Goole Museum and Garside Archive

A free community museum on the first floor of Goole Library, preserving the maritime heritage, industrial past and social stories of the UK's most inland port.

The museum's founding treasure is the Garside Collection, presented to the town in July 1964 by Harold Garside (1905-1982), a First World War veteran who served with the Army Service Corps in northern Italy before becoming Goole's most celebrated local historian and chairman of the town's Historical Association branch for 25 years. His books, maps, photographs and documents concentrate on the area's history before the 19th century — before the Aire & Calder Navigation Company built the port town itself. Today the museum, run by East Riding of Yorkshire Council's museums service, also holds more than 6,000 photographs of Goole and district donated by the community, and stages four temporary exhibitions each year.

The gallery's Ship Wall displays models of vessels built in or associated with Goole, including Sir Malcolm Campbell's ocean-going motor yacht Blue Bird — built at Goole Shipbuilding & Repairing Co. in 1938 and a veteran of the 1940 Dunkirk evacuation. The museum also holds the largest collection outside the National Maritime Museum of works by Reuben Chappell (1870-1940), Goole's famous 'pierhead painter', who produced more than 12,000 ship portraits for owners, captains and crews. Family offerings include hands-on children's activities and the monthly Salt and Pepper Tots sessions for under-5s (single-source: East Riding Museums website — confirm with museum).