Fleetwood Museum facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Fleetwood Museum
Location	Fleetwood, Lancashire, England
Built	1836
Architect	Decimus Burton
Architectural style(s)	Neoclassical style
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name: Wyre Borough Treasurer's and Borough Housing Departments
Designated	31 March 1978
Reference no.	1072398
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The Fleetwood Museum is a cool place to learn about the history of Fleetwood, a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It's also a maritime museum, which means it focuses on ships, the sea, and fishing. The building itself is very old, finished in 1836, and was one of the first buildings ever built in Fleetwood!

A famous architect named Decimus Burton designed it, just like many other buildings in the town. This building has had many jobs over the years. It started as a Customs House, then became the town hall, and now it's a museum. It's so important that Historic England has given it a special status as a Grade II listed building.

A Building's Journey: From Customs to Museum

Fleetwood was a town planned by a local landowner named Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood. He hired Decimus Burton to design the town's layout and many of its buildings. Mr. Hesketh-Fleetwood wanted Fleetwood to be a big port, so Burton designed the Customs House as one of the first buildings. It was finished in 1836.

A Customs House is where officials checked goods coming in and out of the port. In 1876, the building became a private home for Alexander Carson, who even added more to it. He called it "Wyre Holm." The customs offices moved to another building nearby.

Later, in 1889, the building became Fleetwood's Town Hall. This is where the local government, called the Urban District Council, met. It stayed the town's main government building even when Fleetwood became a "municipal borough" in 1933. A municipal borough is a type of town or city with its own local government.

However, in 1974, a bigger council called the Wyre Borough Council was formed in Poulton-le-Fylde. So, the Fleetwood Town Hall was no longer the main place for local government. After that, it was used as offices for the council's money and housing departments. For a short time, it was even a private school! Finally, in 1992, it opened its doors as the Fleetwood Museum.

Because of its history and special design, Historic England officially made it a Grade II listed building on March 31, 1978. This means it's considered "nationally important and of special interest."

What the Museum Looks Like

The Fleetwood Museum is a two-story building. It's made of sandstone and covered with a rough, textured plaster called roughcast lime plaster.

The front of the building has eight rows of sash windows. You can enter the museum through two main doorways, called porticos. Both entrances are at the top of stone staircases. Each entrance has tall columns next to it. The south entrance has round columns, while the north entrance has square ones. Between the two staircases, there are iron railings with cool spear-shaped decorations called finials.

At the very top of the roof, there's a low wall called a parapet. It has fancy iron decorations and more finials on the corners. Below this wall, there's a decorative band and a molded cornice, which is a fancy, projecting ledge.

The Fishing Boat Harriet

One of the special things at the museum is a fishing boat called the Harriet. It's a type of boat known as a fishing smack. This boat was built right in Fleetwood in 1893. In 1998, it was moved to the museum. It now has its own special building behind the main museum. The Harriet is so important that it's part of the National Historic Fleet, which is a list of historically significant ships.

Saving the Museum: Community Efforts

Over the years, the Fleetwood Museum has faced challenges, including threats of closure. In 2006, a charity called the Fleetwood Museum Trust was started. Its main goal was "to save Fleetwood Museum from closure."

In November 2015, Lancashire County Council announced that it would stop funding five of its museums, including Fleetwood Museum. This was because the council faced money problems. The museums were supposed to close in March 2016, but their closure was delayed until September 2016.

Local people and groups worked hard to keep the museum open. Fleetwood Town Council even said they were interested in helping to fund the museum's future.

The museum did close on September 30, 2016, along with the other four museums. However, the Fleetwood Museum Trust and Fleetwood Town Council kept talking with Lancashire County Council. They hoped a community group could take over running the museum.

Good news! The museum reopened on April 14, 2017. Lancashire County Council managed it for a short time until the formal transfer to the Fleetwood Museum Trust was completed. The museum has been open in 2017, 2018, and 2019. In June 2020, it was temporarily closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it reopened again in May 2021.

See also

• List of museums in Lancashire
• Listed buildings in Fleetwood