Wire Works exhibition brings alive history of the Wire industry!

AN interactive exhibition outlining the history of Warrington’s wire industry is set to take place in the town through a blend of sculpture, film, dance, poetry and real-life accounts of what it was like to work in the wire industry.

The Wire Works, which runs from October 16 to November 20 is a Warrington Borough Council project funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The council has worked in partnership with Culture Warrington, artists Laurence Payot and Christine Wilcox-Baker and local media company, Ludovico.
This project aims to highlight and celebrate one of the borough’s most significant stories from Warrington’s rich heritage – wire manufacturing.
Lynn Radcliffe, the borough council’s Cultural Partnerships Development Manager said: “As arguably Warrington’s most important industry, putting the town at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution, wire production dominated the
town’s employment structure for over 100 years, employing an estimated 9% of all wire drawers in England and Wales and almost twice as many as its nearest North-western rival Manchester.
“The local Rugby became known as “The Wire” (shortened from “The Wire-Pullers”), indicating how important wire making was in the town.
“Many Warrington residents are unaware of the significance of this industry to Warrington, think St Helens and glass or Sheffield and steel and even though Warrington wire has had and continues to have a variety of uses throughout the world: from barbed wire used in the trenches of World War 1 to telegraph cables for communication; from scientific sieves to fencing masks; from suspension bridges to one of Lady Gaga’s spectacular dresses.
“The Wire Works exhibition will be an interactive blend of heritage and art, representing the story of Warrington’s wire industry through sculpture, film, dance, poetry and real-life accounts of what it was like to work in a wire factory in Warrington.”
The Exhibition will run at Unit 31, Old Market Place, Golden Square, Warrington, WA1 1QB (The old Co-Op Bank, near Vintage Viola) from Saturday 16th October – Saturday 20th November.
Opening times: Wednesday – Saturday – 10am – 5pm Sunday – 11am – 4pm.