Warrington Museum & Art Gallery

Warrington Museum & Art Gallery
Entrance to museum
Location	Bold Street, Warrington, Cheshire, England
Coordinates	53.3871°N 2.5959°W / 53.3871; -2.5959
OS grid reference	SJ 604 880
Built	1855–57
Built for	Warrington Corporation
Architect	John Dobson
Governing body	Culture Warrington
Listed Building – Grade II
Designated	4 April 1975
Reference no.	1161270
Location in Cheshire

Warrington Museum & Art Gallery is on Bold Street in the Cultural Quarter of Warrington in a Grade II listed building that it shares with the town's Central Library. The Museum and the Library originally opened in 1848 as the first rate-supported library in the UK, before moving to their current premises in 1858.[1] The art galleries were subsequently added in 1877 and 1931.[2] Operated by Culture Warrington,[3] Warrington Museum and Art Gallery has the distinction of being one of the oldest municipal museums in the UK and much of the quintessential character of the building has been preserved.

Architecture

The museum and art gallery were built between 1855 and 1857 to a design by John Dobson. The building is constructed in brick and stone and is in two storeys. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade II listed building, having been designated on 4 April 1975.[4]

Collections

The museum's collection was originally based upon the collection of the Warrington Natural History Society but it has since grown and now includes a wide range of subjects such as ethnology, egyptology, geology, Roman Britain, pottery/ceramics, botany, fish, amphibians, reptiles, the Civil War, local industries, birds and mammals, and glass.[5] The building also houses a collection of around 1,000 paintings, (oils, watercolours and prints) from the 19th and early 20th centuries, many of which are on display in the mezzanine Art Gallery on the 2nd floor. One of the most famous works in the collection is Between The Tides (1901) by Walter Langley, acquired in 1966. On the first floor there are two temporary galleries, one large and one small, which frequently display travelling exhibitions and the work of local artists and events relating to the community.[6] One exhibit which has received some public attention is the Warrington seal, which was shot in Paddington Lock in 1908, then given to the Museum. In 1999 James Dickinson repaired the mount, giving it new whiskers "rescued from an old tiger".[7]

Since 1885 the museum has been home to the mummy of an Egyptian male teenager.[8]

Notable staff

• Arthur Deane, FRSE, Assistant Curator 1901–5[9]

See also

• Listed buildings in Warrington (unparished area)
• List of museums in Cheshire

References

1. Warrington Library, accessed 2013-05-51
2. Art Guide [1] Art Guide.org, accessed September 2008
3. Culture Warrington website, accessed December 2012
4. Historic England, "Museum and Art Gallery,Warrington (1161270)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 12 April 2015
5. Warrington Museum & Art Gallery - Collections, accessed 11 July 2012
6. Warrington Museum & Art Gallery - What's On, accessed 11 July 2012
7. Dunning, Gareth (23 February 2020). "The story of the town's most famous animal". Warrington Guardian. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
8. Dunning, Gareth (11 July 2022). "Museum's most famous pieces". Warrington Guardian. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
9. "Former Fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783 – 2002" (PDF). Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. Retrieved 22 December 2019.

External links

• Warrington Museum & Art Gallery