Museums

Cheshire Military Museum

This museum is dedicated to The Cheshire Regiment, The Cheshire Yeomanry, The 3rd Carabiniers, The 5th Royal Iniskilling Dragoon Guards and several other small Cheshire units - some now long retired (often from bigger corps of the Army). Also remembered is the important role of the women of the Regiments and the lives of those who were left behind when the men left home to fight. Don't miss the museum's newly expanded shop, with a range of gifts for all the family.

Chester Grosvenor Museum

The Grosvenor Museum is Chester's biggest collection of local and international history. Discover 2000 years of life spread over three floors of a classic 19th century building. Visit the Grosvenor Museum to see the most impressive collection of Roman tombstones, along with fascinating displays that build a picture of Roman Chester. Watch out for the Roman soldiers along the way! And after you spent time in the museum, visit 20 Castle Street, a town house which takes you back to home life from the 17th century to the 1920s; including a Victorian kitchen, a Georgian drawing room, a nursery and even a fully fitted Edwardian bathroom.

Port Sunlight Village

Port Sunlight is the picturesque 19th century garden village founded by William Hesketh Lever for his soap factory workers, now a unique architectural and social history attraction. In line with his ideas on prosperity-sharing, the building maintenance and upkeep of the village was subsidised with a portion of the profits from Lever Brothers Limited. With his own money, Lever financed the church, technical institute and the Lady Lever Art Gallery. Lever took great pleasure in helping to plan this picturesque garden village and he employed nearly thirty different architects to create its unique style.

Lady Lever Art Gallery

This is a treasure-house of 18th & 19th century English paintings & sculpture, 17th-19th century English furniture, Wedgwood pottery and Chinese porcelain. The gallery contains notable pictures by Reynolds, Gainsborough & Burne-Jones and watercolours & drawings by Turner & Constable.

Birkenhead Tramway & Wirral Transport Museum

It was in Birkenhead in 1860 that Europe's first tramway was established, running from Woodside to Birkenhead Park. This early system was horse-drawn and was the brainchild of flamboyant American, George Francis Train. The tramway was electrified in 1901 and continued to operate throughout the town until it's eventual closure on 17 July 1937. By this time the petrol engine bus had taken over all routes.

The trams you will ride on today may look and sound old but in fact they are fairly new! They were built in Hong Kong in 1992 with a U.K. chassis gauge specification, painted in original Birkenhead Livery. The design is a 1948 pattern and the vehicles approximate to the type common on the streets of Britain in the Forties and Fifties. You may take a guided tour of the Heritage Centre housing a collection of restored and part-restored local buses and trams, and vehicles working for Wirral Museums. Now also showing items from the Baxter Collection of cars, motorbikes and motor accessories, formally on show at the Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, and a model railway layout.

Open: Saturday & Sunday only 1-5pm. Except during School Holidays.

Easter, Spring Half Term and Summer: Wed - Sun 1-5pm. Open Bank Holidays 1-5pm (except Christmas/New Year).

Williamson Art Gallery & Museum

This purpose built Art Gallery was opened in December 1928 and housed the vast majority of Birkenhead's collection of artistic masterpieces in a series of varied and well proportioned galleries.

On permanent display are Victorian oil paintings, English watercolours, Liverpool Porcelain and Della Robbia Pottery. Also found are a range of collections from local history and ship models to fine decorative arts. Open all year Tuesday to Sunday 10am-5pm, closed Mondays except for Bank Holidays.

Birkenhead Priory & St Mary's Tower

This Benedictine Monastery established in around 1150, is the oldest standing building on Merseyside. First restored over a century ago the site continues to develop with museums displays, education/meeting/concert space and a chapel dedicated to HMS Conway (open by appointment). Climb the tower of Birkenhead's first parish church, now also a memorial to those who lost their lives aboard the submarine Thetis, and experience the magnificent views up, down and across the Mersey to Liverpool.

Wirral Museum

The Wirral Museum, formally the Birkenhead Town Hall is one of the finest Georgian Squares in the country. Hamilton Square was the dream of William Laird, the great shipbuilder. He wanted a fine square to be the centre of his Birkenhead, city of the future. Between 1825 and 1844 the elegant houses around the square were constructed, with the area between Brandon Street and Mortimer Street earmarked as the site for the Town Hall.

The restored interior is a splendid example of Victorian architecture. Apart from the stunning council chamber and it's anterooms and the mayors parlor, the building includes the Assembly Rooms, containing a gallery and fully fitted theatre, cinema and concert hall. Additional exhibits include the Wirral Silver and Mayoral collections, and a collection of Della Robbia pottery, for which the town of Birkenhead is famous.

Open all year Tuesday - Sunday 10am-5pm (includes all Bank Holidays).

Merseyside Maritime Museum

Telling the story of Liverpool's seafaring heritage and the merchant navy. The Merseyside Maritime Museum tells the history of one of the world's greatest ports and the people who used it. For many it was a gateway to a new life in other countries. For others, its importance to the slave trade had less happy consequences. From slavers to luxury liners, submarine hunters to passenger ferries, discover Liverpool's central role in centuries at sea.