An Inland Voyage: Photography exhibition at the National Waterways Museum reveals life on the canals

1st April 2011

Categories: Modern History News

The atmospheric photography exhibition, An Inland Voyage, will be on show at the National Waterways Museum from Friday 22 April until the end of June. 

The event will celebrate the stunning work of Robert Longden, depicting working life on Britain’s inland waterways during the 1940s and 50s.

The exhibition, which was previously at the Coventry’s Herbert Art Gallery and the Gloucester Waterways Museum is now making its way to the National Waterways Museum. The photographs of Robert Longden will be on public display, showcasing the black and white images that reveal the remarkable photographic accomplishments of a Coventry factory worker.

During the late 1940s and early 1950s Robert Longden documented an intimate history of a working life which has now disappeared, providing a unique insight into the realities of life afloat in the post-war period. The photographs record the narrowboat people he encountered, befriended and recorded for posterity, catching the moment of transformation that saw canals change from being industrial thoroughfares to locations for leisure.

Collections Manager Peter Collins said: 'The exhibition is fantastic and a really exciting opportunity for the museum. It gives visitors an insight as to what narrowboat life was like during the late 40s and 50s – Longden really captured the essence of narrowboat life which we try so hard to recreate at the museum.'

The 43 photographs have been carefully restored for the exhibition by Longden’s great-grandson Stephen Pochin. A photographer himself, Pochin retraced his great-grandfather’s footsteps, travelling the towpath to record this area as it is today. His colourful shots make a marked contrast with Longden’s brooding, images of a smoky industrial landscape.

 An Inland Voyage: Life on the Coventry and Oxford canals, curated by Stephen Pochin in collaboration with the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry, will be on display at The National Waterways Museum from Friday 22 April.

Over the summer a collection of some of the works from the exhibition will be exhibited at the Canal Museum at Stoke Bruerne

The National Waterways Museum, at Ellesmere Port, is home to the national collection of historic working boats, some of which visitors can board to explore and find out how the working boat people used to live.