Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery
Museums & Science Centres · Blackburn, Lancashire
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Closed — Closed for essential maintenance; reopening 10 November 2026 (venue website)
🏠 Indoor0–11–33–55–88–1212–16Educational🆓 Free entry
What’s there
- On-street parking only
- Baby changing
Access & inclusion
- SEN friendly
No museum car park listed. Short-stay (1 hour) pay and display bays on Richmond Terrace and Museum Street, plus pay and display around the town centre and above the Mall shopping centre (venue Visit page).
Only facilities we’ve confirmed are listed — anything missing here we simply haven’t checked, rather than know to be absent.
A town museum housed in a listed Victorian Gothic building on Museum Street, first opened in 1874. Families can explore a mix of collections that suits curious children: an Egyptology gallery, Japanese woodblock prints, icons, coins and manuscripts, natural history specimens, and displays on Blackburn's cotton and weaving past. The museum offers free family resources such as creative trails and object handling boxes, and a free Saturday art club for young people who enjoy making things. Schools and groups can book taught learning sessions. The ground floor has an accessible toilet and family toilets with baby changing, and ear defenders can be borrowed from the visitor handling boxes. Lifts serve the upper floors, so the galleries can be visited at a child's own pace.
Questions parents ask
- Is the museum manageable with a buggy and children of different ages?
- We haven't confirmed whether buggies are easy to manoeuvre through the galleries, but baby changing facilities are available. The collection spans fine art, Egyptology, natural history and social history, so there is variety to suit different ages from baby upwards.
- How long should we plan to spend here?
- A typical visit duration is not recorded, but the museum houses a rich collection across multiple galleries and floors, so you may want to allow at least a couple of hours to explore without rushing.
- Is there anywhere to eat at the museum?
- We haven't confirmed whether there is a café on site, so you may want to check ahead or bring a picnic.
Stuff to take with you
The things people wish they’d packed for a day out like this one.
Refillable water bottleMost places will fill it for free.
Snacks that survive a rucksackCheaper than the café, and buys you twenty minutes.
Wet wipes
Small first aid kitPlasters solve more days out than anything else here.- Wet bagFor whatever comes home soaked.
- Portable highchair harness
- Pram blackout coverA nap on the move is a whole extra hour of day out.
Food pouches
Boiled sweets for the carEars on hills, boredom on motorways.
Sticker book
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Photos: 維基小霸王, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Renée Kools, CC BY 4.0 · Éverton Eduardo Lisbôa, CC BY-SA 4.0
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