Museum of Wigan Life

About Museum of Wigan Life

”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).HistoryWigan Public Library (1878–1990)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. Read more

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