Opened in 1874 as one of the first purpose built free museums outside London, Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery houses a fascinating collection including fine art, decorative art, Egyptology, coins, manuscripts, natural history, social history and South Asian culture.
This beautiful Grade II listed building is internationally renowned for its unique collection of coins, manuscripts and books gifted by local notable Robert Edward Hart (1876-1946), unmatched by any public collection outside London.
The Museum now houses an eclectic mix of modern displays focusing on Hart’s treasures, the history of Blackburn, the Egyptian mummy, Japanese prints, fine and decorative art and the Bowdler collection of world beetles. It also incorporates the Lewis Textile Museum, a fascinating collection of machines and memories from Blackburn’s heyday as a major player in the cotton industry.
As befits a town mostly built on the Industrial Revolution, the Museum’s social history collection is spread across three galleries – the ‘Cottontown’ Gallery spotlightsthe town’s industrial heritage, while the ‘Skill and Labour’ gallery focuses on the town’s social history after 1750, and the ‘Early History Gallery’ looks at Blackburn’s early development from the Iron Age until the 1750s.
Blackburn Museum is open Tuesday to Saturday from 11am to 5pm, and is just five minutes’ walk from the Bus Station – head for King William Street and go straight on to Museum Street – the museum is on your right.
Travel to Blackburn by Route 1 from Bolton and Darwen, Routes 2/2A from Chorley, 6&7 from Accrington, Valleyline 22 from Clitheroe, Hotline 152 from Preston and Burnley, and Irwell Line 481 from Bury and Rawtenstall.