Access at Wakefield Museum

You can contact us in advance of your visit with any questions. You can email us at museums@wakefield.gov.uk and we will get back to you during office hours. These are Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

You can also ring Wakefield Museum on 01924 302104. We will usually pick up the phone during our normal opening hours.

If we cannot pick up the phone, please leave a message with your name and contact number as we will ring you back.

There are two locations for Blue Badge parking beside the Wakefield One building. There is space for up to four cars on Burton Street, on the left-hand side at the start of the road (it is one way).

Use What3Words code feeds.gown.boxing for the exact location. 

There is an additional Blue Badge space for one car on the short one-way street left off Cliffe Lane. Use What3Words code summer.trace.locate for the exact location.

The next nearest Blue Badge parking is at the Merchant Gate car park. It is a short two-minute step-free route from there to Wakefield Museum, including a slight incline. Wheelchairs and pushchairs will be able to access this route. The Merchant Gate car park costs 90p per hour, for up to 5 hours.

Wakefield Museum is on the lower ground floor of the Wakefield One building. Public toilets, including accessible toilets, can be found on the floor above the Museum. They can be accessed via a lift or stairs. The accessible toilets do not need a radar key.

Baby changing facilities are available in the accessible toilets.
There are also toilets and accessible toilets for customers of Create Café, which is opposite Wakefield Museum in the Wakefield One building.

We also have spare nappies, wipes and sanitary products if you are caught short! Our friendly staff will be happy to help you.

Wakefield Museum is a breastfeeding-friendly location. You are welcome to breastfeed your baby here.

We unfortunately do not have Changing Places facilities. The nearest changing place facility is in Trinity Walk shopping centre, Market Walk, WF1 1QR, which is 0.6 miles away.

Choose from a range of items from the Explore, Touch, See and Sound drawers.

The 'Explore' drawer contains a variety of things to explore our displays in lots of different ways. These include tools to match different shapes, colours, materials and sounds to our objects.

The 'Touch' drawer has a range of fun colourful fidget toys. Perfect if keeping your hands busy helps you to stay calm or to concentrate!

The 'See' drawer is full of different lenses, magnifying glasses and frames. These can help you to look at our objects in another way, and support dyslexic and partially sighted people to change the colour contrast.

The 'Sound' drawer has a number of ear defenders available in child and adult sizes. These are great for visitors who are sensitive to loud or sudden noises. 

You can fill up a backpack with your choice of items and take with you around the galleries. These are to be returned at the end of your visit.

Every Thursday from 4pm to 6:30pm at Wakefield Museum is a relaxed opening session. You can explore the Museum in a quieter, more relaxed setting.

Everybody is welcome!

This means that any loud noises will be turned down or turned off. You can be yourself. 

We have fidget and sensory objects to help you relax and explore. There is a pop-up tent quiet space if you need it.

You can also try our activity sheets and crafts. 

Entry is still free. You do not need to book.

Email any suggestions for our Relaxed Openings to museumslearning@wakefield.gov.uk.

To help plan your visit we have a set of sequence cards similar to PECS cards. PECS stands for Picture Exchange Communication System.

The cards can be downloaded before your visit for you to print, cut out and use on your own boards. 

• download the Wakefield Museum PECS cards (PDF)
• download the Wakefield Museum PECS cards (accessible Word doc)

We also have a set in the Pick and Mix unit in the museum.

Entering Wakefield Museum

Wakefield Museum is on the lower ground floor of the Wakefield One building. The main entrance to the building on Cliff Lane is fully level access.

You can also access the building from Burton Street. From here you enter on the upper ground floor. You can go down in a lift or use the stairs to reach the lower ground floor Wakefield Museum entrance.

Both the Cliff Lane and Burton Street building entrances have automatic sliding doors. The door to enter Wakefield Museum inside has an accessible entry button on a handrail on the right-hand side. It is wide enough to allow access for wheelchairs. This door opens outwards.

Moving around Wakefield Museum

You can download a floor plan of the museum.

There are three exhibition areas within Wakefield Museum. They are level access and fully wheelchair accessible throughout. The floor is made of marmoleum (similar to lino).

When a special exhibition is running, the double doors to that gallery will be propped open. Please note that the door between the Front Room and the special exhibition gallery is currently closed. This is to protect the artworks on display in the Cynthia Kenny exhibition from light over-exposure.

There are low lighting levels in the Cynthia Kenny exhibition gallery. This is to protect the artworks on display from light over-exposure. There is an additional lighting strip in the display case. This is at waist height, or around face height if you are in a wheelchair or short-statured.

Front Room gallery seating: There is a padded bench in the Front Room, and a pair of armchairs next to the 1940s wireless radio interactive. 

Welcome Space seating: Plastic chairs with arm rests are available in the Welcome Space.

Cynthia Kenny exhibition seating: There are portable stools at the entrance to the Cynthia Kenny special exhibition gallery. These can be used anywhere in the museum. There is a seating block in the centre of the Cynthia Kenny exhibition designed to look like blocks of grass, brick and concrete. These are at slightly different heights. You can sit on these.

Wakefield Museum Learning Zone

Some of our bookable activities and workshops are in the Museum Learning Zone. This room is at the back of Wakefield Library. Wakefield Library is on the floor above Wakefield Museum within the Wakefield One building. You can reach this using lifts or the stairs. 

To reach the Learning Zone, turn right inside the Library and go through the Children’s section. The Learning Zone is in the top left corner. It has windows along the wall and a door. The doorway is wide enough to fit most wheelchairs and pushchairs, and can be widened if needed.

Entering Wakefield Museum

Wakefield Museum is on the lower ground floor of the Wakefield One building. The main entrance to the building on Cliff Lane is fully level access.

You can also access the building from Burton Street. From here you enter on the upper ground floor. You can go down in a lift or use the stairs to reach the lower ground floor Wakefield Museum entrance.

Both the Cliff Lane and Burton Street building entrances have automatic sliding doors. The door to enter Wakefield Museum inside has an accessible entry button on a handrail on the right-hand side. It is wide enough to allow access for wheelchairs. This door opens outwards.

Moving around Wakefield Museum

There are three exhibition areas within Wakefield Museum. They are level access and fully wheelchair accessible throughout. 

The floor is made of marmoleum (similar to lino). This is a matte and non-reflective surface.

When a special exhibition is running, the double doors to that gallery will be propped open. Please note that the door between the Front Room and the special exhibition gallery is currently closed. This is to protect the artworks on display in the Cynthia Kenny exhibition from light over-exposure. 

There are low lighting levels in the Cynthia Kenny exhibition gallery. This is to protect the artworks on display from light over-exposure. There is an additional lighting strip in the display case. This is at waist height, or around face height if you are in a wheelchair or short-statured.

Most of our Visitor Experience Assistants have attended Visual Impairment Training and Sighted Guided Training. All of our staff will be happy to help you get the most from your visit.

Some of our exhibition spaces have low light levels to protect the delicate objects on display. 

There are magnifying glasses available in our Pick and Mix station in the Welcome Space. You can take objects from the Pick and Mix station with you around the galleries.

There are tactile elements around the galleries. In the Welcome Space, there is a Stone Age hand axe and polished axe head below the display case that you can touch. There is also a quern stone interactive that you can touch.

In the main gallery, the wooden Victorian Wakefield Prison door is on open display. You can touch this.

In the Cynthia Kenny exhibition gallery there is an interactive ‘build your own cityscape’ feature. This includes building blocks and an open frame to create your own scene. There are also sketching tools and clipboards.

Mirrors

There are mirrors next to the dressing up areas in the main gallery and the Front Room. These are fixed to the corresponding walls or units.

Audio elements and fire alarm testing

There are audio elements in parts of the exhibition spaces. In the main gallery, most of these are connected to headphones. There is one audio element in the main gallery which is triggered by someone moving into the space by the Wakefield Prison door, it plays audio of children singing ‘Here we go round the Mulberry Bush’.

In the Front Room, there is a 1940s wireless radio interactive which plays audio from Second World War oral history interviews when the tactile buttons are pressed.

The Cynthia Kenny exhibition includes a soundscape inspired by the paintings on display. It lasts for around 15 minutes. The soundscape plays on the hour and half past the hour. After it finishes there is around 15 minutes before it starts again. The soundscape never gets overly loud, but the volume does differ throughout. At one point a couple of minutes in there is construction drilling and high-pitched noises. There is occasionally the sound of people speaking and general hubbub (but you can’t make out any of the words). There is also traffic noise, buzzing, birds tweeting, cathedral bells ringing and music. The sounds often overlap each other. 

There is also a large audio-visual screen in the Cynthia Kenny exhibition. This will play a video featuring people talking about Cynthia when the raised button is pressed. The button is on the bottom left of the outer frame of the screen. The audio plays through headphones, which are attached to the screen. For the first 20 seconds of the video there is ambient music overlaying footage of Cynthia’s paintings. The speaking starts with Mabel’s (Cynthia’s friend) interview. It lasts around 6 minutes.

A faint bit of the audio bleeds into the main gallery from the headphones when it is playing. 

There is another smaller digital screen in the far corner of the Cynthia Kenny exhibition. This plays a slideshow with no audio. It is not touch-screen and plays automatically.

The fire alarms in the Wakefield One building are tested every Thursday around 11am. They will sound from one to three times. There will be a tannoy announcement shortly before the alarms are tested.

Cynthia Kenny exhibition: audio description

There is an audio description guide to accompany the Cynthia Kenny exhibition. The guide is accessed using one of the two RNIB PenFriend devices, headphones and booklet packs at the entrance to the exhibition. The guide features creative audio description of some of the paintings. You can access each clip by tapping your PenFriend on the orange stickers on the raised RNIB PenFriend small square panels. These panels are at the bottom right below the related artwork or information panel.

Cynthia Kenny exhibition: braille

There is a braille transcription booklet of the Cynthia Kenny exhibition. This is kept on a hook on the open door to the exhibition space. The hook is about waist-height (or face-height if you are in a wheelchair or short-statured). It is kept with three other booklets (audio description transcription, Urdu and Polish transcriptions). It has braille on the front cover to help you identify it.

Wakefield Museum Learning Zone

Some of our bookable activities and workshops are in the Museum Learning Zone. This room is at the back of Wakefield Library. Wakefield Library is on the floor above Wakefield Museum within the Wakefield One building. You can reach this by using lifts or the stairs.

To reach the Learning Zone, turn right inside the Library and go through the Children’s section. The Learning Zone is in the top left corner. It has windows along the wall and a door. The doorway is wide enough to fit most wheelchairs and pushchairs and can be widened if needed.

You can download a floor plan of the museum.

You can download a sensory map of the main galleries before your visit.

You can download a sensory map of the Cynthia Kenny exhibition.

Copies of our sensory maps are available in the Pick and Mix station in the Welcome Space.

Audio elements and subtitling

The film in the Before Wakefield gallery also has subtitles (no sound plays from this video). The Charles Waterton films are subtitled in English.

There are audio elements in parts of the exhibition spaces. In the main gallery, these are touch-activated and play out loud. There is one audio element in the main gallery which is triggered by someone moving into the space by the Wakefield Prison door and plays audio of children singing ‘Here we go round the Mulberry Bush’.

In the Front Room, there is a 1940s wireless radio interactive which plays audio from Second World War oral history interviews when the tactile buttons are pressed.

The Cynthia Kenny exhibition includes a soundscape inspired by the paintings on display. It lasts for around 15 minutes. The soundscape plays on the hour and half past the hour. After it finishes there is around 15 minutes before it starts again. The soundscape never gets overly loud but the volume does differ throughout. At one point a couple of minutes in there is construction drilling and high-pitched noises. There is occasionally the sound of people speaking and general hubbub (but you can’t make out any of the words). There is also traffic noise, buzzing, birds tweeting, cathedral bells ringing and music. The sounds often overlap each other.

There is also a large audio-visual screen in the Cynthia Kenny exhibition. This will play a video featuring people talking about Cynthia when the raised button is pressed. The button is on the bottom left of the outer frame of the screen. The video is subtitled in English. The audio plays through headphones, which are attached to the screen. For the first 20 seconds of the video there is ambient music overlaying footage of Cynthia’s paintings. The speaking starts with Mabel’s (Cynthia’s friend) interview. It lasts around 6 minutes. A faint bit of the audio bleeds into the main gallery from the headphones when it is playing.

There is another smaller digital screen in the far corner of the Cynthia Kenny exhibition. This plays a slideshow with no audio. It is not touch-screen and plays automatically.

Fire alarm testing

The fire alarms in the Wakefield One building are tested every Thursday around 11am. They will sound from one to three times. There will be a tannoy announcement shortly before the alarms are tested.

Cynthia Kenny exhibition: audio description transcription

There is a transcription of the creative audio descriptions of the paintings used in the audio description guide. This is with four other transcription booklets on hooks on the open door to the exhibition.

You can view our visual story at Wakefield Museum before your visit.

You can download a floor plan of the museum.

You can download a sensory map of the main galleries before your visit.

You can download a sensory map of the Cynthia Kenny exhibition.

Copies of our sensory maps are available in the Pick and Mix station in the Welcome Space.

Some of our exhibition spaces have low light levels to protect the delicate objects on display.

There are low lighting levels in the Cynthia Kenny exhibition gallery. This is to protect the artworks on display from light over-exposure. There is an additional lighting strip in the display case. This is at waist height, or around face height if you are in a wheelchair or short-statured.

There are lots of tactile tools and resources available to support your visit in the Pick and Mix station. This is in the Welcome Space when you first enter the Museum.

In the Cynthia Kenny exhibition gallery there is an interactive ‘build your own cityscape’ feature. This includes building blocks and an open frame to create your own scene. There are also sketching tools and clipboards.

There are tactile elements around the galleries. In the Welcome Space, there is a Stone Age hand axe and polished axe head below the display case that you can touch. There is also a quern stone interactive that you can touch.
In the main gallery, the wooden Victorian Wakefield Prison door is on open display. You can touch this.

Quieter times to visit Wakefield Museum

Generally, the site is quieter during weekdays (Monday to Friday). It can be louder at weekends and on school holidays. 

We do also regularly have school visits attending during the week, which can be excitable and noisy. 

You can contact us in advance to find out when might be the best time for you to visit.

We also have weekly Relaxed Opening sessions every Thursday, 4pm to 6:30pm.

Audio elements and fire alarm testing

There are audio elements in parts of the exhibition spaces. In the main gallery, these are touch-activated and play out loud. There is one audio element in the main gallery which is triggered by someone moving into the space by the Wakefield Prison door and plays audio of children singing ‘Here we go round the Mulberry Bush’.

In the Front Room, there is a 1940s wireless radio interactive which plays audio from Second World War oral history interviews when the tactile buttons are pressed. The volume of these can be turned up or down.

The fire alarms in the Wakefield One building are tested every Thursday around 11am. They will sound from one to three times. There will be a tannoy announcement shortly before the alarms are tested.

The Cynthia Kenny exhibition includes a soundscape inspired by the paintings on display. It lasts for around 15 minutes. The soundscape plays on the hour and half past the hour. After it finishes there is around 15 minutes before it starts again. The soundscape never gets overly loud but the volume does differ throughout. At one point a couple of minutes in there is construction drilling and high-pitched noises. There is occasionally the sound of people speaking and general hubbub (but you can’t make out any of the words). There is also traffic noise, buzzing, birds tweeting, cathedral bells ringing and music. The sounds often overlap each other.

There is also a large audio-visual screen in the Cynthia Kenny exhibition. This will play a video featuring people talking about Cynthia when the raised button is pressed. The button is on the bottom left of the outer frame of the screen. The audio plays through headphones, which are attached to the screen. For the first 20 seconds of the video there is ambient music overlaying footage of Cynthia’s paintings. The speaking starts with Mabel’s (Cynthia’s friend) interview. It lasts around 6 minutes. A faint bit of the audio bleeds into the main gallery from the headphones when it is playing.

There is another smaller digital screen in the far corner of the Cynthia Kenny exhibition. This plays a slideshow with no audio. It is not touch-screen and plays automatically.

You may also enjoy the creative audio description guide that accompanies the Cynthia Kenny exhibition. You can access this with one of the two RNIB PenFriend devices, headphones and booklet packs at the entrance to the exhibition. There is also a transcription booklet of the audio description if you would prefer to read it.

Moving around Wakefield Museum

You can view our visual story at Wakefield Museum before your visit.

You can download a floor plan of the museum.

You can download a sensory map of the Cynthia Kenny exhibition.

We have an Easy Read guide for the main galleries. You can find this in the Pick and Mix station in the Welcome Space. You can take this with you around the galleries.

There are Makaton signs next to some of our star objects. These can help you to communicate about what is on display.

You can download a sensory map of the main galleries before your visit. 

Copies of our sensory maps are available in the Pick and Mix station in the Welcome Space.

Some of our exhibition spaces have low light levels to protect the delicate objects on display.

There are lots of tactile tools and resources available to support your visit in the Pick and Mix station. This is in the Welcome Space when you first enter the Museum.

There are tactile elements around the galleries. In the Welcome Space, there is a Stone Age hand axe and polished axe head below the display case that you can touch. There is also a quern stone interactive that you can touch.

In the main gallery, the wooden Victorian Wakefield Prison door is on open display. You can touch this.

In the Cynthia Kenny exhibition gallery there is an interactive ‘build your own cityscape’ feature. This includes building blocks and an open frame to create your own scene. There are also sketching tools and clipboards.

In the Cynthia Kenny exhibition gallery there are discussion prompts in orange paint palette symbols on the walls. There are also Makaton symbols. These can help you to think and communicate about the paintings in a multisensory way.

Quieter times to visit Wakefield Museum

Generally the site is quieter during weekdays (Monday to Friday). It can be louder at weekends and on school holidays. 

We do also regularly have school visits attending during the week, which can be excitable and noisy. 

You can contact us in advance to find out when might be the best time for you to visit.

We also have weekly Relaxed Opening sessions every Thursday, 4pm to 6:30pm.

We have a Polish translation of the Cynthia Kenny: a city framed exhibition.

It is on a hook on the door outside the exhibition.

You can pick it up and take it around the gallery with you. Please return it when you have finished.

We have an Urdu translation of the Cynthia Kenny: a city framed exhibition.

It is on a hook on the door outside the exhibition.

You can pick it up and take it around the gallery with you. Please return it when you have finished.