Good Museums near the Cut
For many discerning travellers a holiday is not complete without some cultural activity, to improve, entertain and educate. Tourists in England revel in the enormous number and variety of heritage ric
h sites, which criss-cross the nation. Nearly every village and town in the country boasts at least one site worth a peek, be it a Church, Stately Home, battlefield or museum. There is a watery link to our cultural jewels in the unique living heritage of the Inland Waterways.
British museums of all shapes, sizes and types, focusing on the good, the bad and the ugly; will get their moment in the limelight, during “Museums Week”, which bizarrely runs from 1st May to 4th June.
An unusual way to celebrate this cultural activity is on a hotelboat cruise.
One of the pleasures of narrow boating is to arrive in cities by the backdoor. Once you have arrived instead of just cutting another notch on a list of places visited, take the time to explore. The typical tourist honey pots are probably worth visiting, but boaters are an inquisitive lot so why not try out some slightly more unusual museums.
The following are some of Nigel Hamilton’s, favourite museums within easy reach of the waterways, lumped together in no particular order!
Last updated in August 2007.
For narrow boat moorings details please see the Towpath Shopping list.
The Northamptonshire Museum
In the centre of Northampton, close to the town hall, is this excellent small museum with typical range of Art, Natural History and local history exhibits.
Northamptonshire Museum’s main claim to fame is the largest collection of shoes in the world; Imelda Marcos would be in seventh heaven! There are even boots for an elephant.
Good mooring on River Nene above the first Nene Lock, almost outside a large Morrisons Supermarket.
If you are going on the Nene watch out for the FREE EA pump-out in Northampton below the First Lock!
The Museum will take 1 to 2 hours, rating 5/10. Free Admission.
Nantwich Museum
Small museum in the centre of Nantwich, with history of the town and its role in the salt and chemical industries. Small section on the canals.
Good moorings approx. ¾ mile away at Nantwich canal centre.
The Museum will take ½ hour, rating 4/10. Free Admission.
Aylesbury Museum
Small award winning museum in the centre of Aylesbury, deals with the history of the town and natural history in an ultra modern way.
Next-door is the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery. Admission charge.
Good secure moorings approx. ¼ mile away in the town centre run by the Aylesbury Canal Society, who are very friendly and helpful.
The Museum will take 1hour, rating 5 /10. Free Admission.
National Museum of Packaging and The Gloucester Regiment Museum.
Two further interesting museums in other buildings at the Gloucester Docks.
The Gloucester Regiment Museum charts the history of this famous unit from its early battles till Korea when a battalion held off an entire Chinese Army, and suffered very heavy casualties.
A stirring 1½ hours is needed. 7/10 rating. Admission Charge.
The next door, National Museum of Packaging, is a large collection built up by an individual, of lots of famous brands. A real nostalgia trip, into an earlier era.
Admission Charged, Large car park.
The National Museum of Film, Television and Photography
In Bradford city centre this large museum is well worth a visit.
It has sections on how cameras work and their history, mock up TV studios, several photography galleries and contains an IMAX cinema one of only three in the UK. Totally refurbished in 1999.
Straight in front is the Bradford Film Theatre, which is a two-screen art house.
Allow 2 hours. 8/10 rating. Admission free.
Chester Zoo
Close to the Shropshire Union just north of Chester, the Zoo is one of the best in the country with lots of space in the animal enclosures.
The elephants and the primates are particularly worth seeing.
Great half day for the kids. Open all year. 8/10. Admission charge
Shugborough Hall
On the Trent and Mersey at Great Haywood. Good mooring nearby, watch out for the bats at nights.
A large stately home still lived in by Lord Lichfield but owned by the National Trust. House an impressive classical interior and beautiful furniture and paintings. The separate Museum of Staffordshire Life is housed in the stables.
The beautiful landscaped park grounds are free.
Allow 2 hours 8/10. Admission charged to the house.
Hampton Court Palace
On the River Thames, good free but popular moorings beside the Queen Mother’s Gates.
The Tudor palace was built by Cardinal Wolsey and then acquired by King Henry VIII, magnificent interiors with a very large art collection. Various themed trails help visitors make sense of the Palace and its collections.
Do not miss the Tudor Real Tennis Court, the Kitchens, the huge vine and the famous Maze- hilariously described in Jerome K Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat.
Allow half a day, 8/10. Admission charged. You can pay for tickets to all or part of the Palace. The large landscaped grounds are free to visit. Good gift shops.
The Commandery
Canal-side in Worcester, the impressive building is largely 15th Century Elizabethan, and was the royalist headquarters at the decisive Battle of Worcester in 1651. Owned by English Heritage.
Allow 1 hour, 6/10. Admission Charged
The British Road Transport Museum
Moor in the Coventry Canal Basin, 5-minute walk to this large motor museum housed in a disused bus garage. There are several hundred cars, motorbikes, bicycles, buses and lorries mostly built in Coventry and spanning the history of road transport.
See how elegant cars used to be.
The museum also contains The Coventry Blitz Experience, Thrust 2 the World’s fastest car and the national cycle collection.
Allow 2 hours, 7/10. Admission Free.
The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester
Moor outside the YMCA in Castlefields on the Bridgewater Canal.
The large museum complex is devoted to science and industry in one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution. Boiler suited volunteers in a large hall smelling of warm oil and metal polish lovingly tend the working steam engines.
It has a large collection of working steam engines, Railway locos, Manchester built cars, and galleries devoted to Gas, Textiles and a Sewer experience!
The adjacent Air and Space museum has planes and helicopters including a rare Shackelton, admission is included in the price.
There is a children’s gallery, and the Museum also contains the oldest railway station in the world!
Surprisingly there is no Inland Waterways section at present.
Allow half a day, 9/10. Admission charge
The Pitt Rivers Museum
The Univer
sity Natural History Museum has the amazing Pitt Rivers Museum as part of it, which is a 19th century treasure house of display cases stuffed full of fascinating objects from around the world, definitely one of the oddest museums in the UK.
Objects include Amazonian shrunken heads, a bottle containing a witch, African Fetishes, Micronesian weapons and armour made from sharkskin.
Half the objects look like they should feature in an episode of the X Files.
Allow 2 hours, 9/10. Admission free.
Chirk Castle
Moor near the north portal of Chirk tunnel 30-minute uphill walk.
A delightful border castle on the Welsh borders set in rolling park grounds.
The interior is largely a Georgian Stately Home, furnished with period items and pictures.
The staffs are friendly and knowledgeable of this National Trust property.
Allow 2 hours, 6/10. Admission charge.
The British Museum:
A little fur
ther from the cut but fairly close to the moorings in Camden Town and Little Venice.
I have included this wonderful museum because of its magnificent redevelopment of the Grand Court. This completely changes the dynamics of an already world class institution making it easy to move around and giving a place of great tranquillity at the centre.
Visit the famous Reading Room now open to the public and the new ethnographic galleries.
Various exhibits to do with boating in a broad sense i.e. Sutton Hoo, Ancient Egyptian Nile Barge models and kayaks made out of sealskin.
Open year round, tube to Tottenham Court Road 9/10 free admission.
Walsall Art Gallery
Excellent ne
w art gallery in an award winning new building overlooking the revamped basin, with its new wharf side pub.
The collection is mostly from a donation given by the mistress of the Sculptor Jacob Epstein. Housed in a light and airy setting the thematically hung collection spans many eras and artists including Rembrandt, Van Goch, Picasso, Monet, and Epstein.
Located canal side on the Walsall Town Arm of the Walsall Canal, good safe moorings outside.
Free admission, allow 2 hours, rating 8/10.
Black Country Living Museum
Very interesting heritage museum in Tipton- near Dudley- on the BCN.
This large m
useum will take at least half a day to visit.
Lots of period buildings and transport from circa 1920 rebuilt canal side.
The pub has good beer try the mild!
You can actually moor up overnight in the centre of the exhibits.
Adjacent to the site is the Dudley Tunnel Canal trust who operate electric trip boats into a network of tunnels and limestone mines.
Admission charged, allow 4 hours+ rating 9/10
Try the link to: http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/
THE BEST KEPT MUSEUM SECRET IN BRITAIN
The National Art Collections Fund is the second biggest funder of art purchases for museums in Britain after the Arts Council, donating several million pounds per annum. If you enjoy going to museums or are coming to the UK on holiday you will save a large amount on admissions that can cost over £10 per visit.
To become a member costs £ 24 per year, - less for senior citizens-and entitles you to unlimited free admission to over 200 museums and discounts at some others.
Call 020-7225-4800 for details.
Free admission to:
The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester,
The Roaul Dahl Children’s Gallery,
Chirk Castle,
And among many others:
Mostly free- some reduced price:
The Tate Gallery,
The V & A,
Imperial War Museum,
Museum of London,
Natural History Museum,
Science Museum,
Tower of London,
Kew Palace,
Kensington Palace,
Hampton Court Palace,
Osborne House,
Osterley Park,
RAF Museum Hendon
The Royal Armouries Leeds,
The Royal Naval Museum,
Ironbridge Gorge,
Fitzwilliam,
National Railway Museum,
Yorkshire Museum.
H & H now trades as a consultancy and training company, provide a unique range of services to the Inland Waterways, Marine Tourism, UK Hospitality and Mediation sectors . The company still continues but no longer directly operates hotelboats.
To find out more please click on this link