The museum occupies, on the bank of Regent's Canal, a former ice house where natural ice from Norway used to be stored; among other things, this ice was used to make ice cream in the Victorian era. The exhibition traces the construction of the English canal system, the ditching of Regent's Canal, different methods of hauling and propulsion, the system's decline in the 20C and its conversion to leisure barges. A film from 1924 shows the life of contemporary boatmen.