The William Marriott Museum

The Midland and Great Northern (M&GN) Joint Railway Society was founded in October 1959 after the closure of the majority of the M&GN system on the 28th February 1959.

The former M&GN lines covered the entire map of Norfolk, stretching from junctions on the East Coast Mainline in Lincolnshire in the west, through the railway town of Melton Constable and onwards to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft in the East.

The Society was one of the first railway preservation groups in the UK and its founder members worked hard to purchase and preserve the section of line between Sheringham and Weybourne, which has been subsequently extended towards Holt. To obtain a Light Railway order in order to run trains, the Society founded what is now known as the NNR plc.

The Society owns and operates five locomotives and lots of unique items of rolling stock. It is the major shareholder of the North Norfolk Railway and as the NNR’s supporting charity, the Society’s locomotives, carriages and wagons are permanently based at the NNR.

There are now over 3000 members of the M&GN Joint Railway Society, which is the biggest railway charity in East Anglia. Many of our members are active working volunteers on the North Norfolk Railway.

Leeds City Museum

Leeds City Museum offers an exciting, fun and interactive day out for all the family. There are six galleries for you to visit as well as a changing programme of family friendly exhibitions, please see our website for our latest exhibitions.Come and find the Leeds Tiger in the Life on Earth Gallery or get interactive by camouflaging yourself. Discover the mummy of Nesyammun in the Ancient Worlds Gallery or try a game of Greek Gods and Goddesses Top Trumps. Explore the history of Leeds in the Leeds Story Gallery, from the first archaeological finds to changing community displays reflecting people’s lives in the city today. Investigate the varied collections of Leeds Museums and Galleries in the Collectors Cabinet Gallery. Find out more about world cultures in the World View Gallery, which has a new theme for 2014 of the Voices of Asia. All that in one building!

Withernsea Lighthouse Museum

Withernsea’s Lighthouse was built over a period of 18 months back in 1892 because of the high number of shipwrecks that were occurring at Withernsea when vessels couldn’t see the lights at either Spurn or Flamborough.

Rather unusually it was built a quarter of a mile back from the coast with much of the town closer to the sea than the lighthouse. However when the lighthouse was built there were only sand dunes and a mere in front of it. The houses you see today were all built after the promenade was extended along the sea front.

The octagonal lighthouse was not designed to be lived in – the tower has no dividing floors only the spiral staircase leading to the Service and Lamp Rooms at the top. Attached to it are two cottages, these were the lighthouse keepers’ homes and now they contain a museum with displays about the lighthouse and town. In 1936 when the oil light was electrified it had a range of 17 miles.

The original light was an 8 wick paraffin lamp, housed within an octaganol revolving lens. The lens itself weighed an incredible 2 tons and floated in a trough of 3 gallons of mercury.
The controlling mechanism that turned the lens required winding daily by hand, but in 1936 the light was electrified and the paraffin lamp was replaced by a 100 volt, 1500 watt bulb; equivalent to 800,000 candle power!
In the event that the first bulb failed, a second was on standby which was also backed up by a third which would be lit by a bank of 26 rechargeable batteries. There was also a standby generator and the old paraffin lamp was kept as a reserve.
The lighthouse continued to shine it’s beam until the 1st of July 1976 when, after 82 years of invaluable service, the light was no longer needed.

Robert Owen Memorial Museum

Robert Owen was one of the most influential thinkers and social reformers of his time. The Robert Owen Museum in Newtown, Montgomeryshire houses a collection of objects, pictures and written material relating to the life of Robert Owen. The Museum tells Owen’s story and is in the centre of Newtown just a few feet from where Owen was born.

Robert Owen was born in 1771. At 10, he was sent to London to be apprenticed as a draper and by his early twenties he was a successful manager in the mills of Manchester. The working conditions there appalled him. He believed character was formed by experience and that the dreadful environment of child workers would inevitably lead to damaged and dehumanised adults.

So when, in his late twenties, Owen became a partner and manager of a large cotton mill at New Lanark on the River Clyde, he decided to create a model environment. He improved the factory and village, built a school and provided a shop where quality goods could be bought at a fair price. The school curriculum included music, dancing and nature study. Visitors came from all over the world – even the Tsar of Russia.

Owen campaigned and lectured throughout his life. In 1812-13 he wrote “A New View of Society” which explained his vision. He tried to repeat the success of New Lanark when in 1824 he created a model community in New Harmony, Indiana. The ideal was a village based on co-operation and profit sharing. New Harmony and similar experiments by his followers did not succeed as he had hoped. But his ideas continued to have influence and one group of followers in Rochdale set up the famous Co-operative shop in 1844 and pioneered the world wide co-operative movement.

Owen returned to Newtown at the end of his life and died there in 1858. Factory reform and universal education were achieved in the 19th century, and Owen’s vision for fairness and social progress remains a source of inspiration today.

Rhyl Museum

Stroll down an Edwardian ‘pier’, peek into old-fashioned kiosks and discover more about the personalities who shaped Rhyl.

Holyhead Maritime Museum

Learn about shipwrecks, gallant rescues and pirates. Find out what it was like to sail on the Irish Sea 100 years ago. Visit our WW2 Air Raid Shelter and marvel at our collection of WW1 and WW2 memorabilia. You can even test out our authentic Air Raid Siren!

Plas Newydd

Enchanting mansion and gardens, with spectacular views of Snowdonia. A whole day of things to see and do.

Tredegar House and Park

Tredegar House was the ancestral home of the Morgan Family, later Lords Tredegar. Great landowners, the Morgans were an extremely proud Welsh family, and claimed descent from the Welsh princes. They were the dominant influence on the political, social and economic life of the counties of Brecon, Glamorgan and Monmouth up until the 1940s. The oldest part of the House dates to the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. Originally of stone, the building was extensively re-modelled in brick around 1674. In 1951 Tredegar House, with most of its contents and surrounding estates, was sold to the Catholic Church. The House was used first as a convent school, and then became a comprehensive school. For over 20 years Tredegar House remained a school until 1974 when it was bought by Newport Borough Council, as Newport City Council was previously named. Since 1974, Tredegar House has been restored and re-furnished with many original pieces. Once again the walls are hung with the portraits of the family, and the rooms dressed to reflect different points in the House’s history – from the late seventeenth century to the 1930s.

Royal Shakespeare Company Collection

Our collection brings to life the world of the theatre over 400 years. Stories of often ground breaking performances remind us of developing stagecraft and the early stage careers of familiar screen actors such as Judi Dench, Patrick Stewart and David Tennant.

The collection includes items dating from the 17th century to today. Charles Flower started collecting in 1879 as part of the original theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Objects include costume, set designs, props, photographs and visual art. They demonstrate the way theatrical performances have changed over time, and the way in which each director and designer has created their own vision of the play.

Bodelwyddan Castle

There’s plenty for everyone to enjoy inside Bodelwyddan Castle. Mansion halls, Welsh Art, WW1 portraits and exhibits, spooky rooms and a fabulous interactive museum of Victorian games and amusements. Guaranteed smiles all round!

A visit to Bodelwyddan Castle makes a great day out! Inside the castle you’ll discover historic halls and important Welsh artworks, amazing decoration and more. The castle is an opportunity to view many significant collections. New for Autumn 2017 is our ‘Faces of the Great War’ Exhibition, over 50 original World War One portraits and certificates. We’re also a wonderful museum of Victorian splendour, well worth exploring as a country mansion of note.

Youngsters will love finding out more about Victorian history through play. They’ll learn about Victorian inventors, popular pastimes and the science of moving pictures in our Inventions & Amusements interactive galleries. They can choose to become a museum adventurer with our free Explorer Buckets. We have plenty of free interactive activites  for youngsters to enjoy their visit and keep them busy while you wander around our wonderful historic rooms.