Ragged School Museum

The Ragged School Museum is an education museum housed in three restored warehouse buildings beside a canal near Mile End Park. The rooms display how the school for disadvantaged children looked and operated in the nineteenth century, with preserved classrooms and teaching materials.

The buildings served as a school for poor children starting in 1877, where hundreds of pupils studied daily and even more came on Sundays. The school shaped the lives of many families across several decades in East London.

The museum shows how schools in Victorian East London helped poor children and gave them a chance to learn. The preserved classrooms with original furnishings reveal how teaching actually happened back then.

The museum is accessible to visitors on most weekdays, with occasional weekend openings for special events. The buildings have elevators, making them reachable for people with mobility challenges.

The museum invites visitors to use slate boards and quill pens in reconstructed classrooms just as students once did. This hands-on experience gives a direct sense of how different writing and learning felt back then.

Location: London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Inception: 1990

Address: 46-50 Copperfield Road, London E3 4RR

Opening Hours: Tuesday,Wednesday 10:00-17:00; Sunday[1] 14:00-17:00

Website: https://raggedschoolmuseum.org.uk

GPS coordinates: 51.51880,-0.03570

Latest update: December 8, 2025 20:03