Blog
Behind the Scenes at Bailiffgate
Our museum blog below features updates and stories about the work of Bailiffgate Museum and Gallery. This includes both activities in the museum itself and our community projects. These my involve working with a particular street or area to gather personal stories and facts about the community. They may also involve creating a database on a particular topic. Our well-used World War One database on our bailiffgate collections website is a good example of this.
Generally a blog has been written by one of our volunteers, so that you can gain a real-life picture of what it is like to do volunteer work at Bailiffgate.
Back home from Prince George
A short time ago Ida Alleman, of Prince George, British Columbia, came to the museum with her son to present us with a beautiful ammunition belt pouch. It had been collected by her father who was in the United States airforce based in England during World War 2. The pouch was made for the 3rd […]
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The Mice!
After months of frantic knitting Mary (Dudley’s wife) has finally put away her knitting needles! The Mice have all been dressed by Hilary and are now on their way to new adventures around our lovely town of Alnwick. 20 have found homes in various shops and offices around town, they will form part of our […]
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Coquet Voices Project
Last summer, while we were waiting to hear about our OOT project, we acquired a grant from the Community Foundation to run a traditional music and dialect project in Upper Coquetdale. Three local first schools, Rothbury, Thropton and Harbottle were keen to get involved and we appointed James Tait, local musician, Rothbury resident, and writer […]
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Meeting Stella Tennant
After weeks of synchronising diaries, Hilary and I finally had a date earlier this year to meet the “world famous” Stella Tennant. We were early. Even taking into account an unscheduled visit to the pretty market town of Duns where we definitely did not want to be, we eventually managed via common sense and sat […]
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The great Cabbage Controversy
It seems that the difficulty of retaining a good fruit and veg merchant in Alnwick marketplace is not as recent as we thought. Problems seem to go back almost 200 years from the evidence of this poster. One can only assume that Earl Grey-whose enormous estate would have employed many gardeners- thought that selling off […]
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The Half Shilling Curate
Just seen this new book in the shop. It looks really fascinating. The write-ups say this… Sarah Reay lives in Belsay, Northumberland. At the end of 2016, her grandfather’s story from the Great War was published, The Half-Shilling Curate, A Personal Account of War & Faith 1914-1918. It is now in its 3rd edition. In 1915, […]
Read MoreYes it Snowed in December 2018!
It snowed! Yes we really did have a fall of snow at the December Museum Tots. Ok it was of the cotton wool variety but it made a magical end to the last Tots of 2018! The children collected the snow after following Santa’s footsteps to the transformed Edwardian schoolroom and joined in singing some Christmassy […]
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From the Gazette- 25 Years Ago
From the Northumberland Gazette Friday December 23rd 1993: “The campaign to establish the Bailiffgate, Alnwick and District Museum received an unexpected boost when Alan Beith MP wrote to the committee expressing his wholehearted support. Mr Beith had picked up the museum’s first newsletter when he visited the Exhibition of Old Alnwick Memorabilia presented by Mr […]
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Bailiffgate and the snowfight
This amazing image of the front of what is now Bailiffgate Museum in the snow turned up recently. We have little information about it, however. There is no mistaking our distinctive pillars and gates. At the time these would have been the gates of St Mary’s Catholic Church. There are several intriguing aspects to the […]
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