Portland Basin Museum – an unexpected surprise
It’s amazing what is on your doorstep – and what you never go to see – because we all tend to travel to be tourists, rather than be local tourists. However, when my mum visited from Cornwall she went to the Portland Basin Museum in Ashton-under-Lyne, Tameside and urged us to take a look too – and we were delighted that we did.
First of all, it’s free of charge – always a pleasant surprise – and there’s lots for kids to do too. It’s housed in a renovated warehouse at an important canal crossroads and tells us all about the history of the towns that make up Tameside. It’s not dull, worthy stuff – it’s got a real street scene with a ‘two up two down’ house, a chippy, a pub, a church and a grocers – with real furniture, clothing and shop goods from the past and, in some cases, great audio telling a tale of the time.
In the downstairs section is history of the industry in the area – the coal mining, the farming, the advent of factories and cotton production together with hat and glove making. Again, there’s interactive sections, different displays, photographs and lots of fascinating information. There’s also a mini cinema about the local transport – canals, railways, trolley buses and the like. Some of the footage shows local towns from years gone by – and it’s amazing what you see and remember, even as a little kid from those times.
There’s a lovely little cafe/bistro and you can sit outside on a sunny day. There’s also a leisure trip to take on a barge down the canal. All in all, it’s a lovely way to spend a few hours, learn about the history of the surrounding towns and realise that we don’t half have it easy these days.