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.
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
The 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.
The 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.
Two 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)
Allerdale Borough Council
