Welcome to Wilderspin School

Our 2026 season begins on Thursday 2 April:

New opening times: Thursday – Saturday 10am – 3pm

New School Holidays Admission price: £1 per person – adults & children

 
 

News

 
 
Access information for visitors with specific needs.  Click here for details.

JOSEPH WRIGHT HALL

CURRENT EVENTS

Easter Bunny Hunt

Find the Spring rabbits around the museum to earn a bunny of your own to take home – along with a picture to colour.

£1.50

Crafty Kids

Grab the colours and glue and make something nice to take home for Easter.

11am – 3pm, Free

Swedenborgianism and Samuel Wilderspin

Discover how Samuel Wilderspin’s Swedenborgian faith shaped infant school methods in the early 1800s.

Dr. Sarah Odhner explores these links and why they had to be hidden in the early nineteenth century.

1.30pm – 3.30pm, Admission £4. Pre lecture refreshments & viewing of the Wilderspin Infant School from 12.30pm.

Waterside Memories

Pop in to our Chatty Café and share your childhood memories of Waterside in Barton, and St. Chad’s School.

10.30am – 12.30pm, Free (refreshments on sale)

Displays

Displays

Discover the story of Samuel Wilderspin and see the unique Infant Schoolroom and Playground that he designed in 1845.

The Wilderspin Story
Schools Programme

Schools Programme

Our Schools Programme has been developed to provide children with an exciting way of engaging with the history of Victorian school life.

Schools Programme
History of the School

History of the School

Learn about Samuel Wilderspin and the Wilderspin National Schools and how his innovations gradually transformed schooling for children of all ages.

Wilderspin History
BECOME FRIENDS WITH
WILDERSPIN NATIONAL SCHOOL
Find Out More