The Ragged School Museum is a museum in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The museum was opened in 1990 in the premises of the former Dr Barnardo's Copperfield Road Ragged School.
The Ragged School Museum is housed in a group of three canalside buildings which once formed the largest “ragged” or free school in London.
We have also recreated a Victorian East End Kitchen from the 1900s, demonstrating what life would have been like in a simple, one-room home with no electricity or running water.
The museum has several gallery areas, a reconstructed Victorian Classroom and a Victorian East End Kitchen displaying its own collection of historical objects, all designed for hands-on inspection. This is a museum where you can sit at the school desks, use the tin bath and experience what life was like for the Victorian poor of the East End of London.
Access
Step-free access to the Ragged School Museum is provided from the entrance at 50 Copperfield Road.
The ground floor of the Museum is accessible, including a disabled-access toilet and the Museum shop.
When the Museum is open to the public on Wednesdays, Thursdays and the first Sunday of the month, step-free access to the Museum cafe is available from the Regent’s Canal towpath. See ‘Opening Hours’ for more details.
The first and second floors of the Museum are accessible by staircase.
