Beamish Museum

Beamish is a world famous open air museum telling the story of the people of North East England at two important points in their history – 1825 and 1913. Beamish stands in 300 acres of beautiful County Durham countryside, eight miles south west of Newcastle upon Tyne, twelve miles north west of Durham city. It is not a traditional museum. Most of the houses, shops and other buildings have been dismantled, brought to Beamish and rebuilt here. Some – Home Farm, Pockerley Manor and the Drift Mine – were here already. All of the buildings are filled with furniture, machinery and objects, real artefacts from our designated collections. Whilst at Beamish visitors can enjoy unlimited free rides on our historic transport. Hop on board a Beamish tram to start your journey back in time. The tramway runs in a 1½ mile circuit of the museum with stops in or near each of the period areas. The Beamish fleet consists of six beautifully restored vehicles