Find the answers to these questions and enjoy a great family day out at one of the many Modern History museums in the North West. Download your Discovery Pass for money saving offers and claim your free pack of Top Trumps cards.
Unearth the stories that have shaped the modern world. With events and exhibitions for everyone…
OK, it probably came from a high street store which probably imported it from overseas. But that tee-shirt would not have been on that shelf in that shop if it hadn't been for the business brains of the North West in the 19th century. England's North West led the way in textile manufacturing - cotton spinning, silk weaving, hat making. The towns and cities that you see in the North West today were built from the vast wealth created by our textile industries. And did you know that in the 1980s half of all the UK's blue jean manufacturing was done in Preston?
Put yourself in the shoes of twelve year old Esther Price, who dared to run away from the Apprentice House where she lived with the other child millworkers. And find out where that tee-shirt really started out - right back to where the cotton plant grew in the first place! Plan your visit
Visit the last working steam-powered weaving mill IN THE WORLD! When the Mill opened one of the workers climbed to the top of the mill chimney and played a cornet solo! And never mind King Cotton, did you know this was a location for The King's Speech? Plan your visit
Flying shuttles, spinning jennies, dobbies, mules, thumping stocks, water frames… could it be a 19th century theme park? The mills at Helmshore - one built for woollen cloth, one for cotton - have turned into a very 21st century museum that guarantees a good time for all the family. Plan your visit
Or, to put it another way, why doesn't the 0726 from Manchester Airport to Blackpool go choo-choo anymore? Steam, that's why - or the lack of it. It's all to do with heat and pistons and what happens when you stoke the furnace to heat the water to create the steam… sooty, hot, noisy - lovely! And what happens when you let off steam - Choo! Choo! And it didn't just pull trains - it powered mills and fuelled ships too. Today's power may be cleaner, quieter and faster - but it's not nearly as beautiful!
See how steam works at MOSI, where you can really get in amongst the massive engines and see all the moving parts up close and personal. And there's a lot more to MOSI - ipads, nuclear fusion games, walk-through sewers and mindblowing Morphis rides! Plan your visit
A choo-chooly great day out! Meet Hilda the Steam Roller at Bury Transport Museum, then board the steam train to Rawtenstall where the kids can let off steam while you enjoy a steaming cup of coffee in the café at Helmshore Mills Textile Museum. Plan your visit
Take a magical, wildlife-packed trip from the Cumbrian coast into the foothills of the spectacular Lake District fells along the famous La'al Ratty railway line. Or have a day out with Thomas the Tank Engine on the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway. Plan your visit
How on earth did we manage? Well, apart from Shanks's Pony, we had horses, not only to ride but also to pull barges, carriages, buses, carts and narrowboats. High in the Lakeland fells they had to be even more inventive to transport mined slate. Then there were goods trains, passenger trains, trams that trundled along the seafronts at Blackpool. Then we had bicycles - dangerous, daring and definitely not for the ladies! Even more daring was the motorcycle - every young man's dream machine! And you saw it here first - the first electric tramway, first passenger railway station, the first boat aqueduct and the first boat lift, to name but a few North West firsts.
A little bit of heaven in Leyland, home of British truck-making. For everyone who ever cherished a matchbox car, hopped on board a Routemaster bus just for the thrill of the ride or dreamed of being a truck driver or a fireman when they grew up! Plan your visit
If you always thought engines were just noisy, smelly, dirty - think again! At the Anson Engine Museum you can find out just how beautiful, quiet, rhythmical and musical an engine can really be -and so shiny you can even do your make-up in front of them! Plan your visit
Location, location, location - the Ashton Canal Warehouse was built at the junction of three canals, making this a most des res for businesses in the 19th century. Less coal and cotton these days, but still great passenger trips along the canal. Plan your visit
Yes, you put it on fish and chips, and it stops you slipping on the ice in winter. But where does it come from? It's a mineral, and there has always been tons of it under the ground in Cheshire (that's how Cheshire cheese gets its distinctive flavour - Cheshire cows eat extra tasty grass!). And what's more, it's an essential ingredient for all kinds of other things. So - take some salt, a major shipping route and a good canal transport network and what do you have? Soap-making, chemical industries, glass-making - all big business for England's North West.
Which wych is which? Northwich, where Weaver Hall Museum is, Nantwich and Middlewich are all named because of their salt - or "wych" - production, which goes right back to Roman times. And why did so many households in these towns used to get that sinking feeling…? Plan your visit
Now here's an invention worth its salt! This amazing contraption - the Cathedral of the Canals - was a real Victorian white knuckle ride, transferring salt-laden barges between the Weaver Navigation and the canal 50 feet above. What's more, it's still working! Whatever floats your boat… Plan your visit
Now this place does for chemistry what Brian Cox has done for physics - it's even got an Observatory! Try your hand at a bit of magical alchemy, find out why it matters and discover a whole world of amazing chemical careers. Plan your visit
Everyone needs a break don't they? Not so long ago, if you were lucky enough to go to school at all you probably had to work as well before or after school. And if you were very lucky you might have got an occasional day off as well as your Sundays but nothing more. Until some employers realised that their staff would work harder, stay healthier and be altogether less troublesome if they had a bit of time off to rest, relax and spend time with the family. Social Reform had begun and wakes weeks, Barnaby and Blackpool hit the big time…
Over the years a lot of brave people have fought a lot of hard battles to give us the rights and privileges that we all take for granted today. The right to vote, better working and living conditions, a welfare state - this is a proud story, beautifully told. Plan your visit
If you ever wondered what "Once every Preston Guild" really means this is the place to come. And it may not have happened very often, but when it did - that was some party! And what's more, it's almost time for the next one! Plan your visit
For the better off members of society, holidays were a regular feature of life - and a holiday house in the Lake District was what every city businessman aspired to. Blackwell was one such home, built by the finest Arts & Crafts designers of the time. Plan your visit
Well, South America originally, from where the cacao beans were shipped into Liverpool, loaded onto barges and sent by canal through Cheshire to the famous chocolate factories in the Midlands. Lots of the delicious sweet and spicy things we eat today first found their way into Britain via the ports of Liverpool, Lancaster, Whitehaven - and Britain got baking! The arrival of exotic spices, rum, molasses and sugar into Lancashire and Cumbria inspired a whole new range of regional treats and made this the original home of gingerbread, Cumberland Rum Nicky, rum butter and everyone's favourite, Sticky Toffee Pudding.
A whole waterways world all in one place! See the boats that transported chocolate to the Midlands, and the grain to the Manchester Kellogg's factory to make your cornflakes. Explore docks, locks and warehouses, take a trip along the canal. Plan your visit
Smuggling and intrigue was rife of course. As well as cotton and cocoa a bizarre collection of other goods were brought from all over the world to this great gateway into Britain - and some of them never made it through customs! Plan your visit
A tropical rainforest, a Caribbean village, sugar plantations and slave ships – all on the Cumbrian coast at Whitehaven! From the horrors of slavery to the depravity of London’s punch houses, the Rum Story packs a very vivid punch (and there are ghosts too!) Plan your visit