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Summative essay: 1,000-word critical analysis of ‘Beamish, the Living Museum of the
North’

This essay will critically analyse Beamish Museum and its accuracy in depicting the history

of the North East of England. The museum claims to be, ‘A living, working museum that

uses its collections to connect with people from all walks of life and tells the story of

everyday life in the North East of England.’ 1 The purpose of this museum will be explored in

terms of its effectiveness and credibility as a historical resource. Also, the way in which

Beamish presents any historical information will criticised through its ability to engage with

the audience.

Beamish Museum is located in County Durham and was the first open air museum in

England. The primary audience for the museum is anyone with an interest for history,

particularly the history of the North. However, due to its interactive and stimulating nature, it

is also a day out for families, who may not necessarily be there for the educational aspect.

Although, this could be a negative for its historical reliability as the museum could then focus

on making it appealing to families and including fun features instead of spending the time on

the accuracy of the information they are depicting. The experiences that the museum presents

to their audience are both non visual and visual sensory encounters. The museum uses

buildings and machinery from the time, actors and guided tours to present the information.

There is the use of naturalism throughout the museum, through the use of the authentic

structures and sensory techniques, like realistic smells as you move around. The museum

aims to educate people on each exhibit by allowing them to engage and connect with each

part. Beamish museum’s content is mainly looking at the real lives of those living in each

time period and less of general events that occurred at the time.

1
‘About us: Beamish's purpose and guiding principles.’ (2023), available at
https://www.beamish.org.uk/about/about-us/, accessed 5 January 2023.

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 The accuracy of the education that Beamish intends to provide will now be discussed.

Beamish Museum’s most prominent feature is its structures and replicas from the different

time periods. This is a unique way of sharing the information and could be beneficial to those

who are less interested in just reading the information and would rather engage with it. The

use of historical buildings gives Beamish a sense of legitimacy and acts as credentials for the

information they are sharing. The idea of an open-air museum is particularly useful with

children, Beamish does supply learning resources for school trips on their websites 2 and a,

‘people’s collection,’ which is a digitised version of any primary sources they have held at

Beamish Museum.3 These could be very beneficial in making sure that the educational aspect

of Beamish does not get lost in any excitement of the activities. It could be argued, after

looking closer at the techniques used, that the sensory aspects are too enjoyable for the

realities of the information being portrayed. It can be understood that visitors would not want

to experience the poverty or ugliness of each section. However, there are crucial parts of

these eras that are being missed out to create the ideal family day out. In an article by Ryan

Trimm, the lack of industry exhibits throughout Beamish Museum is discussed, despite

industrial labour being so important in all time periods. Trimm points out that the only

inclusion of industry is in the colliery, when visitors can go to a mine. While in the mine, the

guides use the first person when occasionally describing the unpleasant mining experience,

this suggests an attempt to cause empathy within the visitors. Nonetheless, Timm also states

that the mine itself is, ‘cleansed and regularized to better permit comfortable gazing.’ 4 This

undoes any of the benefits that the realism of Beamish Museum offers, a censored version of

history is told. The danger that mining posed should not be overlooked, in an article it is

described that, ‘year in, year out, the newspapers reported the endless stream of lesser

2
‘Learning resources’ (2023), available at https://www.beamish.org.uk/learning/learning-resources/, accessed 5
January 2023.
3
‘Peoples collection’ (2023), available at http://collections.beamish.org.uk/, accessed 5 January 2023.
4
Ryan S Trimm, ‘Taking you back: Region, industry and technologies of living history at Beamish’, European
Journal of Cultural Studies, Vol 15, No. 4 (2012), pp. 541.

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accidents in which individuals or small numbers of pitmen were killed or maimed, and to

these must be added the toll to mining diseases.’5 This is a clear example of how important it

is to educate people on the lives that were lost due to the harsh realities of industry labour,

there is improvement needed to include more of this.

Beamish Museum was created by Dr Frank Atkinson who had a passion for history,

specifically in the North East of England. Atkinson felt like England was losing its industrial

heritage and wanted to create a museum that brought the regions history that he felt so

strongly for to life. 6 Despite the fact that there may not be as much of a focus on industry in

the modern day at Beamish, Atkinsons passion is still shown through the effort that goes into

the exhibits. Denise Cole describes Beamish’s ambitious training as contributing to the social

and economic development of the North of England. 7 This is supported by the guiding

principles of Beamish which states that they want to be part of the community. This can be

seen through anyone who enjoys Beamish being able to donate and support tourism in the

North of England.

To conclude, the concept of the Beamish Museum is ideal for exploring history in a

modern and unique way. The open-air aspects allows for excitement while visitors are also

gaining historical knowledge. This allows for all ages to be involved and interested, bringing

people from outside of the North to visit. Unfortunately, it is impossible to ignore how much

essential information is left out in order to deliver this sanitised experience. The mines are the

only time any negatives are shown, this ruins the authenticity of the rest of the displays.

History should not be changed in order to conform to a particular ideal, this undermines any

5
Norman McCord, ‘Some Aspects of North-East England in the Nineteenth Century’, Maney Publishing for the
School of History, (1972), pp.75.
6
History of Beamish, (2023), available at https://www.beamish.org.uk/about/history-of-beamish/, accessed 5
January 2023.
7
Denise Cole, ‘Museum marketing as a tool for survival and creativity: the mining museum perspective’,
Museum Management and Curatorship, Vol. 23, No. 2, (2008), pp. 180.

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reliability the museum had earned through its commitment of telling the North of England’s

story.

Word count: 1,093

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Bibliography

Beamish, (2023), available at https://www.beamish.org.uk/, accessed 5 January 2023.

Ryan S Trimm, ‘Taking you back: Region, industry and technologies of living history at

Beamish’, European Journal of Cultural Studies, Vol 15, No. 4 (2012), pp. 528–546.

Norman McCord, ‘Some Aspects of North-East England in the Nineteenth Century’, Maney

Publishing for the School of History, (1972), pp.73–88.

Denise Cole, ‘Museum marketing as a tool for survival and creativity: the mining museum

perspective’, Museum Management and Curatorship, Vol. 23, No. 2, (2008), pp. 177 –192.