Video – Stratford’s forgotten museum needs new home for amazing model of town’s canal

A RALLYING call has gone out to save the final masterpiece by someone whose unique model-making talent captured scenes of Stratford and its transport links in days gone by.

Harry Cowan’s extraordinary depictions of the town filled rooms of his home in Rother Street.

And during the summer months he opened the doors to what he termed the Stratford Railway Museum, delighting visitors with both the detailed models he’d created – and his encyclopaedic knowledge of the town’s history.

Also remembered as a former teacher at the girls’ grammar school, Harry died in May 2022 and tasked his son Will with trying to find a new home for the models.

The one best remembered – the scale model of the present Stratford railway station in 1947 and the first layout you saw as you entered – has gone to the Great Western Society at Didcot, after Will spent nine months dismantling it and producing an 80-page guide of how to put it back together.

It was not just a model of the station but also the surrounding area.

And now Will’s attention has turned to the future of the final scene his father created.

Will said: “Of all the models here I think it is the most important.”

It is of the tramway and canal basins in around 1840 and was only completed during lockdown.

Will added: “This model was particularly difficult to build since there are no existing eye-witnesses or even photos of what was there in the 1840s.

“Research and construction took the best part of ten years working from plans, historical records and even paintings.

“Because he died before opening up the museum for summer 2022, very few people have seen this model and it deserves to be seen.”

The Waterside area of the Stratford of today gives few clues about how industrialised it once was. Harry’s model takes people back to a time when the canal, river and tramway worked together for business, not pleasure.

“It is a unique record of what Stratford used to be like and I think the town deserves to keep it but I am struggling to get anyone to take it,” he added.

“I have contacted a number of organisations in Stratford (and further afield) with historical interests over the last 18 months to try to find it a home.

“However, as yet I have had no takers. Local people I have spoken to have been very supportive but I have reached a dead end.”

So now he is turning to Herald readers to try to save this special model by finding it a new home.

Harry’s Rother Street home – formerly the Stag Inn and with parts dating back to the 16th century – will be sold in due course and the model will be lost if it is not relocated.

The collection of railwayana – signs from Stratford station and the other railway memorabilia which was another striking part of a visit to the museum – has gone to auction so the focus now is on Harry’s last and unique creation.

To find out more or to save it for the town, Will can be contacted by e-mail on: DHCLegacy@outlook.com