Heritage Open Day and Academy Lecture

1 Sep 2026

This year, the Chapel and gardens will be open to visitors on Saturday 19th September from 10.00am until 4.00pm.

Our annual Academy Lecture will be held on Sunday 20th September at 3.00pm, this year being presented by Philip Jeffs from Warrington Museum.

All are welcome and entry to both events is free.

Academy Lecture

Phillip Pearsall Carpenter, “The Town Nose”

What did the people of Warrington do before there were any sewers? 

How polluted was the air of Warrington in the 19th Century?  

Philip Jeffs’ talk looks at how the efforts of one man shone a light on the terrible living conditions of the people of Warrington in the mid-1800s. In the 1850s, Carpenter became known as “The Town Nose” because of his ceaseless campaign to sniff out the causes of pollution in the town and to highlight their awful cost in human lives.

 Carpenter was in many ways ahead of his time and his campaigns often fell on deaf ears, but the obstacles he faced only seemed to make him fight all the harder.