England’s largest community led festival of history and culture, Heritage Open Days, is coming around again on Friday 11th-Sunday 20th September, involving thousands of local volunteers and organisations.
Every year in September Heritage Open Days brings people together to celebrate their heritage, community and history. Stories are told, traditions explored, and histories brought to life. It’s your chance to see hidden places and try out new experiences – and it’s all FREE.
We’ve rounded up some of the best places and activities included in this year’s Heritage Open Days, whether you’re staying local to Manchester or fancy a day trip further afield.
Heritage Open Days activities in Manchester
Manchester city centre
- Underneath Castlefield Viaduct
- Science and Industry Museum: Get hands-on with Manchester’s history
- Where the Railway Journey Began: The Station Agent’s House
- Football and Northern Childhoods – Cup Fever screening
- Explore Cross Street Chapel Manchester: from 1694 to present
- Findmypast Live x People’s History Museum
- Manchester Tennis & racquet club
- Pankhurst Museum Free Open Days
Greater Manchester
- Museum of Transport, Cheetham Hill
- Stretford Public Hall
- Visit the Heritage Open Days Renew Hub, Trafford Park
- Sale Town Hall
- The Old Parsonage, Didsbury
- Manchester Islamic Centre and Didsbury Mosque
- Godley Green heritage walk, Hyde
- Hyde War Memorial Trust Open Weekend
- Rubbish to Resource – See your recycling in action, Sharston
- Northenden Bells and Other Heritage Milestones
- Fairfield Moravian Settlement, Droylsden
- Clayton Hall Living History Museum, Droylsden
- Art Store Guided Tour at Gallery Oldham
- Making History at Oldham Archives
- Medieval History Woodland Walk in Bailey’s Wood, Blackley
- Workshop: Middleton Library and Local Studies ‘How to Research Your House’
- Rochdale Old Fire Station
- Curious Folk Trail – with the League of Curiosity, Bury
- East Lancashire Railway, Bury
- Grit, Smog and Fame, Radcliffe
- Smithills Hall Tour, Bolton
- Salford Road Solar Farm, Bolton
- Two Men of Wigan
- Coccium to Coal Miners, Wigan
- Wonderful Leigh Lego collaboration
- Leigh Spinners Heritage Centre extended opening
- CWGC Tours 2026 – Tyldesley Cemetery
Worth the day trip
Lancashire & Merseyside
- Life of the Theatre: Look Inside, Lancaster
- Lancashire Police Museum & the Detective quiz, Lancaster
- Clitheroe’s Last Steam Engineer
- A Stroll Across Clitheroe’s Limestone Ridge
- Gawthorpe Hall, Burnley
- Blackburn Cathedral Bell Ringing Drop in Session
- Hesketh Park Observatory, Southport
- Marine Lake Wildlife Walk, Southport
- Liverpool Cathedral – Embroidery showcase
- Williamson’s Tunnels, Liverpool
- National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port
- Helmshore Mills Textile Museum, Rossendale
- Accrington Stanley Football Club
Lake District
- Heritage tour – Allan Bank, Grasmere’s first villa
- The Armitt: Everyday Histories limited-time exhibition, Ambleside
- Open Day with talks on Quakers Then & Now, Hawkshead
- Neolithic Life, Keswick
- Kendal Mayor’s Parlour History Talks
- From Ruin to Revival: film screening plus a talk from Accredited Conservator-Restorer, John Wynn-Griffiths, Kendal
- Backbarrow Ironworks Heritage Trust, Ulverston
Yorkshire
- Victorian life at the Old Castle, Ilkley
- Clifton Castle, Ripon
- York Minster – Heritage Quad
- Bawtry Hall and Gardens Open Day, Doncaster
- Kelham Island walking tour, Sheffield
- AudaTours Sheffield Audio Tour: Crucible and Hull
- Howdenshire’s Fascinating Archaeology, East Riding of Yorkshire
- How Stean Gorge, Harrogate
- Ledston Hall and gardens, Leeds
Peak District
- Torr Vale Mill Open Days, New Mills
- Bell tower at Bakewell Parish Church
- Magpie Mine, Bakewell
- Buxton Opera House
- Industrial Archaeology on the High Peak Trail – Minninglow Limekiln and Brick kiln, Matlock
- Of Quarns, Dragons and Gannister Kings, Sheffield
You can find all the participating places and activities in Heritage Open Days nationwide here.
