You will never go wrong with visiting museums when you travel to Manchester. Being a city in the United Kingdom possessing stunning and astounding architecture and love for its history, Manchester has always been a home to “old but gold” museums. 

What people usually expect when it comes to establishments like museums is a really vast space with many floors, high ceilings and huge walls. Well, it’s a common look for most museums, however, you should not forget that there are also those which are created with a space that’s just fair enough to exhibit significant objects and to accommodate a fairly limited number of guests. 

In Manchester, there are small museums which you can visit, especially if you only have little time to roam around. They are considered “small” relative to the commonly tall and spacious museums you will see in Manchester. Below are 3 of them which you should check out when you travel to this awesome city!

[1] Museum of Transport

A museum on Boyle Street, Cheetham unfolds the history of public road transport in Greater Manchester. From 1824 to present-time, this fundamental facet of the city has been innovating and improving. People have discovered and invented ways to make things enhanced and more convenient when it comes to public transport. In the Museum of Transport, you will better understand these things and more. 

As a collaboration of Greater Manchester Transport Society and Transport for Greater Manchester, Museum of Transport was opened to the public in 1979. With two main buildings (the Upper Hall and the Lower Hall), it is established in one of the first bus terminals in Greater Manchester.

If you are a first-timer in Manchester, it would be a nice experience to know the vintage ways of traveling in the city. With your own experience as a tourist, you can compare how dramatically things have changed in the passenger transport system. It would be a wonderful learning and memory for you to take back.

Some of the sought-after sights in the Museum of Transport include the largest horse bus ever in history! With more than seventy buses and other vehicles, the museum truly educates guests with a real-life encounter and face-to-face information and discovery.

The Museum of Transport is a working museum. Museum volunteers help and work on maintaining it. A number of vehicles displayed are, with all efforts, preserved for restoration so they can be in full working conditions. Refurbished buses are taken care of, so they can be driven on public roadways. Events in the museum are also hosted to give people, both local and tourists, a one-of-a-kind chance to hop on their remarkable means of transport.

For your hungry tummy, a 1960s themed café is within the site. A souvenir shop can be found there as well. You can but transportation figures, toys and other mementos. 

Regardless if your coming from a neighboring restaurant, mall, park or accommodation in Manchester, you can take the bus or the metrolink to the Museum of Transport. Whichever is more favorable and accessible for you to go to the Museum of Transport, choose it.

[2] The Pankhurst Centre

A British political activist and starter of the British suffragette movement is Emmeline Pankhurst. She made an outstanding and noteworthy contribution in history for working hard and helping her co-women to gain the right to vote. The Pankhurst Centre is dedicated to her. It is based on a pair of Victorian villas in Nelson Street. 

At first, you will not immediately know that it is a museum since it simply looks like a house. The Pankhurst Centre is a little museum jam packed with loads of information about Emmeline’s life and battle for women’s voting rights! It is the place where it all began. Meetings of the Suffragette movement happened there, so as you visit the place, it would ve very fascinating to be right there where these courageous people in the past planned and devised strategies and formed campaigns to accomplish their goals for the greater good.

The congenial staff share everything they know about the Pankhurst Centre. Video presentations and clips are also shown. A dress-up spot is there for little kids who want to have fun. Gifts priced affordably are available at the shop too.

With free admission, anybody can drop by The Pankhurst Centre during Thursdays, and sometimes Sundays! It’d be better to give them a call first, so you know when to go.  

[3] Manchester Police Museum

Going deeper and into the more intriguing part of the city’s history, the Manchester Police Museum is absolutely a must-visit! Do not leave the city without stopping by this historic museum in Newton Street!

With its small space, the Manchester Police Museum provides a distinct kind of learning and visualization as you do not just hear what the things are about, but also you are able to step into the rooms where those pasts happened. It is originally a police station which was transformed into a museum where archives and objects are exhibited.

A visit in the Manchester Police Museum would be very interesting! There are makeshift weapons and other police station tools. What’s more, it is still complete with its actual cells. Wowing right? This 1879 police station, now a museum, enables you to enter and feel what it was like to be detained in such in the past.

You will learn about the dark sides of history, given that police stations hold crime cases and other crucial and even confidential matters. There are collections about local policing. Paraphernalia include uniforms, helmets, bags, weapons and also police conveyance.

If you are into solving mysteries and crimes, your skills will also be tried and tested. There are stories of different crimes such as murders wherein the stories are revealed, together with the original weapons and other materials used and involved in the actual scenes. 

All these are interesting, and at the same time, you will get goosebumps while several stories about the police station and the things that happened in the past are unfolded. Knowledgeable and friendly staff are in charge of letting you know these things. Do not hesitate to ask; they are willing to help.

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SMALL PLACES, BIG HISTORIES

Wide museums are truly fascinating! They are popular, not only because of their content but because of their structures! Small museums are unique, and they are advantageous in particular situations such as when you are not the type of person to spend half a day strolling inside an enormous history museum. Unless you are staying in a nearby hotel in Manchester, it wouldn’t be a problem. Moreover, small museums are perfect for your short-time trip in Manchester. Although your time is restricted, still you can finish a museum since it’s not that big to consume a lot of your time. 

Small museums do exist, and they must be equally appreciated just like the grander ones. They carry treasures and precious remembrances of the past, products of advancements at present and envisioned plans for the future. There’s always something unique in small museums, so you better pop in for a visit. 

AUTHOR BIO

Nicole Ann Pore is a daytime writer for PREMIER SUITES Manchester, an ideal hotel substitute composed of elegant serviced apartments suitable for business and leisure stays. Travel and lifestyle make up a big portion of what she mostly writes about. For her, the beauty of this world is worth-sharing and appreciating. She graduated Cum Laude from De La Salle University Manila, Philippines with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Arts.