All museumed out!

Saturday, 06 June 2009 13:00

The Maritime Museum is by the River Lune, alongside the historic quayside. This area would have been a hive of activity in the Georgian era as Lancaster was at its height in the Atlantic trade and very prosperous.

Georgian Custom House

In the Custom House, built in 1764, the museum gives an overview of Lancaster's Maritime History - the development and decline of the Port. The "Weigh Room" (where goods were weighed and checked) houses a fishing boat called a Whammel, used for salmon fishing. There are models of boats and a display of shipbuilding tools.

The next room is where the officials would wait for the ships to arrive and has a fisherman's cottage kitchen as it would have been in 1925. It had a similar feel to the back cabin of a working narrowboat and was used for "living in".

Upstairs is the Long Room where merchants and captains came to pay custom duties and organise shipments. When we visited it housed an art exhibition.

Leading off this room are the small rooms for custom officials, the most important room being the Collector's room. A certain James Booth was the longest serving Collector - 50 years in charge of the comings and goings on the River Lune.

James Booth with another Booth reflecting!

By the Custom House is the Warehouse (built between 1780 and 1797)

Apart from the history of the Lancaster canal and the Packet Boats there are other exhibits in the Warehouse. It houses an exhibit about Morecambe Bay, the second largest bay in the UK. It was a popular destination for holidays and outings in the late 19th century via the railway and steamers.  Shrimps and cockles were, and still are, one of its most popular products!

Lancaster was also involved in the slave trade. Between 1736 and 1807 Lancaster's merchants transported over 29,000 captured Africans. Sadly some of Lancaster's finest buildings were built with the profits from this trade, as a single voyage could make a man's fortune.

Morecambe Bay is also home to a large gas field, discovered in 1974. The warehouse has a model of a gas platform and exhibits of the associated work and lifestyle of the gas workers.

The Warehouse has a display showing how the goods were loaded on and off the ships using ropes and pulleys. Much of the cargo would have been in barrels. Note the warehouse cat :-)



Outside the Museum, alongside the River Lune there are few remains of the quay. We wandered along the bank on the cycleway and spotted a few mooring rings.

Huge mooring ring (John is a size 12!)

Many of the old buildings have been made into flats and this shows the road from the railway bridge - note the Wagon and Horses pub!

St George's Quay

>>> View Next Post		View Previous Post <<<