Manchester Museums

Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester , Liverpool Road, Castlefield, M3 4FP

on the historic site of Liverpool Road Station.  Dating from 1830, this was the eastern terminus of the Liverpool-Manchester railway and the world's first passenger railway station.  The award-winning museum, opened in 1983, charts Manchester's development as Britain's first industrial city and celebrates the manufacturing heritage of the region.  15 galleries housing the permanent exhibitions. Highlights include 'Air & Space', full of planes and flying history, 'Out of this World', focusing on space, and 'Underground Manchester', exploring the city's Victorian sewer system. In the Power Hall, originally a freight shed, large steam mill engines can be seen in action.
Open: daily 10:00-17:00 Closed December 24, 25 and 26 Tel:  0161 832 1830 

Manchester Transport Museum , Boyle Street, Cheetham, M8 8UW

one mile north of the City Centre, at the junction of the A665, Cheetham Hill Road, and the A6010, Queens Road, dedicated to the preservation of public road transport in Manchester, one of the largest and varied collections of its kind. Over 80 historic vehicles and a large percentage are buses from the Manchester area, representing over 100 years of public road transport, from horse-drawn vehicles to the prototype for the Metrolink trams. Also has transport related items - models, uniforms, ticket machines, signage and badges.  Its archives include photographs, maps, plans and company records.
Open: Wed, Sat, Sun and Public Holidays. Closed Christmas and New Year;  Mar- Oct: 10:00-17:00, Nov - Feb 10:00-16.00 Tel: 0161 205 2122

The Pankhurst Centre, 60/62 Nelson Street, Chorlton-on-Mendlock, M13 9WP

tells the story of the fight for equal rights for women.  The modest Georgian house, south of the city centre, was the home of Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Sylvia, Christabel and Adela. In 1903 Emmeline, Christabel and a group of women founded the Women's Social and Political Union (known as the Suffragettes).  They were spurred on after Sylvia had been invited to paint a hall in Salford by a member of the Independant Labour Party but was unable, by virtue of her gender, to attend the opening meeting.  Their struggle, including a campaign of civil disobedience, led to British women being granted full voting rights in 1928. As well as an recreation of the Pankhurst's parlour, there are artifacts from the period. The Centre still works for women, providing resources such as meeting rooms, exhibition space, craft workshops and crèche.
Open: Mon-Thur: 10:00-17:00 Tel:  0161 273 5673

People's History Museum (formerly the National Museum of Labour History),  Left Bank, Bridge Street, M3 3ER

dedicated to the ordinary working people of Britain. It houses the galleries of the National Museum of Labour History, formerly located in the TUC building in Princess Street.  Set in an Edwardian pumping station the collection includes over 300 Trades Unions and workers' groups banners .Exhibits, videos, reconstructions and demonstrations explore the social and political lives of working people over the last 150 years.  Re-creations include the infamous Peterloo Masacre of 1819, the lives of women and children in the Lancashire cotton mills and a 1930s Co-Op shop.  Exhibits detail the Women's Suffrange Movement and the Pankhursts.
Open: Tue-Sun: 11:00-16:.30 Tel: 0161 2839 6061 

Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall Wilmslow Road, Rusholme, M14 5LL

an elegant 18th century textile merchant's mansion set in one of Manchester's parks.  The Gallery of Costume holds one of the finest collections of costume and accessories - clothes worn by men, women and children from the 17th century to today.  With over 20,000 items the museum is also a resource for students and researchers. Due to its great size only a small percentage of the collection can be displayed (in themed displays) at any time.
Open: Tue-Sun and Bank Holidays, Mar-Oct: 10:00-17:00 and Nov - Feb: 10:00-16:00 pm. (Closed Mon). Tel:  Ring 0161 224 5217 to check opening times before visiting. 

The Manchester City Experience, Museum & Stadium Tour,  Sportcity, Rowsley Street, M11 3FF

at the new City of Manchester Stadium, home to Manchester City Football Club. Founded as St Mark's in West Gorton, Manchester, in 1880, the club adopted the name Manchester City in 1894.  A fire at their Hyde Road ground in 1921 resulted in the team moving to a stadium at Maine Road in Moss Side in 1923.  Following the 2002 Commonwealth Games the club inherited the City of Manchester Stadium as their home in 2003.  The Experience combines the year history of Manchester City FC with a tour of the City of Manchester Stadium, including the Director's Box, dressing room, players' tunnel, pitch side and dugouts.
Open: daily (except match days) by guided tour only.  Tel: 0161 438 7824 or 0870 062 1894 to book. 

Greater Manchester Police Museum, Newton Street, M1 1ES

an unusual museum in former Newton Street Police Station, which was used from 1879 until 1979.  The Victorian building retains the original charge office and 12 cells.  Covering 150 years of policing in the city, the displays include police vehicles, uniforms and equipment with galleries dedicated to crime, forensic science, forgery and international policing. Itcontains the archive collection of the Greater Manchester Police, including official records, personal memorabilia and photographs.  Opened in 1981, it is staffed by a team of volunteers, mainly retired police officers. 
Open: Tue: 10:00-15:30, other times by appointment Tel: 0161 856 3287 

Heaton Park Tramway Museum,  Tram Depot, Heaton Park, Prestwich, M25 5SW

a working tramway museum shows the history and development of trams in the area from Victorian horse-drawn trams to the City's new Metrolink Rapid Transit Tramway system.Collection of trams, exhibition displays, photographs, artifacts and working models.  Museum shop. The Heaton Park Tramway is 0.75 km in length and developed from a restored section of the siding off the Manchester Corporation system on Middleton Road.  In the summer a vintage tram car operates to the boathouse area in Heaton Park.
Tel: 0161 740 1919 for further details

Manchester Jewish Museum, 190 Cheetham Hill Road, Manchester M8 8LW

relates the history of Manchester's Jewish community from 1740s to today.  Photographs, documents, objects and room settings illustrate the lives of the individuals who arrived in waves of immigration, largely as the result of European wars and anti-Semitic progroms. The memories of inhabitants from the early 20th century can be listened to on telephone handsets.  Opened in 1984, the museum is located in the former Spanish and Portugese Synagogue, the oldest surviving synagogue in Manchester.  Dating from 1874, it has been restored with the ground floor having Moorish decoration and fine stained glass windows, still looking like a synagogue and containing elements carefully restored or remaining from the original, including the Ark and the Torah Scroll.  The ladies' gallery upstairs houses the permanent collection, while an extension (once used for the Festival of the Tabernacles) is used for exhibitions.
Open: Mon-Thur: 10:30-16:00, Sun 10:30-17:00.   Closed Sat and Jewish holidays Tel:  0161 834 9879. 

Manchester Museum, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, M13 9PL

offers visitors the chance to explore the world.  15 galleries, over 4 floors, contain collections from all over the globe.  These include one of the largest collections of Egyptian artifacts in the country.  Ethnology collections from South America, aquarium, zoology, botony and entomology (insects), collection of fossils and minerals and the new Science for Life exhibition.
Open: Mon: 11:00-17:00, Tue- Sat: 10:00-17:.00; Sun and Bank Holidays 11:00-16:.00 Closed on Good Friday. Tel: 0161 275 2634