Canal & River Trust Where history comes alive ‘Inspiring’ ‘Amazing’ ‘Hidden’ ‘Fascinating’ ‘Fun’

Where history comes alive • Anderton Boat Lift in Northwich • Gloucester Waterways Museum • National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port • Standedge Tunnel & Visitor Centre in Marsden • The Canal Museum at canalrivertrust.org.uk Visit one of the Standedge Tunnel & Visitor Centre National Canal & River Trust’s Waterways Museum Manchester inspiring museums and Liverpool open a window onto one of the greatest achievements Anderton Boat Lift The Canal Museum of Britain! Birmingham

Gloucester London In an increasingly fast-paced and crowded world, Waterways the Canal & River Trust’s historic canals, rivers, Bristol Museum museums and attractions provide a local haven for people and nature.

The canals and rivers that we look after Our museums and attractions offer you an authentic, unfenced, ‘no are the perfect way to get a glimpse turnstiles’ opportunity to interact with into this world: history, wildlife and nature first-hand. And as well as the 2,000 miles of • Anderton Boat Lift in Northwich canals and rivers that are often over • Gloucester Waterways Museum 200 years-old, we are responsible • National Waterways Museum Loyalty card: for an enormous network of bridges, at Ellesmere Port Collect a stamp each embankments, towpaths, aqueducts, • Standedge Tunnel & Visitor Centre time you visit one docks and reservoirs alongside in Marsden of our museums everything else that makes up our • The Canal Museum at Stoke Bruerne and attractions – and wonderful waterways. when you’ve got the To plan your visit please see our website lot swap this leaflet for admission charges, opening times, for a special gift! and for details about special events. Key Canal & River Trust waterways

For general site accessibility please contact individual sites with details of your particular requirements before your visit. Anderton Boat Lift Anderton Boat Lift canalrivertrust.org.uk/anderton-boat-lift

Address: Coffee shop Lift Lane, Anderton Gift shop Northwich Car park (P&D) Cheshire Special events: From CW9 6FW circusology and falconry T: 01606 786777 display to art exhibitions. E: [email protected]

The Anderton Boat Lift in Northwich in the heart of Cheshire is one of the seven wonders of the waterways.

The massive iron framework, And don’t forget… to follow the a masterpiece of high Victorian Anderton Boat Lift Inspector’s Trail engineering, lifts canal boats 50ft which leads you around the boat between the River Weaver and the lift and neighbouring Northwich Trent & Mersey Canal – and the trip Community Woodlands. boat gives visitors the chance to see this from the inside! @Andertonlift /Anderton.lift Board our special trip boat – after taking a look around the visitor centre to learn the story of the lift – and our live commentary will take you into Did you see? the heart of the lift and illuminate the engineering. Stay on board the boat for Edwin Clarke trip boat a unique look at the industrial heritage The weight maze ‘a masterpiece of Northwich, a town which has made Panoramic viewing platform of high Victorian its living on salt for 2,000 years. Visitor centre Play area engineering’

To plan your visit please see our web page for admission charges, opening times and for details about special events. Gloucester Waterways Museum canalrivertrust.org.uk/gloucester-waterways-museum

Address: Shop Waterways Museum Llanthony Warehouse Car park (P&D)

The Docks Special events: Gloucester Gloucester Including canal cruises GL1 2EH April to October and family T: 01452 318200 events all year round. E: [email protected]

Gloucester Waterways Museum is a fantastic place for a family day out, set in a magnificent Victorian dock complex on the edge of one of the country’s classic city centres.

With its stunning location, beautiful And don’t forget… a 45 minute boats and rich and varied displays canal trip on Queen Boadicea II, a hero Gloucester Waterways Museum of the Dunkirk evacuation in WWII. is perfectly placed to tell the story of Britain’s waterways and @gloswaterways provide insights into the history of /GloucesterWaterwaysMuseum Gloucester’s impressive docks.

Stretching up into an imposing warehouse and surrounded by canal Did you see? craft, the museum tells the story of the canals and their links to the huge The Queen Boadicea II Severn Estuary, with galleries packed ‘Legging’ through a tunnel with intricate models, hands-on Roses & Castles display ‘a fantastic displays and real working engines. Fully restored working steam dredger And look at the ingenious workings of Hands-on working miniature lock exhibit place for a the locks and boats on our waterways. family day out’ To plan your visit please see our web page for admission charges, opening times and for details about special events. National Waterways Museum canalrivertrust.org.uk/national-waterways-museum

Address: Boat trips South Pier Road Waterside cafe & shop Ellesmere Port Ample free parking Cheshire Special events: CH65 4FW Don’t miss the Easter T: 0151 355 5017 Boat Gathering. E: [email protected]

The National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port showcases the history of the canals and the lives Waterways Museum and times of the people who worked on them. National

Set on the banks of the mighty And don’t forget… to visit the Manchester Ship Canal and the River stables and learn how horses were Mersey, the museum is set in a glorious originally used to tow narrowboats collection of canal warehouse, stables along the canal before the invention and workshops, with spectacular of the steam engine. double locks taking boats through the heart of the museum on the @NWMuseum Shropshire Union Canal. /NationalWaterwaysMuseum

A collection of canal boats can be Did you see? seen at the museum, with several open for visitors and you can even The blacksmith’s forge see historic vessels being restored Porters Row Cottages in the boatyard. And the atmospheric The pump house Porters Row cottages show how life A cormorant, wagtail or swan ‘a glorious would have been for the families who The Heritage Boatyard worked around the docks. collection…’

To plan your visit please see our web page for admission charges, opening times and for details about special events. Standedge Tunnel & Visitor Centre canalrivertrust.org.uk/standedge-tunnel

Address: Boat trips Waters Road Watersedge coffee/gift shops Marsden Free car park at HD7 6DH Huddersfield Special events: HD7 6NQ Family fun days, craft and T: 01484 844298 arts fairs, Halloween and more. E: [email protected]

Standedge Tunnel is the longest, highest and deepest canal tunnel in the country, a barely believable shaft of light hacked through the living rock of Marsden Moor by the Industrial Revolution’s bravest and brawniest men.

Just over three miles long, the And don’t forget… to take a short tunnel takes the Huddersfield boat trip into the tunnel and visit the Narrow Canal under the moors, craft artists working in the loft space nearly 200 meters under the of the visitor centre. Standedge Tunnel surface at one point and nearly & Visitor Centre 200 meters above sea level. @Standedge /Standedge The Visitor Centre tells the remarkable story of the tunnel, the Did you see? canal, the men who drove the canal under the hills and the men who Standedge Boat forced the boats through it – right Watersedge coffee shop ‘longest , through to the no less remarkable The leggers commemorative stone story of the restoration of the tunnel The Blacksmiths Tools highest and and the return of boat traffic. The tunnel end reservoir deepest canal

To plan your visit please see our web page for admission charges, opening times and for details tunnel in the country’ about special events. The Canal Museum ‘a magical place’ canalrivertrust.org.uk/the-canal-museum

Address: Car park (P&D) Stoke Bruerne Cafe Towcester Gift shop Special events: NN12 7SE Don’t miss our great T: 01604 862229 Village At War event. E: [email protected]

The Canal Museum is a true hidden gem nestled in Northamptonshire in the heart of the country. The village is a magical place where the cuts its way through between houses, pubs and the old corn mill where you’ll find the museum.

Follow the story of Britain’s canals And don’t forget… to allow from the engineers and navvies who time for a stroll around the created them, to the boat families, chocolate‑box village itself leggers and lock keepers who lived and wander up the towpath to and worked on the cut. the mouth of .

You’ll find models of working boats, @Stoke_Bruerne traditional clothing, canal crafts, /Stoke-Bruerne-Canal-Museum a re‑creation of a carpenter’s and blacksmith’s workshop, beautiful old Did you see? signs and more. Joey the horse The Canal Museum The Museum Shop is always full of Blisworth Tunnel interesting items, including bespoke The blacksmith’s workshop souvenirs, painted canal ware and a The working lock in the village centre comprehensive range of canal books. ‘Sculptor’ working boat

To plan your visit please see our web page for admission charges, opening times and for details about special events. Canal & River Trust museums and attractions have much more to offer – contact us to find out about:

School visits Group visits Canal & River Trust museums and All our museums and attractions offer attractions make wonderful learning special group visit deals. opportunities for school visits, both guided and unguided. We offer free Moorings planning visits for teachers; if you would Visiting boaters are very welcome at all like to book a visit or discuss your our museums and attractions – moorings requirements please contact the individual are available nearby or in some cases, museum or attraction. actually in the museums. Check for details at canalrivertrust.org.uk/mooring – or contact the museum or attraction.

Conferences All our museums and attractions have meeting facilities and can accommodate Canal & River Explorers conferences large and small in Visit us online for resources, unique surroundings. activities and challenges. For everyone interested in Weddings learning about canals and rivers: Have your big day at a location canalriverexplorers.org.uk none of your guests will ever forget!

For more information contact us at [email protected] Visit our website at Connect with your canalrivertrust.org.uk to great-great grandparents keep up to date with all the latest museum and The National Waterways Museum at attraction events, news Ellesmere Port is also home to the national archives, comprising thousands of and look out for apps, priceless documents, records, blueprints, trails, competitions and photographs and more from all across the more coming soon. UK’s canal and river heritage. A goldmine for historians and invaluable to people researching their family history on the waterways, the archives are available to visit by appointment. Access to the archive is free but must be by prior booking of a minimum 24 hours Contact our archives on 0151 373 4378 Get involved as a volunteer

All our museums and attractions have opportunities to get involved, whether you’re looking to get hands on with history, meet new friends, or boost your CV. @canalrivertrust /canalrivertrust Visit canalrivertrust.org.uk/volunteering to find out more. Become a Friend

The Canal & River Trust is responsible You’ll also receive regular updates on what for conserving, restoring, and enhancing, your support is helping to achieve and 2,000 miles of canals and rivers in to welcome you as a new ‘Friend’ you’ll England and Wales as well as maintaining receive a specially produced Cool Canals – museums, attractions and heritage archives ‘Weekend Walks’ book. we need your support, today. Call our supporter care team wearebwa.co.uk

By becoming a Friend of the Canal & River on 0303 040 4040 or Trust today, you will be helping to conserve, visit canalrivertrust.org.uk/friend to protect, enhance and educate people about find out more or become a Friend today. design by the waterways.

© Canal & River Trust is a charitable company limited by guarantee registered in England & Wales with company number 7807276 and charity number 1146792. All information correct at the time of printing – please visit the museum and attraction websites

for the latest information on admission charges, opening times and special events. January 2013