London Canal Museum

London Canal Museum London's museum of inland waterways and the former ice trade in an old waterside former ice warehouse
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The museum is open Tuesdays to Sundays and Hank Holiday Mondays 10.am to 4.40pm, last entry 4.0pm

The 40th Angel Canal Festival is tomorrow, and here is where to find us.We will be in Graham Street Park, N1 8EZ, with o...
05/09/2026

The 40th Angel Canal Festival is tomorrow, and here is where to find us.

We will be in Graham Street Park, N1 8EZ, with our stand, our knowledgeable volunteers and our 1960 Wickham tractor. The same park has Punch and Judy, the Hackney Community Orchestra, London Pride Morris Dancers, Chicken Shed Theatre's 'Tales from the Shed', face painting and a basketry weaving workshop. The café is run by the Friends of Graham Street Gardens. Toilets are by the gate, including one for disabled visitors.

The festival started in 1986 as a back garden party to save City Road Basin as an amenity for the local community. Forty years on, it is still free to attend.

Sunday 6 September, 11 am to 4 pm.
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Our tug, Bantam IV, built in 1949-1950 by E.C. Jones and Sons of Brentford, is looking shiny and new after a repaint. Ou...
03/09/2026

Our tug, Bantam IV, built in 1949-1950 by E.C. Jones and Sons of Brentford, is looking shiny and new after a repaint. Our thanks to specialist painter Will for his work. Maintaining our collection is vitally important to the museum, and when the collection item floats, it's always an interesting piece of work!

Unexpectedly got an afternoon free in Bloomsbury? The British Museum closes at 1 pm today, Wednesday 2 September 2026, ...
02/09/2026

Unexpectedly got an afternoon free in Bloomsbury? The British Museum closes at 1 pm today, Wednesday 2 September 2026, for a private event. Find a different part of British history a little further north at the London Canal Museum, open until 4.30 pm.

Piccadilly line, one stop north from Russell Square to King's Cross St Pancras, then a short walk to New Wharf Road. We tell the story of London's canals and the cargoes they carried.

Stand over two Victorian ice wells, dug for the Swiss-Italian ice merchant Carlo Gatti between 1857 and 1863. They're 42 feet deep and you look straight down into them from our ground floor. Gatti's ice came from Norway by ship, then by canal boat to the basin outside our front door. We haven't found another commercial ice well of this scale that you can access anywhere in the UK.

Also in the building: half a narrowboat you can sit inside, built in 1935 by Harland and Wolff, who also built the Titanic. A life-size horse called Henrietta in her stable upstairs. And Bantam IV, a 1950 tug, moored on our wharf.

Adult £8, child £4, family £17, and carers go free.

Opening times and directions are on our visit page: canalmuseum.org.uk

Our Wickham tractor is coming out of the museum.It doesn't leave often. On Sunday 6 September it will be in Graham Stree...
02/09/2026

Our Wickham tractor is coming out of the museum.

It doesn't leave often. On Sunday 6 September it will be in Graham Street Park for the 40th Angel Canal Festival, alongside our stand and our volunteers.

Tractors like this one replaced the horses on London's towpaths. The first experiments with tractor haulage were carried out on the Regent's Canal in 1925, the same canal the festival takes place on. Ours is a 1960 Wickham, built by Wickhams of Ware with a Lister diesel engine and designed specifically for canal work. Three are thought to survive. Ours is the one kept in working order.

Join us on Sunday 6 September, 11am to 4pm. Free entry. Find us in Graham Street Park, N1 8EZ.
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September's book of the month is from our volunteer Sally: A Canal People: The Photographs of Robert Longden, by Sonia R...
01/09/2026

September's book of the month is from our volunteer Sally: A Canal People: The Photographs of Robert Longden, by Sonia Rolt.

'This unique collection of photographs by Robert Longden captures the daily lives and traditions of working boat families in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Thanks to Longden's friendship with Sonia Rolt, who had worked on narrowboats during and after WW2, his remarkable images have been collated to provide an intimate, honest record of this lost way of life, enhanced by the 'insider' insights of Rolt's accompanying text and captions. First published in 1997, this is a canal classic.'

The families in Longden's photographs raised children in cabins the size of the one you can step into at the museum: Coronis, our half-narrowboat, on our ground floor.

Pick up your copy in our bookshop 📚 We are open Tuesday to Sunday

Want to be the first to hear about our upcoming events, exhibitions, museum news, book recommendations and more? 📩 Subsc...
31/08/2026

Want to be the first to hear about our upcoming events, exhibitions, museum news, book recommendations and more?

📩 Subscribe to our 'London Canal Museum News' email updates here: https://f.mtr.cool/62ucabj0ab

When signing up, we'll ask you to confirm your subscription via email - please keep an eye out for this in the hour after filling in the form.

Sunday 6th September is the 40th Angel Canal Festival, and it's looking to be another great event.We'll be attending wit...
30/08/2026

Sunday 6th September is the 40th Angel Canal Festival, and it's looking to be another great event.

We'll be attending with a stand in Graham Street Park, and our experienced volunteers will be on hand to talk about canal history. We'll also have our original 1960 Wickham diesel tractor, used on the waterways, then acquired for the museum collection in 2013. Our tractor doesn't get out much, so this is a good opportunity to see it outside of the museum.

There is always a good variety of stalls at this free event, and don't miss the many children's activities too.

Learn more: https://f.mtr.cool/feax8bw26p

It's our last Family Fun Day of the summer — this Tuesday, 25th August, at the London Canal Museum.Tuesday's theme is fi...
22/08/2026

It's our last Family Fun Day of the summer — this Tuesday, 25th August, at the London Canal Museum.

Tuesday's theme is fish weaving 🐟 Start on the water with a canal trip on Long Tom to St Pancras Lock and back, then head upstairs to the workshop. Every child picks a metallic fish and weaves their own design in bright, coloured thread — a different pattern from every person who picks it up, and something handmade to take home.

Boat trip spaces are limited.
Children £5.50 · Adults (16+) £10.50 (includes boat trip and craft activity)
🎟️ Book: canalmuseum.org.uk/whatson/family-fun-days.htm

🏛️ Explore London’s canal history for free this SeptemberOn Monday 14 and Tuesday 15 September, we’re opening the London...
20/08/2026

🏛️ Explore London’s canal history for free this September

On Monday 14 and Tuesday 15 September, we’re opening the London Canal Museum free of charge for everyone as part of Heritage Open Days.

Housed in a Victorian icehouse in King’s Cross, the museum tells the story of the canals that helped London grow and trade, the people who lived and worked on them, and the engineers and navvies who built them.

You can also discover the history of the goods carried by canal, including ice, which was once stored in huge underground ice wells beneath our building.

📅 Monday 14 & Tuesday 15 September
🕙 10 am – 4.30 pm
🎟️ Free entry for all visitors
📍 London Canal Museum, King’s Cross

As an independent charity with no public funding, we usually rely on admission charges to help keep the museum open. Standard adult admission is £8.

For these two days, however, we want to give everyone the opportunity to discover this part of London’s history for free. If you live locally and have wondered what’s inside, this is a great time to visit.

Donations are very welcome from anyone who would like to support the museum, but there is absolutely no obligation to give.

We look forward to welcoming you!

Something for families this Tuesday: Fish Weaving Family Fun Day at the London Canal Museum. 18th August 🐟The day starts...
15/08/2026

Something for families this Tuesday: Fish Weaving Family Fun Day at the London Canal Museum. 18th August 🐟

The day starts on Long Tom, a canal trip to St Pancras Lock and back. Then into the workshop, where every child picks a shiny metallic fish and starts weaving. Bright thread, your choice of colours, your own pattern. The finished piece is yours to keep.

A few boat trip spaces are still available.
Children £5.50 · Adults (16+) £10.50 (includes boat trip and craft activity)
🎟️ Book your place: canalmuseum.org.uk/whatson/family-fun-days.htm

Address

12-13 New Wharf Road
London
N19RT

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 10am - 4:30pm
Thursday 10am - 4:30pm
Friday 10am - 4:30pm
Saturday 10am - 4:30pm
Sunday 10am - 4:30pm

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