Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester

Liverpool Road Castlefield Manchester M3 4FP Tel: 0161 832 2244

The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester was established in 1969 as the North Western Museum of Science and Industry and moved to its present site in Castlefield in 1983. Housed in the buildings of the former Liverpool Road Station, the world's oldest passenger railway station, and an adjacent Victorian market hall, the Museum currently comprises 15 themed galleries. The galleries include the Power Hall, the Air and Space Hall, the Xperiment hands-on science centre and Underground Manchester, with its walk-through reconstruction of a Victorian sewer. The Fibres, Fabrics and Fashion Gallery features historic textile machines, which are demonstrated regularly, and a range of other textile-related material and artworks. The Collections Centre provides access to the Museum's reserve collections, which include Arkwright documents, the Perkin dyestuffs archive, the Owen Ashmore Photographic Collection, and a collection of trademark printing blocks and fabrics relating to the West African trading activities of Paterson Zochonis.