Talk: the canal before the railways

Name: Talk: the canal before the railways
Start: 2026-11-19T19:00:00+00:00
End: 2026-11-19T20:30:00+00:00
Location: Canal Hall

How Quay Road was built for the barges, with photographs from the library’s own boxes.

Canal Hall in the late afternoon, chairs set out under three tall arched windows.

When: Thursday 19 November, 19:00–20:30
Where: Canal Hall
Cost: Free
Booking: None needed: just come

For eighty years before the railway came, everything Northbank ate, burned or built with came up the canal. Quay Road was the wharf: the library was a grain office, Canal Hall the lock keepers’ union.

Local historian Pat Ellery shows photographs from the library’s own boxes, most of them never shown before, and asks you to bring your own. Tea from 18:30.

Also on

10:00–16:00Advice desk: housing and debtAdvice desk · FreeRent, arrears and notices. No appointment.
9:30–12:30Work morning: bulbs and the last squashLock Gardens · FreePlant 600 bulbs along the wall and bring in the last of the squash.
13:00–16:00Repair caféCanal Hall · FreeBring a lamp, a toaster, a coat or a bike. Fix it with us.
14:00–14:45Story hour for under-fivesLibrary · FreePicture books and songs on the rug, with Mei-Lin.