The Visitor Experience
Glass. History. Garden. Little Play Area. Cafe. Shop. Glass Blowing. Exhibitions.
Glass. History. Garden. Little Play Area. Cafe. Shop. Glass Blowing. Exhibitions.
Walk through a Victorian street visiting a typical kitchen, shop and pub to see St Helens through the eyes of workers in the Town. Explore the science of glass and engage with our interactive stations to explore natural glass, lenses and fibre optics. Discover our incredible glass collection before having the opportunity to play with light and crystals in our ‘Properties of Glass’ space. Discover our changing exhibitions in the Godfrey Pilkington Gallery before crossing the glass bridge to visit Tank House no 9 which is where continuous glass production began. On your way back stop off at the Holford Collection to see some of the most beautiful contemporary glass pieces. You can finish off your visit with an incredible traditional display of glass blowing in our huge hot glass studio.
UNFORTUNATELY – the Tank House and tunnels are currently closed for emergency work. They should reopen on Thursday 18th April. Tank House no 9 our grade 2 listed, scheduled monument and archaeological site. Find out all about William Windle Pilkington and his continuous regenerative furnace. Explore the tunnels that brought in the gas and air that made the furnaces burn hotter and more efficiently.
Live glass blowing demonstrations will give you a real feel for the material we cannot live without. Be amazed at the skill of our glass blowers who will be happy to answer any of your questions or take an order for a bespoke piece.
The museum contains a past gallery, interactive gallery and Glass gallery.
The only paid aspect of the experience is glass blowing. The charity would ask you to support us by buying a ticket to the live displays for just £4.50 adults and £3.50 children.
The World of Glass is a charity, number 1006990. We operate our independent museum so that visitors can find out about the town of St Helens and the incredible material we call glass.
We aim to offer glass blowing demonstrations every day. We will always try our best to offer a demonstration around midday. Depending on visitor numbers we will try to offer at least 1 more demonstration somewhere around 2pm. At busy times we will try to put on more demonstrations. However, we are a charity, and if we do not have the visitor numbers or we have a commission that needs completing we may have to remove sessions. If you are travelling a distance, please phone for the latest information.