The Island Warehouse was built in 1871 as a store for grain.
Walk aross the floating pontoon bridge today and you'll enter our display How to build a boat. Explore the history and development of boat & canal building through the years using touch screen computers and interactive displays.
Watch archive film of the spectacular launch of a narrow boat, find out about the importance of 'ice breakers' on canals and see rich displays on history of the crafts and skills of canal boat makers.
Up stairs, find out what it would have been like to work on the canal as a boat or dock worker in our exhibition Life on the Cut. Plus a special display on the history of the Manchester Ship Canal.
Look out for...
Boats of all shapes and sizes from a coracle to a canoe and from a gleaming leisure cruiser to the beautiful narrow boat 'Friendship'.
Our soft-play area upstairs where younger children can have a go at building their own narrow boat.
