glass cups that the ice cream was sold in along with some pretty moulds …
Going upstairs to what was once the stable for ice cart horses …
The horse ramp …
… and Dobbin in his stall ..
Horsey paraphernalia …
Lots of really informative panels …
My favourite notice, prohibiting ‘THROWING LIVE OR DEAD ANIMALS INTO THE CANAL’ …
I was absolutely fascinated by the films being shown upstairs detailing life on the canals in 1924 and 1947. Here are a few stills, the moving images on the screen are much clearer and sharper so my pictures don’t really do them justice …
Note the advertisement for ‘cheapest and best funeral furnisher’ and the lock-keeper with the cottage that came with the job.
Here the bargee’s wife is in charge …
The commentary does tend to be a bit patronising!
It’s a wonderful little museum – in my view worth visiting just to watch the films. You’ll find more about it here.
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