Exhibitions at Portland Basin Museum

Even though Portland Basin Museum is closed for now, here is a sneak preview of our forthcoming exhibition ‘Nature’s Wonders’.
This exhibition is a chance to discover the museum’s collections of plants, mosses, shells, birds’ eggs, fossils and other natural history items, plus some fantastic loans from Manchester Museum and Gallery Oldham.

The inspiration for our exhibition is the visit of Dippy - the cast of the Diplodocus skeleton from the Natural History Museum to Rochdale. The exhibition has had to close for now but there are still a lot of fun resources out there! See https://www.visitrochdale.com/dippy-on-tour Our ‘Nature’s Wonders’ exhibition is part of their ‘Natural History Adventures’ programme of events exploring natural history, nature and biodiversity.

The specimens in our collections were all collected by local people over the past 250 years. This was the time of the Industrial Revolution, with more and more of the countryside being swallowed up to build factories, houses and roads. People took a keen interest in documenting the natural world around them and collecting plants, rocks and shells was one way to bring nature into their homes. Local societies, such as the Stalybridge Naturalists Society, were formed, with members enjoying excursions to the seaside and rambles across the moors. At the same time, the growth of the British Empire meant there were always new places to explore and exciting new species to be discovered.

Click on the images to find out more about each collection.