Narrowboat and canal related museums

There are many museums in the UK that address the history of the canals, such as the London Canal Museum at King’s Cross; the museums of the Canal & River Trust, including the National Waterways Museums in Cheshire or in Gloucester and the Stoke Bruerne Canal Museum; and the K&A Canal Trust Museum in Devizes.

Again, search for your canal plus museum. Searching for “Trent Mersey Canal museum” returns a link to the Etruria Industrial Museum. Josiah Wedgwood created his Etruria Works in Staffordshire and Jesse Shirley’s steam-powered bone and flint mills supplied manufacturers like Wedgwood with raw materials. The museum, which is next to the Caldon Canal (a branch of the Trent and Mersey), operates Shirley’s steam engine on certain weekends.

There are probably numerous historic pumping stations, boat lifts, mills and boat yards along the canals that you plan to visit.