An open-air museum is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts outdoors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum .
85-577: Beamish Museum is the first regional open-air museum , in England, located at Beamish , near the town of Stanley , in County Durham , England. Beamish pioneered the concept of a living museum. By displaying duplicates or replaceable items, it was also an early example of the now commonplace practice of museums allowing visitors to touch objects. The museum's guiding principle is to preserve an example of everyday life in urban and rural North East England at
170-399: A coal drop which unloads railway wagons into road going wagons below. At the road entrance to the yard is a weighbridge (with office) and coal merchant's office - both being appropriately furnished with display items, but only viewable from outside. The coal drop was sourced from West Boldon , and would have been a common sight on smaller stations. The weighbridge came from Glanton , while
255-464: A Robing Room and the Tyler's Room on the ground floor, and a Museum Room upstairs, featuring display cabinets of masonic regalia donated from various lodges. Upstairs is also a class room, with large stained glass window. Presented as W Smith's Chemist and JR & D Edis Photographers , a two-storey building housing both a chemist and photographers shops under one roof opened on 7 May 2016 and represents
340-401: A Wharfedale flat bed press, built by Dawson & Son in around 1870. Much of the machinery was sourced from the print works of Jack Ascough's of Barnard Castle. Many of the posters seen around the museum are printed in the works, with the operation of the machinery being part of the display. Presented as Jubilee Confectioners , the two storey sweet shop opened in 1994 and is meant to represent
425-435: A booking and ticket office (eastern half), with the latter only visible from a small viewing entrance. Adorning the waiting room is a large tiled NER route map. The signal box dates from 1896, and was relocated from Carrhouse near Consett . It features assorted signalling equipment, basic furnishings for the signaller, and a lever frame , controlling the stations numerous points, interlocks and semaphore signals. The frame
510-496: A check-up room and surgery for extraction, and a technicians room for creating dentures - a common practice at the time being the giving to daughters a set on their 21st birthday, to save any future husband the cost at a later date. His home is presented as more modern than No.2, furnished in the Edwardian style the modern day utilities of an enamelled bathroom with flushing toilet, a controllable heat kitchen range and gas cooker. No. 5
595-665: A consortium of county councils ( Cleveland , Durham , Northumberland and Tyne and Wear ) The museum is now operated as a registered charity, but continues to receive support from local authorities - Durham County Council, Sunderland City Council, Gateshead Council, South Tyneside Council and North Tyneside Council. The supporting Friends of Beamish organisation was established in 1968. Frank Atkinson retired as director in 1987. The museum has been 96% self-funding for some years (mainly from admission charges). The town area, officially opened in 1985, depicts chiefly Victorian buildings in an evolved urban setting of 1913. The Beamish Tramway
680-424: A converted stable block (from Greencroft , near Lanchester, County Durham ). Visitors can navigate the site via assorted marked footpaths, including adjacent (or near to) the entire tramway oval. According to the museum, it takes 20 minutes to walk at a relaxed pace from the entrance to the town. The tramway oval serves as both an exhibit and as a free means of transport around the site for visitors, with stops at
765-634: A different time and place and perform everyday household tasks, crafts, and occupations. The goal is to demonstrate older lifestyles and pursuits to modern audiences. Household tasks might include cooking on an open hearth , churning butter , spinning wool and weaving , and farming without modern equipment. Many living museums feature traditional craftsmen at work, such as a blacksmith , pewtersmith , silversmith , weaver , tanner , armorer , cooper , potter , miller , sawyer , cabinet-maker , woodcarver , printer , doctor, and general storekeeper . The North American open-air museum, more commonly called
850-587: A living-history museum, had a different, slightly later origin than the European, and the visitor experience is different. The first was Henry Ford 's Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan (1928), where Ford intended his collection to be "a pocket edition of America". Colonial Williamsburg (opened in 1934), though, had a greater influence on museum development in North America. It influenced such projects through
935-544: A number of awards since it opened to visitors in 1972 and has influenced other living museums . It is an educational resource, and also helps to preserve some traditional and rare north-country livestock breeds. In 1958, days after starting as director of the Bowes Museum , inspired by Scandinavian folk museums, and realising the North East's traditional industries and communities were disappearing, Frank Atkinson presented
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#17330855971371020-432: A report to Durham County Council urging that a collection of items of everyday history on a large scale should begin as soon as possible, so that eventually an open air museum could be established. As well as objects, Atkinson was also aiming to preserve the region's customs and dialect. He stated the new museum should "attempt to make the history of the region live" and illustrate the way of life of ordinary people. He hoped
1105-543: A short demonstration line in 1973. The Town station was formally opened in 1976, the same year the reconstruction of the colliery winding engine house was completed, and the miners' cottages were relocated. Opening of the drift mine as an exhibit followed in 1979. In 1975 the museum was visited by the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother , and by Anne, Princess Royal , in 2002. In 2006, as the Grand Master of
1190-428: A state of disrepair, the museum acquired the building, dismantling it in 1972, being officially unveiled in its new location by railway campaigner and poet, Sir John Betjeman . The station building is presented as an Edwardian station, lit by oil lamp, having never been connected to gas or electricity supplies in its lifetime. It features both an open waiting area and a visitor accessible waiting room (western half), and
1275-464: A surplus of space available in the 19th-century French chateau-style building housing the Bowes Museum to store items donated for the open air museum. With this space soon filled, a former British Army tank depot at Brancepeth was taken over, although in just a short time its entire complement of 22 huts and hangars had been filled, too. In 1966, a working party was established to set up a museum "for
1360-450: A three-storey design typical of the era, and featuring bricks in the upper storeys sourced from Park House, Gateshead, the Swedish imperial red shade used on the ground floor frontage is intended to represent stability and security. On the ground floor are windows for bank tellers , plus the bank manager's office. Included in a basement level are two vaults. The upper two storeys are not part of
1445-427: A unitary authority, removing it from county council control. Durham County Council itself became a unitary authority on 1 April 2009, when the seven remaining non-metropolitan districts of the county were abolished and the county council absorbed their functions. The legislation which made the county council a unitary authority allowed the council to omit the word 'County' from its name to become 'Durham Council', but in
1530-412: A variety of transport needs in the era, the town features a centrally located stables, situated behind the sweet shop, with its courtyard being accessed from the archway next to the pub. It is presented as a typical jobmaster's yard, with stables and a tack room in the building on its north side. A small, brick built open air, carriage shed is sited on the back of the printworks building. On the east side of
1615-417: Is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long, with four passing loops . The line makes a circuit of the museum site forming an important element of the visitor transportation system. The first trams began operating on a short demonstration line in 1973, with the whole circle in operation by 1993. It represents the era of electric powered trams, which were being introduced to meet the needs of growing towns and cities across
1700-601: Is a unitary authority , being a non-metropolitan county council which also performs the functions of a non-metropolitan district council. It has its headquarters at County Hall in Durham . The council has been under no overall control since the 2021 election , being run by a coalition of the Conservatives , Liberal Democrats , Derwentside Independents , Green Party , and most of the independents , led by Liberal Democrat councillor Amanda Hopgood. It had previously been under
1785-498: Is a Victorian bandstand sourced from Saltwell Park, where it stood on an island in the middle of a lake. It represents the recognised need of the time for areas where people could relax away from the growing industrial landscape. Included in the Town are drinking fountains and other period examples of street furniture . In between the bank and the sweet shop is a combined tram and bus waiting room and public convenience. When construction of
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#17330855971371870-460: Is a stationer's shop on the left hand side, with both display items and a small number of gift items on public sale. Upstairs is a jobbing printers workshop, which would not produce the newspapers, but would instead print leaflets, posters and office stationery. Split into a composing area and a print shop, the shop itself has a number of presses - a Columbian built in 1837 by Clymer and Dixon, an Albion dating back to 1863, an Arab Platen of c. 1900, and
1955-517: Is applied to a museum that specializes in the collection and re-erection of multiple old buildings at large outdoor sites, usually in settings of recreated landscapes of the past, and often including living history . Such institutions may, therefore, be described as building museums. European open-air museums tended to be sited originally in regions where wooden architecture prevailed, as wooden structures may be translocated without substantial loss of authenticity. Common to all open-air museums, including
2040-602: Is based on a real building on Elvet Bridge in Durham City, opposite the Durham Marriot Hotel (the Royal County), although the second storey is not part of the display. The chemist also sells aerated water (an early form of carbonated soft drinks ) to visitors, sold in marble-stopper sealed Codd bottles (although made to a modern design to prevent the safety issue that saw the original bottles banned: children were smashing
2125-431: Is not an operational part of the railway, the points being hand operated using track side levers. Visitors can only view the interior from a small area inside the door. The goods shed is originally from Alnwick . The goods area represents how general cargo would have been moved on the railway, and for onward transport. The goods shed features a covered platform where road vehicles (wagons and carriages) can be loaded with
2210-627: Is presented as a solicitor's office, based on that of Robert Spence Watson , a Quaker from Newcastle. Reflecting the trade of the era, downstairs is laid out as the partner's or principal office, and the general or clerk's office in the rear. Included is a set of books sourced from ER Hanby Holmes, who practised in Barnard Castle. Presented as The Sun Inn , the pub opened in the town in 1985. It had originally stood in Bondgate in Bishop Auckland , and
2295-467: Is presented as the home of Miss Florence Smith, a music teacher, with old fashioned mid-Victorian furnishings as if inherited from her parents. No. 3 & 4 is presented as the practice and home respectively (with a knocked through door) of dentist J. Jones - the exterior nameplate having come from the surgery of Mr. J. Jones in Hartlepool. Representing the state of dental health at the time, it features both
2380-590: The union with Sweden . Most open-air museums concentrate on rural culture. However, since the opening of the first town museum, The Old Town in Aarhus , Denmark , in 1914, town culture has also become a scope of open-air museums. In many cases, new town quarters are being constructed in existing rural culture museums. Living-history museums, including living-farm museums and living museums , are open-air museums where costumed interpreters portray period life in an earlier era. The interpreters act as if they are living in
2465-698: The Nordic Museum in Stockholm , to establish his own open-air museum Skansen , adjacent to the Nordic Museum. Skansen, opened to the public in 1891, was a more ambitious undertaking, including farm buildings from across Sweden , folk costumes, live animals, folk music, and demonstrations of folk crafts. The second open-air museum in the world to open its doors was also in Sweden: Kulturen in Lund in 1892 . In 1894
2550-513: The Norwegian Museum of Cultural History ( Norsk Folkemuseum ) was founded in Oslo by Hans Aall , inspired by Skansen. Aall bought a large tract of land adjacent to King Oscar's royal collections, probably with a merger between them in mind. The open-air Norsk Folkemuseum was opened at Bygdøy in 1902. In 1907 the royal collections were incorporated after the death of King Oscar and the dissolution of
2635-602: The United Grand Lodge of England , The Duke of Kent visited, to open the town masonic lodge. With the Co-op having opened in 1984, the town area was officially opened in 1985. The pub had opened in the same year, with Ravensworth Terrace having been reconstructed from 1980 to 1985. The newspaper branch office had also been built in the mid-1980s. Elsewhere, the farm on the west side of the site (which became Home Farm) opened in 1983. The present arrangement of visitors entering from
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2720-512: The quarter sessions . The boroughs of Gateshead , South Shields and Sunderland were considered large enough to provide their own county-level services and so they were made county boroughs , independent from Durham County Council. The county council was elected by and provided services to the rest of the county, which area was termed the administrative county . Additional county boroughs were later created at West Hartlepool in 1902 and Darlington in 1915. In 1967 West Hartlepool merged with
2805-568: The "County Durham Independents". Each of these groups form part of the council's administration. Of the other four independents, three sit as the "Unaligned Group" which is not part of the administration and the other does not belong to a group. The next election is due in 2025 . Since the last boundary changes in 2013 the council has comprised 126 councillors representing 63 electoral divisions , with each division electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years. New division boundaries have been drawn up to take effect from
2890-435: The 2025 election, reducing the number of councillors to 98. The council is based at County Hall at Aykley Heads in the northern suburbs of the city of Durham. The building was purpose-built for the council and was completed in 1963. When first created the council met at the courthouse on Old Elvet, which at the time was known as Shire Hall. A few years after its creation the council decided to build its own headquarters on
2975-514: The 20th Century when bought by S&N antecedent, James Deuchar Ltd. The pub is fully operational, and features both a front and back bar, the two storeys above not being part of the exhibit. The interior decoration features the stuffed racing greyhound, Jake's Bonny Mary, which won nine trophies before being put on display in The Gerry in White le Head near Tantobie . Reflecting the reliance on horses for
3060-590: The A1. Unlike previous buildings built on the site, the museum had to replicate rather than relocate this one due to the fact that fewer buildings are being demolished compared to the 1970s, and in any case it was deemed unlikely one could be found to fit the curved shape of the plot. The studio is named after a real business run by John Reed Edis and his daughter Daisy . Mr Edis, originally at 27 Sherburn Road, Durham, in 1895, then 52 Saddler Street from 1897. The museum collection features several photographs, signs and equipment from
3145-597: The Beamish Branch Office of the Northern Daily Mail and the Sunderland Daily Echo , the two storey replica building was built in the mid-1980s and represents the trade practices of the era. Downstairs, on the right, is the branch office, where newspapers would be sold directly and distributed to local newsagents and street vendors, and where orders for advertising copy would be taken. Supplementing it
3230-447: The Edis studio. The name for the chemist is a reference to the business run by William Smith, who relocated to Silver Street, near the original building, in 1902. According to records, the original Edis company had been supplied by chemicals from the original (and still extant) Smith business. Redman Park is a small lawned space with flower borders, opposite Ravensworth Terrace. Its centrepiece
3315-647: The Georgian landscape, opened in November 2015. A major development, named 'Remaking Beamish', was approved by Durham County Council in April 2016, with £10.7m having been raised from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £3.3m from other sources. As of September 2022, new exhibits as part of this project have included a quilter's cottage, a welfare hall, 1950s terrace, recreation park, bus depot, and 1950s farm (all discussed in
3400-652: The Lamson Cash Ball design - common in many large stores of the era, but especially essential to Co-ops, where customer's dividends had to be logged. Ravensworth Terrace is a row of terraced houses , presented as the premises and living areas of various professionals. Representing the expanding housing stock of the era, it was relocated from its original site on Bensham Bank, having been built for professionals and tradesmen between 1830 and 1845. Original former residents included painter John Wilson Carmichael and Gateshead mayor Alexander Gillies. Originally featuring 25 homes,
3485-496: The NER antecedent, the Stockton and Darlington Railway , consisting of just a platform. Under NER ownership, as a result of increasing use, in 1873 the station building was added. As demand declined, passenger service was withdrawn in 1939, followed by the goods service in 1966. Trains continued to use the line for another three years before it closed, the track being lifted in 1970. Although in
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3570-623: The Norsemen". He believed that traditional peasant houses should be preserved against modernity, but failed to attract support for the idea. The first major steps towards the creation of open-air museums was taken in Swedish union ruled Norway in 1881, when the Swedish union King Oscar II transferred four historic farm buildings and the stave church from Gol to the royal manor at Bygdøy near Oslo (Christiania) for public viewing. This, in turn, in 1884 and 1885 inspired Artur Hazelius , founder of
3655-423: The North East from the late 1890s, replacing earlier horse drawn systems. Presented as Joseph Herron, Baker & Confectioner , the bakery was opened in 2013 and features working ovens which produce food for sale to visitors. A two-storey curved building, only the ground floor is used as the exhibit. A bakery has been included to represent the new businesses which sprang up to cater for the growing middle classes -
3740-519: The Town began, the projected town plan incorporated a market square and buildings including a gas works, fire station, ice cream parlour (originally the Central Cafe at Consett), a cast iron bus station from Durham City, school, public baths and a fish and chip shop. East of the Town is the Railway Station, depicting a typical small passenger and goods facility operated by the main railway company in
3825-413: The arched walkway on the side of the building). The sweet rollers were sourced from a variety of shops and factories. Beamish Museum 2014 Presented as a branch of Barclays Bank (Barclay & Company Ltd) using period currency, the bank opened in 1999. It represents the trend of the era when regional banks were being acquired and merged into national banks such as Barclays, formed in 1896. Built to
3910-441: The area. Since 2009, Durham County Council has provided both county-level and district-level services. Much of the county is also covered by civil parishes , which form a lower tier of local government for their areas. The council has been under no overall control since the 2021 election . Labour is the largest party, but a coalition of all the other parties and most of the independent councillors formed to take control of
3995-473: The bottles to retrieve the glass marble). Aerated waters grew in popularity in the era, due to the need for a safe alternative to water, and the temperance movement - being sold in chemists due to the perception they were healthy in the same way mineral waters were. Costing around £600,000 and begun on 18 August 2014, the building's brickwork and timber was built by the museum's own staff and apprentices, using Georgian bricks salvaged from demolition works to widen
4080-507: The climax of industrialisation in the early 20th century. Much of the restoration and interpretation is specific to the late Victorian and Edwardian eras , together with portions of countryside under the influence of Industrial Revolution from 1825. On its 350 acres (140 ha) estate it uses a mixture of translocated , original and replica buildings, a large collection of artefacts, working vehicles and equipment, as well as livestock and costumed interpreters . The museum has received
4165-407: The coal office is from Hexham . The station is equipped with two footbridges, a wrought iron example to the east having come from Howden-le-Wear , and a cast iron example to the west sourced from Dunston . Next to the western bridge, a roadway from the coal yard is presented as crossing the tracks via a gated level crossing (although in reality the road goes nowhere on the north side). Dominating
4250-534: The continent as Mystic Seaport , Plimoth Patuxet (formerly Plimoth Plantation), and Fortress Louisbourg . The approach to interpretation tends to differentiate the North American from the European model. In Europe, the tendency is to usually focus on the buildings. In North America, many open-air museums include interpreters who dress in period costume and conduct period crafts and everyday work. The living museum is, therefore, viewed as an attempt to recreate to
4335-745: The control of the Labour Party continuously since 1925. The council is a member of the North East Combined Authority . The identically-named ceremonial county of Durham is larger than the non-metropolitan county, and includes Darlington , Hartlepool , and the parts of Stockton-on-Tees north of the River Tees . Elected county councils were established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888 , taking over administrative functions previously carried out by unelected magistrates at
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#17330855971374420-560: The council since 2001 have been: Following the 2021 election and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to May 2024, the composition of the council was: Of the independent councillors, six sit with the Derwentside Independents, North East Party and the Green councillor as the "Durham Group", nine form the "Durham County Council Independent Group", three form the "Spennymoor and Tudhoe Independent Group" and three form
4505-460: The council, led by Liberal Democrat councillor Amanda Hopgood. Durham was the first county council to be controlled by Labour , who took power in 1919. Between 1922 and 1925, the council was under no overall control with a Labour minority administration. From 1925 until 2021, Labour held a majority. Political control since 1919 has been as follows: Administrative county Two-tier non-metropolitan county Unitary authority The leaders of
4590-427: The courtyard is a much larger metal shed (utilising iron roof trusses from Fleetwood ), arranged mainly as carriage storage, but with a blacksmith's shop in the corner. The building on the west side of the yard is not part of any display. The interior fittings for the harness room came from Callaly Caste . Many of the horses and horse-drawn vehicles used by the museum are housed in the stables and sheds. Presented as
4675-432: The custom nature of the early motor trade, where only one in 232 people owned a car in 1913, the shop features a showroom to the front (not accessible to visitors), with a garage area to the rear, accessed via the adjacent archway. The works is a replica of a typical garage of the era. Much of the museum's car, motorcycle and bicycle collection, both working and static, is stored in the garage. The frontage has two storeys, but
4760-511: The darker aspects of the American past (e.g., slavery and other forms of injustice). Even before such critiques were published, sites such as Williamsburg and others had begun to add more interpretation of difficult history. Durham County Council Durham County Council is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of County Durham in North East England. The council
4845-460: The display. It features components sourced from Southport and Gateshead The Masonic Hall opened in 2006, and features the frontage from a former masonic hall sited in Park Terrace, Sunderland. Reflecting the popularity of the masons in North East England, as well as the main hall, which takes up the full height of the structure, in a small two story arrangement to the front of the hall is also
4930-512: The earliest ones of the 19th century, is the teaching of the history of everyday living by people from all segments of society. The idea of the open-air museum dates to the 1790s. The first proponent of the idea was the Swiss thinker Charles de Bonstetten , and was based on a visit to an exhibit of sculptures of Norwegian peasants in native costumes in the park of Fredensborg Palace in Denmark ,"Valley of
5015-441: The entrance (south), Home Farm (west), Pockerley (east) and the Town (north). Visitors can also use the museum's buses as a free form of transport between various parts of the museum. Although visitors can also ride on the Town railway and Pockerley Waggonway, these do not form part of the site's transport system (as they start and finish from the same platforms). Beamish was the first English museum to be financed and administered by
5100-486: The event the name 'Durham County Council' was kept. In 2024 a combined authority was established covering Durham, Gateshead , Newcastle upon Tyne , North Tyneside , Northumberland , South Tyneside and Sunderland , called the North East Mayoral Combined Authority . It is chaired by the directly elected Mayor of the North East and oversees the delivery of certain strategic functions across
5185-636: The form of the Masonic lodge (2006) and the Lamp Cabin in the Colliery (2009). In 2010, the entrance building and tea rooms were refurbished. Into the 2010s, further buildings were added - the fish and chip shop (opened 2011) band hall (opened 2013) and pit pony stables (built 2013/14) in the Pit Village, plus a bakery (opened 2013) and chemist and photographers (opened 2016) being added to the town. St Helen's Church, in
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#17330855971375270-508: The fullest extent conditions of a culture , natural environment , or historical period . The objective is immersion, using exhibits so that visitors can experience the specific culture, environment or historical period using the physical senses. Performance and historiographic practices at American living museums have been critiqued in the past several years by scholars in anthropology and theater for creating false senses of authenticity and accuracy, and for neglecting to bear witness to some of
5355-417: The growing popularity of photography in the era, with shops often growing out of or alongside chemists, who had the necessary supplies for developing photographs. The chemist features a dispensary, and equipment from various shops including John Walker , inventor of the friction match. The photographers features a studio, where visitors can dress in period costume and have a photograph taken. The corner building
5440-416: The items unloaded from railway vans. The shed sits on a triangular platform serving two sidings, with a platform mounted hand-crane, which would have been used for transhipment activity (transfer of goods from one wagon to another, only being stored for a short time on the platform, if at all). The coal yard represents how coal would have been distributed from incoming trains to local merchants - it features
5525-407: The local council, and houses associated road vehicles, wagons and other items. Open-air museum Open air is "the unconfined atmosphere ... outside buildings". In the loosest sense, an open-air museum is any institution that includes one or more buildings in its collections, including farm museums, historic house museums , and archaeological open-air museums . Mostly, "open-air museum"
5610-689: The museum arrived when Pockerley Old Hall opened in 1995, followed by the Pockerley Waggonway in 2001. In the early 2000s two large modern buildings were added, to augment the museum's operations and storage capacity - the Regional Resource Centre on the west side opened in 2001, followed by the Regional Museums Store next to the railway station in 2002. Due to its proximity, the latter has been cosmetically presented as Beamish Waggon and Iron Works . Additions to display areas came in
5695-462: The museum by The Gateshead Housing Company and accepted in 2012. The approximately 350-acre (1.4 km) current site, once belonging to the Eden and Shafto families, is a basin-shaped steep-sided valley with woodland areas, a river, some level ground and a south-facing aspect. Visitors enter the site through an entrance arch formed by a steam hammer , across a former opencast mining site and through
5780-539: The museum store stocking various products from the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS), established 1863. A two-storey building, the ground floor comprises the three departments - grocery , drapery and hardware ; the upper floor is taken up by the tea rooms (accessed from Redman Park via a ramp to the rear). Most of the items are for display only, but a small amount of goods are sold to visitors. The store features an operational cash carrier system, of
5865-451: The museum was first established by moving some of the collections into the hall. In 1971, an introductory exhibition, "Museum in the Making" opened at the hall. The museum was opened to visitors on its current site for the first time in 1972, with the first translocated buildings (the railway station and colliery winding engine) being erected the following year. The first trams began operating on
5950-404: The museum would be run by, be about and exist for the local populace, desiring them to see the museum as theirs, featuring items collected from them. Fearing it was now almost too late, Atkinson adopted a policy of "unselective collecting" — "you offer it to us and we will collect it." Donations ranged in size from small items to locomotives and shops, and Atkinson initially took advantage of
6035-568: The neighbouring borough of Hartlepool (which had just covered the old town ), with the enlarged county borough thereafter being called Hartlepool. Stockton-on-Tees , Billingham and surrounding areas were removed from the administrative county in 1968 to become part of the County Borough of Teesside . The first elections took place in January 1889 and the county council formally came into being on 1 April 1889. On that day its first official meeting
6120-494: The ovens being of the modern electric type which were growing in use. The building was sourced from Anfield Plain (which had a bakery trading as Joseph Herron), and was moved to Beamish in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The frontage features a stained glass from a baker's shop in South Shields. It also uses fittings from Stockton-on-Tees . Presented as Beamish Motor & Cycle Works , the motor garage opened in 1994. Reflecting
6205-564: The part of Teesdale south of the River Tees from the North Riding of Yorkshire , and Darlington was brought back under the county council's control. Until 1974, the lower tier of local government comprised numerous boroughs , urban districts and rural districts . The districts were also reorganised in 1974 into eight non-metropolitan districts : Chester-le-Street , Darlington , Derwentside , Durham , Easington , Sedgefield , Teesdale , and Wear Valley . In 1997, Darlington became
6290-471: The purpose of studying, collecting, preserving and exhibiting buildings, machinery, objects and information illustrating the development of industry and the way of life of the north of England", and it selected Beamish Hall , having been vacated by the National Coal Board , as a suitable location. In August 1970, with Atkinson appointed as its first full-time director together with three staff members,
6375-478: The region at the time, the North Eastern Railway (NER). A short running line extends west in a cutting around the north side of the Town itself, with trains visible from the windows of the stables. It runs for a distance of 1 ⁄ 4 mile - the line used to connect to the colliery sidings until 1993 when it was lifted between the town and the colliery so that the tram line could be extended. During 2009
6460-507: The relevant sections of this article). The coming years will see replicas of aged miners' homes from South Shields , a cinema from Ryhope , and social housing will feature a block of four relocated Airey houses , prefabricated concrete homes originally designed by Sir Edwin Airey , which previously stood in Kibblesworth . Then-recently vacated and due for demolition, they were instead offered to
6545-421: The running line was relaid so that passenger rides could recommence from the station during 2010. Representing passenger services is Rowley Station, a station building on a single platform, opened in 1976, having been relocated to the museum from the village of Rowley near Consett, just a few miles from Beamish. The original Rowley railway station was opened in 1845 (as Cold Rowley, renamed Rowley in 1868) by
6630-400: The south was introduced in 1986. At the beginning of the 1990s, further developments in the Pit Village were opened, the chapel in 1990, and the board school in 1992. The whole tram circle was in operation by 1993. Further additions to the Town came in 1994 with the opening of the sweet shop and motor garage, Beamish Museum 2014 followed by the bank in 1999. The first Georgian component of
6715-418: The station is the large building externally presented as Beamish Waggon and Iron Works , estd 1857. In reality this is the Regional Museums Store (see below), although attached to the north side of the store are two covered sidings (not accessible to visitors), used to service and store the locomotives and stock used on the railway. A corrugated iron hut adjacent to the 'iron works' is presented as belonging to
6800-421: The terrace was to be demolished when the museum saved it in the 1970s, reconstructing six of them on the Town site between 1980 and 1985. They are two storey buildings, with most featuring display rooms on both floors - originally the houses would have also housed a servant in the attic. The front gardens are presented in a mix of the formal style, and the natural style that was becoming increasingly popular. No. 2
6885-410: The typical family run shops of the era, with living quarters above the shop (the second storey not being part of the display). To the front of the ground floor is a shop, where traditional sweets and chocolate (which was still relatively expensive at the time) are sold to visitors, while in the rear of the ground floor is a manufacturing area where visitors can view the techniques of the time (accessed via
6970-625: The upper floor is only a small mezzanine and is not used as part of the display. Presented as the Annfield Plain Industrial Co-operative Society Ltd, (but more commonly referred to as the Anfield Plain Co-op Store) this department store opened in 1984, and was relocated to Beamish from Annfield Plain in County Durham. The Annfield Plain co-operative society was originally established in 1870, with
7055-544: Was donated to the museum by its final owners, the Scottish and Newcastle Breweries . Originally a "one-up one down" cottage, the earliest ownership has been traced to James Thompson, on 21 January 1806. Known as The Tiger Inn until the 1850s, from 1857 to 1899 under the ownership of the Leng family, it flourished under the patronage of miners from Newton Cap and other collieries. Latterly run by Elsie Edes, it came under brewery ownership in
7140-628: Was held at the old Shire Hall on Old Elvet in Durham, the courthouse (built 1811) which had served as the meeting place of the quarter sessions which preceded the county council. The first chairman of the council was John Lloyd Wharton , who was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Ripon (in Yorkshire ); he had also been chairman of the Durham Quarter Sessions since 1871. Durham
7225-432: Was the first county council to be controlled by the Labour Party , which won the most seats in 1919. In 1974, the county was redesignated as a non-metropolitan county under the Local Government Act 1972 . As part of those reforms the county ceded territory in the north-east to the new county of Tyne and Wear and in the south-east to the new county of Cleveland , but gained the former Startforth Rural District covering
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