New future for Neville Hall
Move to save historic building which holds globally important heritage archive. Tony Henderson reports
The historic Tyneside home of an internationally significant mining engineering archive is being saved for the region.
Newcastle City Council’s Cabinet has agreed to take ownership of the Grade II* listed Neville Hall in Newcastle, formerly the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers.
The building on Westgate Road, which opened in 1872, houses a vast collection of mining and engineering records, dating from when the North East was a world leader in the fields.
But an uncertain future lay ahead after the charity which runs the building, The Common Room of the Great North, experienced financial challenges caused in part by the Covid lockdown.
The council will now take ownership of the building and North East Museums will run it as part of its estate of 12 cultural venues, which includes the Great North Museum: Hancock, Discovery Museum and the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle.
Neville Hall will now open for special event days, as well as weddings, musical performances and conferences, so the building, which benefited from a £4.1m grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund in 2018, can become self-sustaining.
North East Museums already attracts more than 800,000 visits to its North East venues each year and runs its own commercial operation delivering similar activities, with all profits being used to support the running of the historic sites.
North East Museums, which also manages Tyne & Wear Archives, will oversee stewardship of the mining engineering archive, which is one of the largest and most comprehensive public collections on mining engineering in the world.
It includes many early scientific and technical reports relating to the development of the coal industry and associated mechanical engineering, especially the early work on safety in mines.
It is expected that North East Museums will begin management of Neville Hall in the autumn.
Cabinet member for Culture, Communities and Youth Services, Coun Rob Austin, said: “Neville Hall is a magnificent building – a real architectural gem with an internationally important collection of mining artefacts.
“It is important for the heritage of our region that the building and collection are safeguarded for the future. Unfortunately, the running of the building and servicing the debt has outstripped the charity’s ability to generate income so we have stepped in to save it.
“North East Museums have a proven track record of managing collections in buildings such as this, so I am pleased we have come up with a way of collaborating with financial support from the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority. I look forward to the next chapter of this beautiful building’s development.”
Keith Merrin, director of North East Museums, said: “We’re looking forward to bringing this magnificent historic building and important archive into our portfolio. It is a fantastic space for special events, meetings and conferences which will be a major part of its future use.
“It also houses a huge archive about our region’s industrial heritage, and we’re excited about the potential for making connections to collections across our other museums, including Discovery Museum and Woodhorn Museum.”
Matt Boyle, chairman of The Common Room of the Great North trustees, said: “Neville Hall and its collection chronicle the immense contribution the North East made to building the Industrial Age. Saving both Neville Hall and making the collection more accessible have been two of our objectives.
“Combining the collection with the North East Museums collections at Woodhorn Museum and the Discovery Museum is another stage in the evolution of the building and the North East’s heritage.”
Cabinet’s decision for the council to take control of Neville Hall is subject to a call-in period of five days, during which the decision can be put on hold and scrutinised before being implemented.