Birmingham is reputed to have more mileage of canals than Venice. London too has its fair share of canals and on my blogs I’ve written several posts describing these former communication arteries and progenitors of Britain’s industrial revolution.
Here are a few of these posts:
On the second day of my arrival at the great Wen I had to present myself for a Covid-19 test as required by the current authorities. I have subsequently found out that it went well and I remain negative.
Near to the test centre I noticed there was a sign to a canal museum and decided to take a look. Although not very large the museum is very comprehensive and we spent an enjoyable couple of hours there.
Housed in a former Victorian ice storage warehouse the museum presents the following themes.
Background to canals in England
Before the railways came canals provided smoother (though slower) travel than the turnpike roads which were also being constructed. There was canal mania by the end of the eighteenth century with some very successful projects and some less profitable ones. The Grand Union canal linking London with Birmingham was a particular success, the Croydon canal less so although it did provide the route for the subsequent railway.
Life on the canals
People not only worked on the canals; they lived on the narrow boats which were their principal homes. Whole families were brought up in these cramped surroundings of which there is an example we can enter and visit. Even an opera, Puccini’s ‘Il Tabarro’ was inspired by the barge life as was that evocative song ‘La chalande qui passe’.
Canal painting and decorative pottery
A distinctive canal-boat art was developed with special emphasis on flowers and good-luck charms, rather similar to the painting found on gypsy caravans.
Lifting and handling
It was Leonardo da Vinci who invented the modern system of canal locks and projected the first canals in the Lombardy plain under the patronage of the Sforzas. In this respect I am reminded that Milan, too was once a canal city with its navigli. Sadly few of them remain there today since canals’ importance as communication channels came to an end and they were filled in or channelled in concrete tubes to widen roads. (Today, however, there is a plan to reopen several of the submerged Milanese navigli)
Carlo Gatti, the Ice Trade, and Ice Cream production
Gatti, a Swiss-Italian from the Ticino, came to London to seek his fortune which he made by selling Norwegian ice in the days before refrigeration storing them in large ice-holes of which there is an example in the museum. Gatti later, not unsurprisingly branched out into ice-cream production. It is thanks to him that the museum has been able to find housing in his warehouse.
Horse Power
Horses, so often badly exploited and treated, were used to pull the barges along the towpaths although there is an example of a motorised barge tractor later used for the same job in the museum.
The Regent’s Canal (including archive film)
There are some amazing old films about life and work on the canals showing that until the 1960’s canals were still actively used as industrial communication channels,
Boats and Cargoes
There is a good display of models illustrating different types of canal craft some of which derived from the famous Thames barges,
London Waterways Map
It’s a miracle that London still has such an extensive canal network since by the 1970’s so many stretches had become disused succumbed to decay and were used mainly to dump old cars and supermarket trolley into their filthy waters. Of the canals that I remember as a child only the Surrey canal and its Peckham extension have disappeared, filled in to create a park in many areas, This canal, incidentally was supposed to continue as far as west London but funds ran out.
One of the most charming aspects of the museum is its opening to the canal basin on which it is situated, a branch of the Regent’s canal. Here we were able to enjoy elevenses seated by waters inhabited by a friendly coot and by several colourful narrow-boats for now happily the canals have evolved from being channels of thriving industry, through watery wastelands of city debris to their resuscitation as corridors of recreation, wild life habitats and ecological environments.
More information on the museum is available at: https://www.canalmuseum.org.uk/visit/