The museum was founded in 1892 in memory of a noted local benefactor, Charles Dawson Brown, who was a Liverpool cotton broker and lived in Stone Hive on Darmonds Green in West Kirby till his death in 1890. A board outside the door of the museum commemorates this. The museum forms part of the well-used St Bridgets Church Centre which comprises the old stone schoolrooms built in 1847 onto which the pyramidal shaped building was added in 1892. A further extension to the centre, the Barton Room, was built as an extension in 1969. The redevelopment proposals, now the subject of an appeal, address the whole centre retaining and improving on the traditional aspects of the old buildings and rebuilding the extension to a sympathetic design. The complex lies to the south-east of the Churchyard and the Grade II* listed St Bridgets Church. 
The Museum Contents
The museum contains remains from four periods as well as more recent interpretative information and photos of various aspects of the Church. The artefacts were recovered from the Churchyard during the reconstruction and restoration of the Church in 1869/70.
Pre-Norman
Fragments from the period before the first stone church was built include eleventh century stone crosses, a Saxon font and a Celtic-type gravestone. The most valuable relic from this period in the Viking hog-back gravecover. This lies on display in the Church with its carved wavelets and stones prominent within the carving. The hogback stone presents evidence of Christian use of the site over 1000 years ago. A separate leaflet on the hog-back stone is available in the Church.Norman
A few stones from the Norman Church also exist. These give evidence of the existence and character of the Norman Church. A gravestone of c1125 gives more evidence of this period and the sad childrens stone coffin are thought to date back to this period.
Gothic
There are a number of stones from columns, window head, buttress, spandrels from the next Church on the site of Gothic style which was begun c 1230 and completed with the present western tower some three centuries later in 1530. There is a coping stone of an earlier tower, interesting stone heads and some fine gravestones. The local stone, a fine red sandstone, is beautiful in hue but very fiable and had to be replaced in the restoration of 1869-70. We probably owe many of the pieces in the museum to this.
Post Gothic
A variety of other items make up the content of the museum from the lifetime of the current Church gravestones, an Elizabethan bench-end, a c19th century stone head, a 19th century font, a water bucket and wood panelling. There is also an early 19th century font made from a pillar of the Gothic Church. Finally there is a tithe board recording the tithes payable in West Kirby and the bier used for collecting bodies (many of which were washed up on the West Kirby foreshore) and delivering them to the Church for their funerals. Additionally there are many old photos of the Church, Churchyard, schoolrooms and museum and interpretative information on the museum and its history.
The Museum
The form and structure of the museum is original to 1892 with its interesting pyramidal roof. The stained glass leaded windows have over the years been vandalised and by 2007 only one was left this was used as a template for the replacement of all the windows in 2007 with money donated by the local Candis charity and funds raised for the St Bridgets Community Centre Appeal.
The Community Centre Redevelopment
It was decided as part of the redevelopment to retain the museum in its present accommodation but that any redevelopment should enhance the museum, improve the interpretation of the artefacts, introduce information on local history and allow it to be opened to the community on more frequent occasions to be used as a resource for schools and groups interested in local history. The links to Viking history (especially the hog back stone) are particularly exciting and relevant in view of the resurgence in interest in the Vikings in Wirral and the unfolding picture of their settlement of the area. An artists impression of the inside of the museum after restoration is shown alongside. (NOTE: the artefacts shown are not in all cases the real items but artistic templates!) It is planned that the museum will be doubled in size with the construction of a new room for interpretative material and a few of the artefacts next to the current room. 
The museum will be linked by a new corridor connecting it with the rest of the Community Centre and giving access to the facilities there toilets, servery for refreshments and a new expanded hall. It is hoped the hall will be useful for lectures on the museum and local history, receiving museum visitors and allow special displays of mobile boards on local history and receive visitors to the Church as well as the museum. A birds eye view of the new centre and the museum is shown on the Appeal page.Visiting the Museum
If you wish to visit the museum (and Church) call the curator, Rod Tann, on 0151-625-1234. Arrangements can be made for groups or individuals.
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