Tuesday, May 2nd, 2023 Beamish, UK
Updated: Aug 17, 2023
Today we visited the outdoor Beamish Museum, about a 30-minute drive from South Shields. The museum's guiding principle is to preserve an example of everyday life in urban and rural North East England at the climax of industrialization 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 estate it uses a mixture of translocated, original and replica buildings, a large collection of artifacts, working vehicles and equipment, as well as livestock and costumed interpreters.
We love the Beamish Museum and visit it every time we come to this area of England. There are so many interesting things to see and do at Beamish, and it is continually evolving as they acquire new buildings and equipment. I especially like to visit the coal mine which existed on the site before the museum was established; it’s a “drift mine” which means you can walk into it rather than having to go down a shaft. Small groups are escorted into the mine by a guide, always an ex-coalminer, who explains the process and working conditions. The tunnel gets narrower and narrower as you walk deeper into the hillside; at the end of the tunnel the guide shows the coal face and turns out the lights for a brief moment to demonstrate how dark it really is.
We had lunch at one of the two fish and chip shops on site; the fryers use beef fat to cook the food as this is how was done in times gone by – the fish and chips were delicious! In the old schoolhouse we got to sit at the desks with inkwells and see how a classroom was set up, it is very well done. There are shops, a pit village with houses just like my grandparents lived in, a 1900’s town which includes a Masons Lodge; on a previous visit we got a personal tour of the inner working of the lodge – amazing. More recently a 1950’s town is being added.
Note that all of the buildings in the pictures below were dismantled at their original location and moved to Beamish where they were carefully reassembled.
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