History Ashton-under-Lyne, North West England

Museum of The Manchester Regiment

Regimental museum in Ashton Town Hall telling the story of the Manchester Regiment; closed with the town hall, with no reopening date.

Temporarily closed

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Temporarily closed. The museum is closed because Ashton Town Hall, which houses it, is closed. Restoration work has begun, but more funding is needed and the council has not announced when the museum will reopen; a move to the Old Library has been discussed.

About the museum

The Museum of the Manchester Regiment tells the story of the infantry regiment raised in Manchester and the surrounding area, including the six Victoria Crosses won by its soldiers. After earlier years at Ladysmith Barracks in Ashton-under-Lyne, the museum moved into the former Ashton Town Hall in 1987.

The town hall has been closed to the public for about ten years, and the museum has been closed with it. Work on the building has started with levelling-up funding, but the council says further funding is needed before the museum can reopen, and it has not given a reopening date. A council report has raised the idea of moving the museum to the town's Old Library, but no decision has been announced.

In the meantime Tameside's museum service looks after the collection and uses it in education projects. Objects are shown now and then in exhibitions at Portland Basin Museum, and the regiment's archives are held at the Tameside Local Studies and Archives Centre.