Gloucester Waterways Museum is housed in a Victorian warehouse at Gloucester Docks in the city of

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is located along the

Gloucester and Sharpness Canal The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal (also known as the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal) is a ship canal in the west of England, between Gloucester and Sharpness; for much of its length it runs close to the tidal River Severn, but cuts off a sign ...

and

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

. It is one of several museums and attractions operated by the

Canal & River Trust The Canal & River Trust (CRT), branded as in Wales, holds the guardianship of 2,000 miles of canals and rivers, together with reservoirs and a wide range of heritage buildings and structures, in England and Wales. Launched on 12 July 2012, the ...

, the successor to

The Waterways Trust The Waterways Trust was an independent registered charity, established in 1999, that worked with partners to see the waterway network in England, Wales and Scotland supported, valued and enjoyed by a wide audience. The Trust was formerly registe ...

History

The museum opened in 1988. Formerly known as the "National Waterways Museum, Gloucester", it was one of three museums operated by the Waterways Trust that focussed on the history of

canals Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or river engineering, engineered channel (geography), channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport watercraft, vehicles (e.g. ...

in Britain. The museum went through extensive refurbishments between 2007 and 2008, adding new galleries. In the summer of 2010 the Gloucester site was renamed the Gloucester Waterways Museum, focussing on the local area. This meant that the museum could apply for funding of a different type from the types that were available to national museums. The museum features a collection of boats including

narrowboat A narrowboat is a particular type of canal boat, built to fit the narrow locks of the United Kingdom. The UK's canal system provided a nationwide transport network during the Industrial Revolution, but with the advent of the railways, commerc ...

s, river

barges Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

, canal and river tugs, and a steam-powered

dredger Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

. There is also a

steam crane A steam crane is a crane powered by a steam engine. It may be fixed or mobile and, if mobile, it may run on rail tracks, caterpillar tracks, road wheels, or be mounted on a barge. It usually has a vertical boiler placed at the back so that ...

and heavy oil engine in the setting of a canal repair yard, which is complete with working machine shop,

forge A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to th ...

and weighbridge, and a

hydraulic accumulator A hydraulic accumulator is a pressure storage reservoir in which an incompressible hydraulic fluid is held under pressure that is applied by an external source of mechanical energy. The external source can be an engine, a spring, a raised weight ...

. The museum uses modern interactive techniques and hands-on exhibits, including a model of a section of a canal with working locks.

Building

The Gloucester Waterways Museum is part of Llanthony Warehouse, Gloucester, built in 1873. Designed by

Capel N Tripp Capel may refer to: People *Capell, surname, includes a list of people with the surnames Capel and Capell *Capel (given name), includes a list of people with the given name Capel Places England *Capel, Kent, a village and civil parish near T ...

, for local corn merchants, Wait, James & Co. It is a six storey red brick building, with a slate roof and stone lintels and sills. The warehouse would have been used for storing timber, grain and alcohol. The building was designated Grade II

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

status on 14 December 1971 and was converted to become the National Waterways Museum in 1987.

References

External links

Gloucester Waterways Museum
- Canal & River Trust
Friends of the Gloucester Waterways Museum
{{Buildings and structures in Gloucester Museums in Gloucester Canal museums in England Grade II listed buildings in Gloucestershire Gloucester Docks