10 social history visits for British politicos

1. New Lanark (Lanarkshire)
2. The Robert Owen Museum (Montgomeryshire)
3. The People’s Palace (Glasgow)
4. St Giles’ Cathedral (Edinburgh)
5. The People’s History Museum (Manchester)
6. The International Slavery Museum (Liverpool)
7. Cable Street (London)
8. The Holocaust Memorial Garden (London)
9. The British Library (London)
10. The Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum (Dorset)

Obviously most LabourList readers think of this Saturday as part of the countdown to polling day but on the off-chance your organiser is letting you get any friends and family time this holiday weekend, here are ten places you might want to visit.

If you asked most people to guess the location of the world’s first workplace nursery, they’d probably say somewhere in the idylls of Scandanavia, but Scotland beat them to it with the progressive powerhouse that is New Lanark. The brainchild of co-operative pioneer Robert Owen, New Lanark gave workers decent housing, safe conditions, access to free education for their children, and life-long learning through the splendidly named ‘Institute for the Formation of Character’. You can delve into more of his history at his very own museum.

It’s not far from New Lanark to gallus Glasgow, where you can find The People’s Palace with exhibits commemorating the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders work-in, the Scots in the International Brigades and many more key moments in Scottish Labour movement history. Over in Edinburgh, St Giles’ Cathedral has a sculpture commemorating the legend of stall keeper Jenny Gedes starting a religious rebellion by flinging her stool in opposition to the introduction of the Book of Common Prayer.

There’s a great celebration of working class history to be found in Manchester’s People’s History Museum and a significant exploration of Britain’s black history to be found in Liverpool’s International Slavery Museum.

Winding your way down the country there’s a high concentration of interesting sights in #thatLondon. Cable Street is a good introduction to Britain’s anti-fascist past and The Holocaust Memorial Garden in Hyde Park is a fitting place to reflect on Britain’s liberation of Belsen, the anniversary of which fell this week.

The permanent exhibits at the British Library are also extraordinary, including some receipts from suffragettes for DIY tools necessary for mayhem, and two copies of Magna Carta.

The famous festival isn’t taking place until July, but the Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum is open year-round and there’s some lovely footage of martyr descendants here among some famous Labour faces.

I’m conscious that any list of 10 will necessarily miss off some major sites of importance and that huge swathes of the country are omitted here. Let me know where I’ve missed in the comments or on twitter and have a happy Easter break.

Kirsty McNeill is a former Downing Street adviser and a strategy consultant for campaigning organisations. She tweets @kirstyjmcneill.