The Canal Boatman's Institute was built in 1904 for The London City Mission.

It was built in The Butts backing onto the canal and was designed by architect Noel Parr.

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.

The children rarely went to school as they were constantly moving around.

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 five or six examples of boatmen's institutes are thought to exist nationally. It later became a private house.