Wigan Museum — Attraction in Wigan

The Museum of Wigan Life is a public museum and local history resource centre in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The nineteenth-century listed building is by the noted architect Alfred Waterhouse. It originally housed Wigan Library, where George Orwell researched his book The Road to Wigan Pier in 1936.

The museum works with other museums in Greater Manchester as part of the Greater Manchester Museums Group (GMMG).

The building which now houses the Museum of Wigan Life was designed by Alfred Waterhouse and opened in 1878 as the town's first public library. Its construction was funded by mill owner Thomas Taylor and Dr Joseph Winnard, who each bequeathed £12,000. Dr Winnard's donation paid for the library's books, and portraits of the benefactors remain on display at the museum. Built on the site of Wigan Grammar School, the library was opened on 7 May 1878. A Grade II listed building, the architecture is largely in Elizabethan Revival style, embellished by some Gothic features such as its red brick arches.

On opening, the library comprised two main floors. The ground floor contained an ornate entrance hall, lending library and newsroom, whilst the first floor incorporated a reference library and the corporation's Public Library Committee meeting room. A third floor, later used for storage and later still as a staff rest-room, accommodated the custodian or caretaker-cum-security officer's flat. The librarian of the reference department was Henry Tennyson Folkard 1850-1916) who compiled a Catalogue of Books in the department (13 pts. 1890-1918) and various catalogues for particular subjects.

After eight months of discerning book acquisition –nationally renowned specialists were consulted on the selection of new books– the reference library totalled 15,300 volumes and the lending library 6,808. In response to the popularity of the newsroom where current newspapers and periodicals were held, an annexe was built in 1892.

In 1990, due to an increasing need for space, the library was relocated to the New Town Hall, on site of Wigan Mining and Technical College. In 1992, the newly formed Wigan Heritage Services opened the History Shop in the old library with intentions of hosting travelling (temporary) and in-house (permanent) exhibitions and the Wigan local history collection, parish registers and census returns in a study/research area on the first floor.

Initially, the History Shop shared the building with the Wigan Careers Service which moved out in 1995 and Wigan Heritage Services took over the entire building. Funding –a total of £260,000– came from the National Lottery and Monica Whickham, last surviving daughter of Wigan vicar William Whickham. In honour of the donation, the art gallery by the Library Street entrance was renamed the Whickham Gallery.

The History Shop was closed in 2009 for a £1.6million refurbishment, to be reopened as the Museum of Wigan Life. £500,000 of Heritage Lottery Fund money was matched by Wigan Council and Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust for the building's redevelopment, which involved extensive internal and external restoration. The roof was re-tiled, whilst the ground floor exhibition space was renovated to focus on aspects of Wigan life and culture. New features included an extra staircase, family study area and a refurbished reception area, meeting room and shop. The museum was formally opened by Mayor of Wigan Michael Winstanley on 1 July 2010. In its first six months of operation, the renovated building saw...

With time on my hands in Wigan for a morning, I sought out the only museum listed in the town centre (the excellent Wigan pier museum from my childhood is no more apparently) so I followed maps and discovered the low key entrance on a side road. First off, it is small. If you're hoping to kill a few hours here, heck an hour, you'll probably be disappointed (unless you're researching family history/genealogy in the excellent library part). In a room the size of a standard McDonald's, over half of the display space is given over to Wigan musical heritage, particularly Northern soul. If you are a fan, and Wigan Casino is/was your mecca, then you will find a lot of material and exhibits here to bring back memories. It is a fascinating peep into this facet of the local story. The rest of the small space quickly runs through several other subjects, Egypt - fascinating but brief, the civil war (which I found interesting) and feels all to brief and rushed as an afterthought to the northern soul. The staff are warm and friendly, knowledgeable and are probably the best thing about the museum. If you have half an hour to spare or if you are a fan of Northern soul,...

Good local museum, well worth a visit if you're in town and have a little time to kill. I took my two boys aged 6 and 12 to the museum during a half term holiday. They both enjoyed it for half an hour to 45 mins, their favourite part being the part where you can dig through fake dirt to find fragments of a pot which can then be assembled on a nearby template. It feels like an eclectic mix of articles, with exotic items that were gifted to the museum by local aristocracy and not the pie dishes, rugby shirts and lumps of coal I expected. The attendant on the desk was welcoming, and they obviously had some kind of activities going on for children, although mine kept their distance. My only negative comments are that some of the coins on display seemed to have the wrong labels and I would have happily made a donation if there was a box to drop it into, but I didn't see one. As said before it's worth a visit if you're in the area and it's completely...