Helena Thompson Museum

Workington's local history museum

Where is it?

The Helena Thompson Museum is situated on Park End Road to the east of the centre of Workington. It is well signed off the A66.
Postal address: Park End Road, Workington, CA14 4DE.
You can view a location map.
Links to local transport and roads information are also available.
For more information visit the Helena Thompson Museum website at www.htmworkington.com

When is it open?

Closed Mondays

Tuesday to Sunday 1.30pm to 4.30 pm

July and August

Tuesday to Sunday 10.30am to 4.30 pm

Other times by arrangement

Admission is FREE.

New future for Helena Thompson Museum

WORKINGTON Heritage Group Ltd and Allerdale Borough Council have come to an agreement giving the group of local volunteers responsibility for the management of the town's Helena Thompson Museum. This comes at the end of an intensive period of negotiation and discussion between the two groups.
To enable changes to be made to the organisation and some of the fabric of the building, the Museum closed on the 1st April for approximately one month, although part of the Museum will remain open for the many user groups. Volunteers will supervise the building in the short term, to enable members of the public to visit the Curwen Heritage Theatre's exhibition of costumes, which is currently being held in the main gallery.
Sheila Richardson from Workington Heritage Group Ltd. said: "There are exciting times ahead for the Museum and this arrangement will enable it to move forward in a new and dynamic way.
"One anticipated development is the refurbishment of a room dedicated to the memory of Will Lawrie, the well known Workington chemist, naturalist and photographer. He was the first man to photograph the Lake District's peregrine falcons in their natural environment."
The Workington Heritage Group Ltd is already working closely with Allerdale Borough Council on this project.
Mrs Richardson added: "The management and development of the Helena Thompson Museum is the first step towards the regeneration of Workington Hall. That is the ultimate objective."
The Group, chaired by Irving Scott, is confident that with the injection of support from the private sector and the people of Workington, the Hall can once again become a prestigious venue in West Cumbria.
Phil Crouch, Allerdale Borough Council's Heritage and Arts Manager, added: "All across the north west, local partnerships are being established to secure the future of small community museums. I am very pleased that the Helena Thompson Museum will be able to take advantage of this approach."
The Museum
Helena ThompsonThe building in which the museum is housed was originally known as Park End House. It was left to the people of Workington in 1940 by Helena Thompson, a local philanthropist whose family had been connected to the building from the late 18th century. In her latter years Helena gave away much of her inherited wealth to charitable causes, improving the town's amenities and in founding a maternity ward in Workington Infirmary. In order to form the basis of a museum collection Helena bequeathed the contents of her home, which had been described a few years before her death as one of the loveliest in Workington. In line with Helena's wishes for the museum to be a meeting place for local women, the museum is still used today by groups of local lace makers and women's groups who meet and exhibit regularly.
Workington HallThe Museum is split into five permanent galleries with an additional Exhibition Hall for temporary exhibitions. The five galleries are the Costume Gallery, the Victorian room, The Georgian Room, the Curwen Room and the Long Gallery.
These rooms carry examples of period furniture and costumes, drawings by Helena Thompson, maritime models and a display on local social history.
The Clifton DishTwo of the most impressive objects in the collection are the large scale model of Workington Hall, the historic seat of the Curwen family, and The Clifton Dish.
"The Clifton Dish, which was made in the first half of the 18th century and gives clues to the links between West Cumbria and the Staffordshire potteries"

The Collection

The original collection at the Helena Thompson Museum reflects the interests of the family, and their way of life in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and certain subjects in which Miss Helena Thompson was particularly interested. The collection consisted of costume and textiles; antiques and curios; family possessions; portraits and domestic chattels dating from the second half of the eighteenth century. The collection has grown over the ensuing years particularly in the last decade with a broadening of the scope to include particularly local trades, industries, and domestic and commercial life in the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A significant photographic collection has been acquired and is currently being catalogued, a large part of this collection is available for the public to view and purchase prints.

Inventory project commissioned

A grant from the Museums Libraries and Archives Council North West will enable a comprehensive inventory of the contents of the Museum to be undertaken.  This process is being led by Paul Webb, Membership Secretary of the Museum Registrars Group, with support from Philip Crouch, the Councils Heritage and Arts Manager, and the Workington Heritage Group.  The work will be completed by October 2005.  Manchester, Leicester and Newcastle Universities all of which run post graduate Museum Studies courses have been alerted to the opportunity that this project offers students.

Report - Options for Future Operation and Development

In 2003 Allerdale Borough Council commissioned an experienced and independent museum professional, Euan Cartwright FSA, to work with the Council and Museum Volunteers to review the future of the Helena Thompson Museum. His report is a significant piece of work and asks some basic questions about the future of the Museum and the collections it contains.  The recommendations of the report have now been superseded by new plans for the Museum, which are closely tied to the planned development at Workington Hall (see www.allerdale.gov.uk\workingtonhall)

Downloadable Documents

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Adobe PDF format - download the viewerReport - Options for Future Operation and Development (Appendices) in PDF format266 Kb1 min 16 secs @ 28.8k, 38 secs @ 56k
Microsoft Word formatReport - Options for Future Operation and Development (Appendices) in Word format420 Kb2 mins 0 secs @ 28.8k, 1 min 0 secs @ 56k
Microsoft Word formatReport - Helena Thompson Museum Inventory Project in Word format67 Kb19 secs @ 28.8k, 10 secs @ 56k
Adobe PDF format - download the viewerReport - Helena Thompson Museum Inventory Project in PDF format32 Kb9 secs @ 28.8k, 5 secs @ 56k
Adobe PDF format - download the viewerReport - Options for Future Operation and Development in PDF format43 Kb12 secs @ 28.8k, 6 secs @ 56k
Microsoft Word formatReport - Options for Future Operation and Development in Word format99 Kb28 secs @ 28.8k, 14 secs @ 56k

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Contact Information

For more information please contact Helena Thompson Museum.

Telephone Number 01900 64040

last updated Monday, March 17, 2008