Great North Museum - Hancock
The Living Planet gallery spans the ground and first floor of the museum and tells the story of wildlife and habitats. It also features live animal tanks and aquaria. Also on the ground floor, the Hadrian’s Wall gallery enables visitors to discover the detailed history of the World Heritage Site as well as finding out about all the forts, milecastles and associated museums that can be visited today. The gallery includes a wealth of archaeological finds from across the 73 mile stretch of Hadrian’s Wall.
The Mouse House, near the entrance of the Museum, is especially for Under 5s and there are regular activities for younger visitors in this space. See what’s on for details.
Also on the ground floor is Fossil Stories, which uses fossils show major changes to the landscape and the animals and plants that were around millions of years ago. It also features a T.rex replica skeleton.
On the first floor of the Museum visitors can discover the world of the Ancient Egyptians - including two mummies - and marvel at important collections of Greek and Etruscan art and archaeology. Natural Northumbria uncovers what is special about the North East of England’s animals and plants exploring woodlands, uplands, lowlands, and coastal areas.
World Cultures showcases objects in the Museum collections from across the world including the Islands of the Pacific, the great land masses of Africa and Asia, the plains of North America, as well some parts of Europe (including Newcastle, of course!).
The collections in the museum belong to the Natural History Society of Northumbria (NHSN), the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne (SANT) and the Shefton collection was bequeathed by the late Prof Brian Shefton.
Opening times
Monday: 10am - 5pm
Tuesday: 10am - 5pm
Wednesday: 10am - 5pm
Thursday: 10am - 5pm
Friday: 10am - 5pm
Saturday: 10am - 4pm
Sunday: 11am - 4pm
Click here for additional accessibility information about this venue with our Friends DisabledGo.
Comments
Fabulous museum, accessible toilets, accessible pathways to the museum.
2 cafes, and a place for people to eat packed lunches.
Often have special exhibitions on like the Polar exhibition, and these are always good for the kids and always accessible. They also have special autism friendly days.
The FANE museum group visited the Great North Museum in November 2017. We all really enjoyed the museum and its many exhibits, in particular the Living Planet exhibit, with lots of different models of animals from all over the world! We found the museum to be really accessible for those of all different needs, with ramps to and from the building, lifts throughout and Braille indicators in parts of the museum.
We had a break in the cafe and were all really pleased with the variety of food and drink they had on offer, all at very reasonable prices. The staff were all really helpful, happy to tell us more information about the exhibits and direct us to the most interesting parts of the museum, such as the dinosaur skeleton!
We spent around two hours in the museum, and this gave us plenty of time to look carefully at most of the exhibits, and have a quick browse in the gift shop before we left.