Neville Hall to join North East Museums

One of Newcastle's finest Victorian buildings which houses an internationally significant mining engineering archive is being saved for the region.

Newcastle City Council's Cabinet yesterday (Monday 20 July) agreed a recommendation to take ownership of Neville Hall, formerly the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers.

The building on Westgate Road which opened in 1872, and its vast collection of mining and engineering records, faced an uncertain future after the charity which runs the building The Common Room of the Great North experienced financial challenges caused in part by lockdown.

The council will now take ownership of the building and North East Museums will run it as part of their estate of museums, galleries and heritage sites across the region.

North East Museums, which manages 12 cultural venues including the Great North Museum: Hancock, Discovery Museum and the Laing Art Gallery, will open up the venue for special events days, as well as weddings, musical performances and conferences, so the building, which has benefited from a £4.1m grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund in 2018, can become self-sustaining.

North East Museums already attracts over 800,000 visits to its venues each year and runs its own commercial operation delivering similar activities, with all profits being used to support running of the historic sites.

North East Museums, which also manages Tyne & Wear Archives, will oversee stewardship of the mining engineering archive, which is one of the largest and comprehensive, public collections on mining engineering in the world. It includes many early scientific and technical reports relating to the development of the coal industry and associated mechanical engineering, especially the early work on safety in mines.

It is expected that North East Museums will begin management of Neville Hall in autumn 2026.

Cabinet member for Culture, Communities and Youth Services, Cllr Rob Austin, said:

"Neville Hall is a magnificent building – a real architectural gem with an internationally important collection of mining artefacts.

"It is important for the heritage of our region that the building and collection are safeguarded for the future. Unfortunately, the running of the building and servicing the debt has outstripped the charity's ability to generate income so we have stepped in to save it.

"North East Museums have a proven track record of managing collections in buildings such as this, so I am pleased we have come up with a way of collaborating with financial support from the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority.

"I look forward to the next chapter of this beautiful building's development."

Keith Merrin, Director of North East Museums, said:

"We're looking forward to bringing this magnificent historic building and important archive into our portfolio. It is a fantastic space for special events, meetings and conferences which will be a major part of its future use.

"It also houses a huge archive about our region's industrial heritage, and we're excited about the potential for making connections to collections across our other museums including Discovery Museum and Woodhorn Museum."

Matt Boyle Chair of The Common Room of the Great North trustees said: 

"Neville Hall and its collection chronicle the immense contribution the North East made to building the Industrial age. Saving both Neville Hall and making the collection more accessible have been two of our objectives.

"Combining the collection with the North East Museums collections at Woodhorn Museum and the Discovery Museum is another stage of evolution for the building and the North East's heritage.

"We would like to thank all the partners who've made this next step possible and look forward to the next chapter in The Common Room's history."

Cabinet's decision for the council to take control of Neville Hall is subject to a call-in period of five days where the decision can be put on hold and scrutinised before being implemented.

Please contact: communications@northeastmuseums.org.uk