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
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)