This is how you get to know Nottingham's canals - from a centre outside Nottingham. - Jonjon explores Canalside Heritage Centre

“Canalside Heritage Centre”

(Beeston)

The “Canal Museum” of Nottingham has been closed for decades, and all that’s left is a colourful sign standing across the train station. But not all hope is lost, for in Beeston there’s this community museum that persists on (seven days a week by the way, an impressive feat considering its scale) to keep the history available to anyone who has some time between 9:30 and 4:30.

The emphasis here is on the Beeston Lock and Canal, built 1796 to connect with Nottingham’s. As you walk from room to room, a timeline on the wall will show you both canal’s history all the way from the rise of dockland transportation of the eighteenth century until 2017, the year the centre opened.

See for yourself: “Canalside Heritage Centre”

(You’ll also realize these little attempts to be family-friendly: just below the timeline is a children’s story featuring a dog and a duck travelling downstream meeting friends and objects along the way.)

Just when you’re about to get downstairs back to the gift shop and next to the staircases is this mysterious room. Here, a lonesome TV mumbles on with the history of the neighbourhood, with photos and footages and a sound level low enough to not disturb any passerby’s. Why here? How does it fit with the rest of the exhibition? Why so low-keyed?

Small attractions are often full of cryptic narrative and enigmatic design like these. Which is what makes them so interesting.


When you feel like life is too short, come join my 25-min museum tour. Or find yourself in my novel, check out the photo of the day and finish it off with a secret prize.

Tags - in_depth_tourism; museum; London_writer; London_travel; indie_writer; independent_blogger