A crowd of more than 2,000 people gathered when the foundation stone was laid for Warrington Museum on September 20, 1855. The museum and gallery, which inspired Alice in Wonderland author Lewis Carroll, has just marked its 170th anniversary at the Bold Street site. Janice Hayes, former collections heritage and archives manager, said: “The fact that the museum was here in Warrington so early shows what a forward thinking town we were. The great and the good of the town – including the Warrington Guardian – turned out for the ceremony when William Beamont, the first Mayor of Warrington, laid the foundation stone. “I think it shows that the people of Warrington were very much behind this.