The National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port, Gloucester Docks and Stoke Bruerne bring the history of Britain’s waterways to life.
Through interactive displays, recordings of former dock and canal workers, archive film footage and exhibits you can explore the fascinating story of this revolutionary transport system.
Climb aboard historic boats and discover what life was like living and working on our waterways. Our collection of historic boats, the largest in the world, includes narrowboats, canal and river tugs, concrete barges and a steam powered dredger.
And, as each museum is housed in a historic waterways location you can see how our canals are used today.
Why do we have canals?
When you stroll along a canal towpath, admiring the wildlife and the boats have you ever wondered why that waterway was made in the first place?
Over 300 years hundreds of thousands of people were involved in the design, construction and use of 2,000 miles of inland waterways which criss-cross the United Kingdom.
The invention and development of canals and an inland waterway network made Britain the first industrialised super-power in the world.
They were used to transport food produce and raw materials across the country, bringing work and affluence to thousands of people.
The fortunes of cities such as Manchester and Birmingham as well as smaller rural towns including Stroud in Gloucestershire and Droitwich in Worcestershire were made on the back of this unique transport system, enabling mill owners to despatch raw materials such as cocoa, cotton, salt and wool throughout England and beyond.
The late 1800s saw the birth of the ‘steam age’ and railways. This new faster method of transport sounded the death-knell for canals and since the 1930s the majority have declined through lack of use and neglect or been in-filled and built over.
In the 1990s Government, British Waterways and private investors saw the potential of utilising these redundant waterways as a means of regenerating urban areas.
Today, revitalised waterways are helping to drive £6 billion of regeneration. Instead of being ignored, restored waterways are providingdesirable places to work, live and relax. Our canals and rivers are providing a haven for wildlife and with over 300 million visits being made to waterways today they are proving popular with human visitors as well!
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