Trafford Park Heritage Centre

Who we are

Trafford Park Heritage Centre is based in the former St Antony's School which was built in 1912 to meet the educational needs of the emerging residential community in Trafford Park. The Centre is dedicated to preserving the story of Trafford Park as the world’s first planned industrial estate and houses a small permanent exhibition relating to the history of Trafford Park from 1896 to the present day. The exhibition traces the industrial and manufacturing history of the area which includes major companies such as Ford’s, Kellogg’s, Metropolitan Vickers and Procter & Gamble. It is regularly updated with archive materials donated both by companies and by people who worked in the Park. Among the most significant features of the exhibition are the images and objects capturing life in Trafford Park village. The village was built from scratch to house people moving into the area to take jobs in the new factories and businesses being constructed in the area. A thriving residential community was quickly established and the exhibition provides a unique documentary record of what it was like to live in a village surrounded by a sea of industry. Since 1979 the Centre has gathered a significant archive of material and it uses these documents, images and artefacts to inform and educate schools, community groups and others about different aspects of Trafford Park history – industrial, social, economic and demographic. For school groups in particular, the Centre can arrange short walking tours of the village area to highlight some of the buildings still in use from the early history of the village. As part of the tour, Centre staff encourage participants to visualise how the area once looked based on the images within the exhibition and to imagine how a new community was forged which included all the social facilities and activities of a typical residential area. For older pupils, the Centre can provide talks on the history and development of Trafford Park which focus on the range of products made in the area, its history of scientific firsts and technical innovations, and the continuing significance of the Park to the regional economy.