Mile End: The Ragged School Museum, Copperfield Road, E3

Image: © Nigel Cox Taken: 1 May 2008

Ragged schools were free schools, initially established in the late 1860s by Thomas Barnardo to provide poor children in the East End of London with a free basic education. This building, which was originally a lime juice warehouse on the Regent's Canal, which runs at the rear, became the largest ragged school in London when it opened in 1877. It closed in 1908 as schools provided by the local government authorities were opened. After various industrial uses the buildings were saved from threatened demolition and the Ragged School Museum Charitable Trust was established to create a museum to show today's children what life was like in a Victorian school classroom. The Museum opened in 1990 and its website is here http://www.raggedschoolmuseum.org.uk/nextgen/ The distant towerblock is Waterview House, a 1969 built 16 storey structure on Carr Street, arranged into 66 flats. (From a technical point of view this is a fine illustration of how distorted tall buildings can apparently become and appear to lean into the photograph.)

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