List of museums in Tyne and Wear

Last updated April 16, 2023

This list of museums in Tyne and Wear, England contains museums which are defined for this context as institutions (including nonprofit organizations, government entities, and private businesses) that collect and care for objects of cultural, artistic, scientific, or historical interest and make their collections or related exhibits available for public viewing. Also included are non-profit art galleries and university art galleries. Museums that exist only in cyberspace (i.e., virtual museums) are not included.

Name	Town/City	Region	Type	Summary
Arbeia Roman Fort and Museum	South Shields	South Tyneside	Archaeology	Excavated and reconstructed Roman fort, museum of artefacts and life of a Roman soldier
Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art	Gateshead	Gateshead	Art	Contemporary art
Bessie Surtees House	Newcastle upon Tyne	Newcastle upon Tyne	Historic house	Operated by Historic England, two five-storey 16th and 17th century merchants' houses
Bowes Railway	Springwell	City of Sunderland	Railway	Preserved operational standard gauge cable railway system built to transport coal to boats, built by George Stephenson in 1826
Castle Keep	Newcastle upon Tyne	Newcastle upon Tyne	Historic house	Keep and remains of the medieval castle
Centre for Life	Newcastle upon Tyne	Newcastle upon Tyne	Science	Permanent exhibits about human life
Customs House	South Shields	South Tyneside	Art	Arts centre with exhibit gallery, theatre and cinema
Discovery Museum	Newcastle upon Tyne	Newcastle upon Tyne	Multiple	Science, local history, shipbuilding and industrial heritage, Turbinia , first steam turbine powered steamship, regimental museum for the 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars and the Northumberland Hussars, costumes, art exhibits of painting, photography and sculpture
Fulwell Windmill	Fulwell	City of Sunderland	Mill	website, restored early 19th century windmill
Gateshead Heritage @ St Mary`s	Gateshead	Gateshead	Local	website, local history, culture,
Globe Gallery	North Shields	North Tyneside	Art	website, contemporary art
Great North Museum: Hancock	Newcastle upon Tyne	Newcastle upon Tyne	Multiple	Natural history, archaeology and Roman Britain, Ancient Rome and Egypt, dinosaurs and fossils, ethnography
Hatton Gallery	Newcastle upon Tyne	Newcastle upon Tyne	Art	Part of Newcastle University
Holy Jesus Hospital	Newcastle upon Tyne	Newcastle upon Tyne	History	Operated by the National Trust, medieval building in use for 700 years, exhibits about its use as a 14th-century Augustinian friary, 17th century almshouse and Victorian soup kitchen
Jarrow Hall	Jarrow	South Tyneside	Multiple	Life and times of monk, scholar and author Venerable Bede, includes artifacts from the adjacent medieval church, museum exhibits, Anglo-Saxon demonstration farm with heritage breeds of animals
Laing Art Gallery	Newcastle upon Tyne	Newcastle upon Tyne	Art	Collections include 18th and 18th century British oil paintings and sculpture, watercolours, ceramics, silver and glassware, 20th century art
Monkwearmouth Station Museum	Monkwearmouth	City of Sunderland	Railway	Formerly Railway and transportation history and heritage, now contains a collection of football memorabilia.
National Glass Centre	Sunderland	City of Sunderland	Art	Historic and contemporary glass, history of glass-making
Newburn Hall Motor Museum	Newburn	Newcastle upon Tyne	Automotive	information
North East Land, Sea and Air Museums	Sunderland	City of Sunderland	Aviation	Historic aircraft, aviation history, Military vehicles, historic emergency services vehicles, buses and trams.
Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art	Sunderland	City of Sunderland	Art	Contemporary art
Northumbria University Gallery	Newcastle upon Tyne	Newcastle upon Tyne	Art	website, part of Northumbria University
Old Low Light	North Shields	North Tyneside	Maritime heritage	website - Galleries, exhibits, activities, viewing platform and café, housed in a former lighthouse
Path Head Watermill	Blaydon	Gateshead	Industry	Restored water wheel and joiner's shop
Reg Vardy Gallery	Sunderland	City of Sunderland	Art	website, information, contemporary art gallery of the University of Sunderland
Ryhope Engines Museum	Ryhope	City of Sunderland	Technology	Victorian pumping station with two beam engines, steam engines and pumps, boilers, a blacksmith's forge, waterwheel, replica plumber's shop
Segedunum Roman Fort, Baths and Museum	Wallsend	North Tyneside	Archaeology	Excavated Roman fort along Hadrian's Wall, museum of artefacts and life of a Roman soldier, shipbuilding and coal mining industries, reconstructed Roman baths
Seven Stories	Newcastle upon Tyne	Newcastle upon Tyne	Art	Art of British children’s books
Shipley Art Gallery	Gateshead	Gateshead	Art	Contemporary crafts and design, fine art
South Shields Museum & Art Gallery	South Shields	South Tyneside	Local	website, local history, culture, art
Souter Lighthouse	Marsden	South Tyneside	Maritime	Operated by the National Trust, lighthouse's engine room, light tower and keeper's living quarters
St. Mary's Lighthouse	St Mary's Island	North Tyneside	Maritime	Lighthouse to tour, exhibits about the lighthouse and island's wildlife
Stephenson Railway Museum	North Shields	North Tyneside	Railway	Steam-powered, electric and diesel engines, history of area electric transport, northern terminus of the North Tyneside Steam Railway
Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens	Sunderland	City of Sunderland	Multiple	Art, textiles, pottery, glass, coal mining, local history, social history, natural history, industry, geology
Tynemouth Castle and Priory	Tynemouth	North Tyneside	Historic house	Operated by English Heritage, remains and exhibits about the Anglo-Saxon settlement, Anglican monastery, royal castle, artillery fort and coastal defence
Tynemouth Life Brigade Watch House Museum	Tynemouth	North Tyneside	Maritime	website, history of area lifesaving, shipwreck artifacts
Tynemouth Toy Museum	Tynemouth	North Tyneside	Toy	website, toys, dolls, prams, puzzles, games
Washington 'F' Pit	Washington	City of Sunderland	Technology	website, Victorian steam engine, engine house and headgear for a coal mine
Washington Old Hall	Washington	City of Sunderland	Historic house	Operated by the National Trust, 16th century stone manor house, ancestral home of the family of George Washington, the first President of the United States

Defunct museums

Dial Cottage, West Moor,^[1]^[2] Killingworth, one of the homes of George Stephenson from 1804 and where the infant Robert Stephenson grew up
Military Vehicle Museum, Exhibition Park, Newcastle, closed in 2006,^[3] may reopen^[4]
Municipal Museum of Science and Industry, Exhibition Park, Newcastle, collections now part of Discovery Museum
Museum of Antiquities, collections now part of Great North Museum: Hancock
Shefton Museum, collections now part of Great North Museum: Hancock

Related Research Articles

George Stephenson was a British civil engineer and mechanical engineer during the Industrial Revolution. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians as a great example of diligent application and thirst for improvement. Self-help advocate Samuel Smiles particularly praised his achievements. His chosen rail gauge, sometimes called "Stephenson gauge", was the basis for the 4 feet 8+1⁄2 inches (1.435 m) standard gauge used by most of the world's railways.

Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is also the most populous city of North East England. Newcastle developed around a Roman settlement called Pons Aelius and the settlement later took the name of a castle built in 1080 by William the Conqueror's eldest son, Robert Curthose.

Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, Sunderland, North Tyneside and South Tyneside. It is bordered by Northumberland to the north and Durham to the south; the county boundary was formerly split between these counties with the border as the River Tyne.

North Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It forms part of the greater Tyneside conurbation. North Tyneside Council is headquartered at Cobalt Park, Wallsend.

Killingworth, formerly Killingworth Township, is a town in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. Lying within the historic county of Northumberland.

Turbinia was the first steam turbine-powered steamship. Built as an experimental vessel in 1894, and easily the fastest ship in the world at that time, Turbinia was demonstrated dramatically at the Spithead Navy Review in 1897 and set the standard for the next generation of steamships, the majority of which would be turbine powered. The vessel is currently located at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England, while her original powerplant is located at the Science Museum in London.

The North Tyneside Steam Railway and Stephenson Steam Railway are visitor attractions in North Shields, North East England. The museum and railway workshops share a building on Middle Engine Lane adjacent to the Silverlink Retail Park. The railway is a standard gauge line, running south for 2 miles (3.2 km) from the museum to Percy Main. The railway is operated by the North Tyneside Steam Railway Association (NTSRA). The museum is managed by Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums on behalf of North Tyneside Council.

The Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, is located on New Bridge Street West. The gallery was designed in the Baroque style with Art Nouveau elements by architects Cackett & Burns Dick and is now a Grade II listed building. It was opened in 1904 and is now managed by Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums and sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. In front of the gallery is the Blue Carpet. The building, which was financed by a gift from a local wine merchant, Alexander Laing, is Grade II listed.

Walker is a residential suburb and electoral ward in the south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great North Museum: Hancock</span> Natural history museum in Newcastle upon Tyne, England

The Great North Museum: Hancock is a museum of natural history and ancient civilisations in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.

The Discovery Museum is a science museum and local history museum situated in Blandford Square in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It displays many exhibits of local history, including the ship, Turbinia. It is managed by Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums.

Ralph Hedley was a realist painter, woodcarver and illustrator, best known for his paintings portraying scenes of everyday life in the North East of England.

Forest Hall is a village in the borough of North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is 4 miles from Newcastle upon Tyne. It borders Killingworth to the north, Holystone to the east and Benton to the south. The village has seen a slight increase in antisocial behaviour in recent years.

Exhibition Park is a public park connected to the south-eastern corner of the Town Moor, Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The park is home to numerous facilities including sports areas, a boating lake, playgrounds and a skatepark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums</span>

Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM) is a regional group of United Kingdom national museums and the county archives service located across the Tyne and Wear area of north-east England. They have been administered by a joint board of local authorities since the abolition of the Tyne and Wear Metropolitan County Council in 1986.

The Hatton Gallery is Newcastle University's art gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is based in the University's Fine Art Building.

The North East Coast Exhibition was a world's fair held in Newcastle, Tyne and Wear and ran from May to October 1929. Held five years after the British Empire Exhibition in Wembley Park, London, and at the start of the Great Depression the event was held to encourage local heavy industry.

The Natural History Society of Northumbria (NHSN) is a voluntary organization to promote the study of natural history and protect the wildlife of North East England.

A foyboat is a small vessel primarily used to assist the mooring and servicing of a larger vessel. It is not a tug per se. The word has often been associated with the rivers of North East England.

Patricia Anne "Tish" Murtha was a British social documentary photographer best known for documenting marginalised communities, social realism and working class life in Newcastle upon Tyne and the North East of England.

References

↑ https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/222809 Geograph image of Dial Cottage
↑ https://www.flickr.com/photos/pinzac55/7267455114/ Flickr sourced image taken inside this museum when it was open in 1994.
↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-15707555 "Newcastle's Military Vehicle Museum building for sale", BBC News, November 12, 2011
↑ "Former Newcastle United Chairman Freddy Shepherd to Reopen Museum in Exhibition Park - Sky Tyne and Wear". Archived from the original on 30 June 2013. Retrieved 21 May 2013. "Former Newcastle United Chairman Freddy Shepherd To Reopen Museum In Exhibition Park", Sky Tyne and Wear, May 18, 2012

v t e Ceremonial county of Tyne and Wear
North East England Portal
Metropolitan districts	City of Newcastle upon Tyne City of Sunderland Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside Metropolitan Borough of South Tyneside
Major settlements	Birtley Blaydon Boldon Gateshead Gosforth Hebburn Hetton-le-Hole Houghton-le-Spring Jarrow Killingworth Longbenton Newcastle upon Tyne North Shields Ryton South Shields Sunderland Tynemouth Wallsend Washington Whickham Whitley Bay See also: List of civil parishes in Tyne and Wear
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List of museums in Tyne and Wear

Contents

Defunct museums

Related Research Articles

References

See also