Our History

 

The building now occupied by South Shields Museum & Art Gallery was built in 1859/60 for the South Shields Mechanics Institute. Sir Robert Ingham, Member of Parliament for South Shields and President of the local Mechanics Institution, laid its foundation stone in 1859. Built at a cost of £2,700 the Institute was opened the following year. By 1870, however, escalating costs forced members to look for somebody else to take the building on.

In 1871 the building was offered to the Borough Corporation for use as its Free Library. This was eventually accepted and in October 1873 the building was opened as the town's first public library. Shortly afterwards because of growing pressure to publicly display the growing number of Roman artefacts being excavated from the Lawe Top, a move was made to open a Museum. The trustees of the Library offered accommodation within the Library and in 1876 the Museum was opened.

Until 1976, the Museum and Library continued to share the building when the Library moved out to new accommodation in Prince Georg Square. Since then the Museum has gradually taken over the whole building all the while making significant improvements to displays and to public facilities.

In 2001 the premises extended with the opening of a two-storey extension and the creation of a new street level public entrance. In 2003 the museum underwent a £1.4 million redevelopment which was completed in February 2004.