Visitor numbers growing at Northumberland museums after merger

Museums Northumberland merged with North East Museums last year.

The service runs Woodhorn Museum, Hexham’s Old Gaol and Morpeth’s Chantry Bagpipe Museum. Between April and December, there were over 51,000 visits to the three sites.

This was broadly similar to the previous year, but the start of the year has seen numbers begin to trend upwards. Among those numbers were more than 5,300 school visits from 45 schools.

Speaking at Wednesday’s meeting of Northumberland County Council’s communities and place scrutiny committee, director Keith Merrin said: “We set ourselves quite a basic measure of success for Northumberland, which is that nothing would change initially.

“The whole point wasn’t just about business as usual, it was about providing a better level of service for Northumberland and the many thousands of visitors.

“We had the same number of visitors as the previous year between April and December, but in January and February we’re seeing more. Woodhorn and Hexham Old Gaol have both been particularly strong.”

Woodhorn, near Ashington, is currently running the Northumberland Open Exhibition 2026. The largest exhibition of its type in the county, the annual Northumberland Open attracts hundreds of submissions from artists from across Northumberland and beyond.

Last year saw 11,000 visitors and 454 submissions, with this year – running from Valentine’s Day until May 10 – set to be even larger. This is despite the fact the museum’s iconic heapstead is currently undergoing a £1 million restoration project due to issues brought forward by corrosion.

Mr Merrin added: “The main challenge is the scale of the pithead repairs we’re doing. It does impact the visitor experience at the site and it means we can’t generate as much income as we would like from the function room there.

“Once it is done, it will look amazing. It is our duty to protect these buildings for future generations.”