Kennet and Avon Canal Museum

The story of one of England's great canal restorations, told in the wharf buildings where it all began.

The Kennet and Avon Canal Museum sits in the old wharf buildings at Devizes Wharf, right on the canal basin at the northern end of town. It covers both the original construction of the canal — completed between Bristol and Reading by 1810 — and the extraordinary three-decade volunteer campaign that brought it back from near-total dereliction. The museum is run by the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust, whose members did much of the restoration work themselves.

Exhibits include working models of lock mechanisms, historical photographs of the canal in its working days, and material on the engineering challenges of the Caen Hill flight. The wharf itself is attractive, with narrowboats often moored alongside. The museum is small enough to see in an hour, and it gives useful context before or after walking the towpath to Caen Hill. There is a tearoom in the wharf building. Opening times are seasonal, so check ahead in winter.

things to do museum
A story
The Kennet and Avon Canal was declared officially abandoned in 1955, its locks derelict and its banks crumbling. A group of enthusiasts formed the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust in 1962 and spent thirty years fighting to restore it. The campaign became one of the longest and most determined canal restoration efforts in British history, finally succeeding when Queen Elizabeth II officially reopened the full route in 1990. The museum in the old wharf crane building tells this story alongside the canal's original engineering history.