A-Z of Salford’s Collections at Salford Museum and Art Gallery
Gemma Gibb, Associate Editor
One of our top museums for families, Salford Museum and Art Gallery (which opened in 1850 as the Royal Museum and Public Library) has a tip top new exhibition to showcase the range of its incredible treasures.
Follow the alphabet on a journey from an Ape to the zodiac. Get up close to intriguing items and social history, Victorian and British modern art and Pilkington Ceramics collections (once hand-produced and decorated in a factory nearby).
It’s a great way for families to get an eclectic and enriching overview, not to mention gather some fun facts like how Victorian gentlemen protected their moustaches from tea and which monarch’s stockings reside there.
A highlight of any visit also, is the atmospheric Victorian street installation Lark Hill Place.
Created from many original shop fonts and set at dusk, Lark Hill has such a haunting atmosphere that even the coolest of kids (and grown-ups) will want to explore the street which is full of authentic interiors and curiosities. The shops and houses include a toy shop, music shop, chemist, pub, artisan’s cottage and the printers of the local paper The Salford Reporter.
Brilliant to visit come rain or shine with the vast grasslands of Peel Park on the doorstep, permanent collections, changing exhibitions and welcoming café and shop (which famously sells slates as “Victorian ipads”), we love that this place is such an important part of our history. Said to be the first free public library in England, it is still operating in the same pioneering spirit with its rich mix of free access to history and culture galore today.
