Monkwearmouth, along with Bishopwearmouth and Sunderland, was once the main centre of coal mining and shipbuilding on Wearside, as revealed by chronicles of the time: "The workers mak the ships, the crews tak 'em to sea - we are proud to be Mackems and Tackems."
The classical grandeur of Monkwearmouth station, a Grade II-listed building, owes its existence to the pretensions of George Hudson - once known as the Railway King - who commissioned the building in 1845 to celebrate his election as the Tory MP for Sunderland. The building reflects the grandiose architectural taste and pretensions of the age. "The exquisite proportion and symmetry… render it a great ornament to the town," cooed the Sunderland Herald.
Like Newcastle's Theatre Royal and the nearby Penshaw Monument, it is a Parthenon-like temple that praises and endorses its founders.
Monkwearmouth proved a popular terminus until 1879, when the North-Eastern Railway extended the line across the river into Sunderland itself. In 1967, the station was closed to travellers and in 1970 was converted into a museum.
There are always problems with museums in period buildings. Monkwearmouth closed for refurbishment in 2005, but the work took longer than expected, and the museum reopened only a couple of months ago. The building's stonework was repaired, while a new roof, improved heating and disabled access was added. Period features such as the original Victorian booking office have also been spruced up.
Hudson's massive self-commissioned portrait has undergone extensive conservation work and hangs in the entrance together with an apocalyptic painting of him wreathed in smoke and lit by divine light at the opening of Sunderland Docks.
Travel logs
The Journeys Gallery explores travel, including wartime evacuation, and trips to London and the seaside. There are some happy juxtapositions. Images of the 1852 passenger ship Lizzie Webber carrying emigrants from Sunderland to Australia are neatly balanced with modern shots of Polish immigrant workers recruited for local bus companies. S
hort films bring travel up to date, such as What the Metro Means to Me and a critical analysis of the experience of travellers with disabilities, Nothing About Us Without Us, which makes eloquent points about the height of cash slots on ticket machines and the provision of one wheelchair space per metro carriage, which inhibits group travel by disabled people.
Community service
The temporary exhibition gallery features video footage, photography and artefacts from an epic journey. The inspiration for the exhibition was a question: "How far you can travel by rail alone from the museum?" The museum's assistant learning officer and a film crew discovered that the answer was nearly 10,000 miles, as they spent four weeks travelling through Europe, Russia and China, until they reached Ho Chi Min City in Vietnam.
The display demands some lengthy attention; the video alone lasts an hour, but is worth the effort. The gallery is the most polished, creative and intelligent of the strictly museum-style activities for adults. The exhibition will be difficult to replace.
But it was noticeable that most youngsters ignored or bypassed the formal exhibits. My grandchildren had seen all they wanted in fewer than 30 minutes. They were especially critical of the large video screen in the period waiting room and the long-winded performance of the actor playing the station master, who sounded as if he was reading from cue cards.
They also noted that the large model of the station featured no trains. The five year old said there was too much about buses and not enough about railways. They also queried why the timelines in the exhibitions read from right to left, rather than the other way round.
There is scope for more challenging displays. It would have been good to learn more of Hudson's chequered career. He was clearly a man of energy and ability. Hudson's obituary in the Times, despite noting his multiple dishonesties and debts, still praised his wonderful speculative courage.
I was conscious I was a stranger. This is not a criticism, but an acknowledgement that Monkwearmouth is a run-down area; the local garage owner advised me not to park my car in any of the side streets if I wanted to see it again.
But the museum gleams with confidence. It is clearly functioning at an important community level. Two new education facilities for schools have been provided on the first floor and there are also plans to host an out-of-school club for local children. The Children's Gallery is designed specifically for the under fives.
The museum is obviously much loved, as the comments book contains nothing but praise. The curator, Martin Routledge, says people were so keen for the museum to reopen that they were knocking on the door and asking to be let in.
Peter Lewis is a writer and a past director of Beamish, the North of England Open Air Museum
Project data
Cost: £1m
Main funders: Heritage Lottery Fund £497,000, Sunderland City Council, DCMS/Wolfson Foundation Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund, Tyne & Wear Museums Business Partners Fund, Friends of Sunderland Museums
Designers: Redman Associates
Architect: Tony Reynolds, Jane Darbyshire & David Kendall Ltd
The classical grandeur of Monkwearmouth station, a Grade II-listed building, owes its existence to the pretensions of George Hudson - once known as the Railway King - who commissioned the building in 1845 to celebrate his election as the Tory MP for Sunderland. The building reflects the grandiose architectural taste and pretensions of the age. "The exquisite proportion and symmetry… render it a great ornament to the town," cooed the Sunderland Herald.
Like Newcastle's Theatre Royal and the nearby Penshaw Monument, it is a Parthenon-like temple that praises and endorses its founders.
Monkwearmouth proved a popular terminus until 1879, when the North-Eastern Railway extended the line across the river into Sunderland itself. In 1967, the station was closed to travellers and in 1970 was converted into a museum.
There are always problems with museums in period buildings. Monkwearmouth closed for refurbishment in 2005, but the work took longer than expected, and the museum reopened only a couple of months ago. The building's stonework was repaired, while a new roof, improved heating and disabled access was added. Period features such as the original Victorian booking office have also been spruced up.
Hudson's massive self-commissioned portrait has undergone extensive conservation work and hangs in the entrance together with an apocalyptic painting of him wreathed in smoke and lit by divine light at the opening of Sunderland Docks.
Travel logs
The Journeys Gallery explores travel, including wartime evacuation, and trips to London and the seaside. There are some happy juxtapositions. Images of the 1852 passenger ship Lizzie Webber carrying emigrants from Sunderland to Australia are neatly balanced with modern shots of Polish immigrant workers recruited for local bus companies. S
hort films bring travel up to date, such as What the Metro Means to Me and a critical analysis of the experience of travellers with disabilities, Nothing About Us Without Us, which makes eloquent points about the height of cash slots on ticket machines and the provision of one wheelchair space per metro carriage, which inhibits group travel by disabled people.
Community service
The temporary exhibition gallery features video footage, photography and artefacts from an epic journey. The inspiration for the exhibition was a question: "How far you can travel by rail alone from the museum?" The museum's assistant learning officer and a film crew discovered that the answer was nearly 10,000 miles, as they spent four weeks travelling through Europe, Russia and China, until they reached Ho Chi Min City in Vietnam.
The display demands some lengthy attention; the video alone lasts an hour, but is worth the effort. The gallery is the most polished, creative and intelligent of the strictly museum-style activities for adults. The exhibition will be difficult to replace.
But it was noticeable that most youngsters ignored or bypassed the formal exhibits. My grandchildren had seen all they wanted in fewer than 30 minutes. They were especially critical of the large video screen in the period waiting room and the long-winded performance of the actor playing the station master, who sounded as if he was reading from cue cards.
They also noted that the large model of the station featured no trains. The five year old said there was too much about buses and not enough about railways. They also queried why the timelines in the exhibitions read from right to left, rather than the other way round.
There is scope for more challenging displays. It would have been good to learn more of Hudson's chequered career. He was clearly a man of energy and ability. Hudson's obituary in the Times, despite noting his multiple dishonesties and debts, still praised his wonderful speculative courage.
I was conscious I was a stranger. This is not a criticism, but an acknowledgement that Monkwearmouth is a run-down area; the local garage owner advised me not to park my car in any of the side streets if I wanted to see it again.
But the museum gleams with confidence. It is clearly functioning at an important community level. Two new education facilities for schools have been provided on the first floor and there are also plans to host an out-of-school club for local children. The Children's Gallery is designed specifically for the under fives.
The museum is obviously much loved, as the comments book contains nothing but praise. The curator, Martin Routledge, says people were so keen for the museum to reopen that they were knocking on the door and asking to be let in.
Peter Lewis is a writer and a past director of Beamish, the North of England Open Air Museum
Project data
Cost: £1m
Main funders: Heritage Lottery Fund £497,000, Sunderland City Council, DCMS/Wolfson Foundation Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund, Tyne & Wear Museums Business Partners Fund, Friends of Sunderland Museums
Designers: Redman Associates
Architect: Tony Reynolds, Jane Darbyshire & David Kendall Ltd
