The Boatman's Institute, Brentford, Greater London
The Canal Boatman's Institute was built in 1904 for The London City Mission. It was built in an area known as The Butts backing onto the canal. It was designed by architect Noel Parr in an Arts and Crafts style. There were two schoolrooms on the ground floor with living accommodation above. The Boatman's Institute provided basic education, including religious instruction, to the children of boatmen. These children rarely went to school as they were moving around all the time. Two rooms of the living accommodation above were used as a maternity home for boatmen's wives until the National Health Service was set up. Only 5 or 6 examples of boatmen's institutes are thought to exist nationally. It later became a private house.
