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The Copperfield Ragged School
was one of the 144 Ragged Schools that once operated in London. The
Ragged Schools Union, established in 1844, was formed to shelter,
feed, clothe and educate the city's disadvantaged children.
It was hoped that this would reduce juvenile crime in London.
Founded in 1896 by Dr Thomas
Barnardo, this converted Victorian warehouse overlooks the
Regent's Canal, and was one of the largest of the ragged schools. Now
restored, the Ragged School Museum illustrates daily life
as it was in the East End.
The museum's many photographs,
donated by local families from the Isle of Dogs, Bromley,
Bow, Wapping and Limehouse areas, illustrate the East End's
sense of community. The 'History of the East End' exhibition
reveals the working class pulling together during times of
trouble, particularly during the bombing of World War II.
The museum has a reconstructed
Victorian classroom in its original cream and maroon colours,
and it is furnished with wooden desks, slates, chalkboards
and an abacus.
Above the classroom is a reconstructed
1900s kitchen, with a fire range and tin bath for Friday's
bath-time and Monday's washday.
In the summer holidays and the
first Sunday each month the Museum organises free activities
for children.
Temporary exhibitions of local
interest are also held here
Admission free -
donations appreciated
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London
Mile End