Pictures of Beamish Open Air Museum

a Museum in the town of Beamish, in the county of County Durham

About Beamish Open Air Museum

Beamish Open Air Museum lies in a basin of stunning countryside covering over three hundred acres. This is no ordinary museum, but an award winning hands on celebration of a way of life that has long since vanished. The museum, through exhibitions, reconstruction of buildings, machinery and other objects tells the story of the spirit of the people of the North of England during two great periods of change. One, was the start of the Industrial Revolution in 1825 together with the coming of the railways, the other being 1913 when heavy industry was settled in the area.

When the museum was first established in 1970 some of the buildings to be seen where already part of the site, these were the Drift Mine, Home Farm and Pockerley Manor. Others, such as houses and shops had to be taken down from elsewhere in the North and reconstructed. Each is filled with appropriate furniture, objects and machinery.

Features of the museum include the reconstruction of an award winning town, a colliery village and coal mine, railway station and home farm, all set against the background of the 1900's. From the early 1800's there is the 1825 Railway-Pockerley Waggonway and historic Pockerley Manor.

Everything here is brought to life in a natural way, thus nothing appears out of place, but rather as though it has always been there. Visitors are greeted by guides in the costume of the period who are trained to impart whatever information may be required. You will find no technological virtual reality at Beamish, the belief here is who better to impart knowledge than the people whose proud heritage it is.

Whole families can enjoy themselves at Beamish, there are romantic horse driven carriages, trams - including those with open top, buses, trains, vintage cars and tractors, all of which have been carefully restored to present you with the best possible experience of northern life of yester-year. Instantly appealing, especially to the older generation are the tramways and original charabancs which may be used to hop around the site.

Throughout the year the museum offers a full program of interesting events, these include displays of hand made rag rugs from the North Country, a Steam weekend, a rally of the famous Morgan car, and the annual Empire Day Celebration held on the birthday of Queen Victoria in celebration of the end of the Boer War. On this occasion there is a colourful brass band and as is usual at Beamish simply everyone joins in the fun.

Yes there is all of this and much more, it is not at all surprising that this fantastic museum has won numerous awards, for it is surely unrivalled by any other museum in Europe. To miss out on Beamish is to miss a real treat!

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