Pockerley Old Hall
Visit the ‘new house’ – the home of the tenant farmer – and the ‘old house’, which dates back to at least the 1440s. Look out for traditional Georgian cooking and craft activities.
Pockerley Gardens
This beautiful terraced garden features Georgian-era plants, herbs and vegetables, which can often be sampled in recipes cooked in the hall.
Drovers Tavern
As well as offering a place for visitors to rest and enjoy Georgian inspired food and drink, the tavern tells the story of droving.
Droving was the movement of livestock, usually cattle or sheep, to market. Drovers would walk livestock over long distances, delivering stock to market and returning with the proceeds from the sale of the animals. Taverns and inns were opened along droving routes to provide shelter, rest and sustenance for tired drovers.
Visit the Drovers Tavern to dine like Georgians from the tavern’s menu, which is inspired by popular Georgian food and drinks, including potted ham, rarebit, soup, stew and salmagundi (a Georgian salad).
Georgian Pottery
Learn about cottage industries in at the Georgian pottery which tells the story of a small, independent potter who would have produced wares to be used locally by local people.
The Georgian potter would have produced domestic items such as bowls, pancheons, beakers and candlesticks. They would also be able to make small quantities of bricks and possibly pantiles for local buildings as well as drainage tiles for farmers’ field drains.
St Helen’s Church
Nestling in the Georgian landscape is this beautiful medieval church, St Helen’s, from Eston, near Middlesbrough. The church was due to be demolished due to vandalism until it was saved and rebuilt at the museum.
The Quilter’s Cottage
The cottage is a recreation of the “lost” home of renowned Georgian quilter Joseph Hedley, who was murdered in 1826, in an appalling crime that shocked the nation. The cottage features stones from Joe’s original home, including flagstones where he stood 200 years ago. The remains of Joe’s cottage in Warden, near Hexham, Northumberland, were uncovered during an archaeological dig by Beamish staff and community members. The exhibit, which tells the story of quilting and the growth of cottage industries in the early 1800s, has been painstakingly recreated by skilled museum staff. A drawing on a postcard that was produced after Joe’s murder gave valuable details about how his home – which was demolished in 1872 – looked. Click here to find out about the story of Joe the Quilter’s cottage.
The Quilter’s Cottage was the first building to open as part of the Remaking Beamish project. Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, the Remaking Beamish project was awarded £11.8m by The National Lottery Heritage Fund – a major milestone in Beamish’s history and the largest investment ever seen at the museum.
The Quilter’s Cottage is currently closed to visitors due to maintenance work, we apologise for any inconvenience.
Pockerley Waggonway
Visit our Georgian Waggonway and discover the story of the birth of the railways. Take a steam train ride through the Georgian landscape hauled by Puffing Billy, a replica of the original locomotive which was built in 1813 by William Hedley.
Georgian Landscape
Take a walk through the picturesque landscape, as you step back into the Georgian era, with its dry stone walling, riven oak fences, and traditional breeds of animal. The horse-powered whim gin would have been used to raise coal and men out of the mines. Look out for the gibbet looming in the distance.