Ragged School Museum

The lowdown

In a row of old canalside warehouses in the East End is a free museum about the schools that once taught London's poorest children for nothing. Dr Barnardo opened the largest ragged school in the country here in the 1870s, giving free education, food and clothing to children who could never have paid for it.

Newly refurbished, the museum tells the story of East End childhood and poverty, but the heart of it is the recreated Victorian classroom, where you can squeeze into a hard wooden desk, write on a slate and, on some days, sit through a lesson taught by a stern costumed teacher.

It is small, free and genuinely affecting, especially with children, a vivid reminder of how recently a free education was something to fight for. The setting on the Regent's Canal is a quiet bonus.