London Canal Museum in the
King's Cross area of
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, England, is a regional museum devoted to the history of London's canals.
History
The museum was opened in 1992. It is housed in a Victorian ice warehouse that was used by
Carlo Gatti
Carlo Gatti (1817–1878) was a Swiss entrepreneur in the Victorian era. He came to England in 1847, where he established restaurants and an ice importing business. He is credited with first making ice cream available to the general public a ...
.
The building was constructed between 1862 and 1863 to house ice imported from
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
by ship and canal barge.
[ There are two preserved ]ice well
An ice house, or icehouse, is a building used to store ice throughout the year, commonly used prior to the invention of the refrigerator. Some were underground chambers, usually man-made, close to natural sources of winter ice such as freshwate ...
s under the building, one of which may be viewed from the public area of the museum.
Exhibitions and activities
The museum covers all aspects of the UK's waterways. The main exhibitions in the museum cover the following topics:
* Carlo Gatti and the ice trade
* Social history of canal workers
* Lifting and handling
* The decorative arts of the canals known as "roses and castles"
* Water and Locks - canal engineering
* Boats and Cargoes
* Methods of traction by horses, internal combustion engines, and miniature tractors
* History of the London canals
The museum runs guided trips through the Islington Tunnel. In addition the museum sponsors two boats at the National Waterways Museum, ''Ferret'' and ''Ilkeston'', that are part of the national collection.
Location
The museum is situated in the King's Cross area of London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, on the Regent's Canal. Battlebridge Basin is accessible from the rear of the museum. It is a five-minute walk to King's Cross St Pancras tube station
King's Cross St Pancras (also known as King's Cross & St Pancras International) is a London Underground station on Euston Road in the Borough of Camden, Central London. It serves King's Cross and main line stations in fare zone 1, and is an ...
.
See also
* British Waterways
*London Transport Museum
The London Transport Museum (often abbreviated as the LTM) is a transport museum based in Covent Garden, London. The museum predominantly hosts exhibits relating to the heritage of London's transport, as well as conserving and explaining the h ...
*The Canal Museum
The Canal Museum, formerly known as the "National Waterways Museum Stoke Bruerne" and "The Canal Museum at Stoke Bruerne", is a canal museum located next to the Grand Union Canal just south of the Blisworth Tunnel, near the village of Stoke Bru ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Museums established in 1992
Museum, London Canal
Transport museums in London
Canal museums in England
Museums in the London Borough of Islington
Kings Cross, London