Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens

(Redirected from Sunderland Museum)

Museum in Sunderland, England

Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens
Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens from Mowbray Park

Established	1846
Location	Burdon Road, Sunderland, England
Type	Museum
Website	www.sunderlandmuseum.org.uk

Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens is a municipal museum in Sunderland, England. It contains the only known British example of a gliding reptile, the oldest known vertebrate capable of gliding flight. The exhibit was discovered in Eppleton quarry. The museum has a Designated Collection of national importance.

History

It was established in 1846, in the Athenaeum Building on Fawcett Street, the first municipally funded museum in the country outside London. The first recorded fine art acquisition was commissioned by the Sunderland Corporation, a painting of the opening of the new South Dock in 1850. This may have been the first time that an artwork was commissioned by a town council.

In 1879, the Museum moved to a new larger building next to Mowbray Park including a library and winter garden based on the model of the Crystal Palace. U.S. President Ulysses Grant was in attendance at the laying of the foundation stone by Alderman Samuel Storey in 1877. The building opened in 1879.

During World War II, Winter Garden was damaged by a parachute mine in 1941 and demolished the following year. A 1960s extension took its place, but in 2001, a lottery funded refurbishment of the museum created a new Winter Garden extension and improved facilities.

The Winter Gardens contain over 2,000 flowers and plants.

In 2003, the Museum was recognised as the most attended outside London.

The Museum contains a large collection of the locally made Sunderland Lustreware pottery. Other highlights of the Museum are a stuffed Lion which was acquired in 1879, the remains of a walrus brought back from Siberia in the 1880s and the first Nissan car to be made in Sunderland. Also featured are the skeletal remains of a male human being and a dinosaur bone which was found in the local area.

The library moved in 1995 to the new City Library and Arts Centre on Fawcett Street (occupying part of the former Binns Department Store). The relocation left more space for museum exhibitions. The new City Library Arts Centre also houses the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, renowned as one of the leading forums for emerging artists in the North of England.

John Morrison wrote an affectionate memoir of the two and a half years he spent working in the museum as a junior curator, starting about 1918, which appeared in the Australian literary journal Overland in 1968.

L.S. Lowry described his discovery of Sunderland in 1960, after which it became his second home: "One day I was travelling south from Tyneside and I realised this was what I had always been looking for."

Sunderland Museum, with six works and 30 on long-term loan, have a Lowry collection surpassed only by Salford and Manchester.

References

"Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens - Culture24".
"Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens - Art UK Art UK - Visit Collection Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens". Art UK.
"What's the Sunderland link between 72 birds, 12 fish and Ulysses S Grant? - Sunderland Echo". Archived from the original on 13 April 2018.
"MOWBRAY PARK, non Civil Parish - 1001320 | Historic England".
"Stop 1: Sunderland Museum - Sunderland's High Streets Heritage Walk | Historic England".
"Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens - Museum in Sunderland, Sunderland - NewcastleGateshead".
"Collections at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens - See it Do it Sunderland".
"Saving grace". 23 September 2014.
"A History of the North East in 100 objects". A History of the North East in 100 objects.
"Dinosaur bone found in Sunderland garden". BBC News. 13 December 2011.
"Centre birthday". 19 January 2005.
John Morrison, “Blue and Yellow Macaw,” Overland, 40, 1968, pp.17-19. Reprinted in, John Morrison, The Happy Warrior (1987), Fairfield (Victoria), Pascoe Publishing, pp.137-41. ISBN 0-947087-08-7
"Lowry Paintings Saved for the Nation by Sunderland Museum | Culture24".

External links

v t e City of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear
Settlements	Sunderland Washington Houghton-le-Spring Hetton-le-Hole Springwell Village
Education	Academy 360 Argyle House School Biddick Academy Castle View Enterprise Academy Christ's College Farringdon Community Academy Hetton Academy Kepier School Monkwearmouth Academy Oxclose Community Academy Red House Academy St Aidan's Catholic Academy St Anthony's Girls' Catholic Academy St Robert of Newminster Catholic School Sandhill View Academy Southmoor Academy Sunderland College Thornhill Academy University of Sunderland Venerable Bede Church of England Academy Washington Academy
Places of interest	Barnes Park Donnison School City Hall Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens Stadium of Light Penshaw Monument Herrington Country Park Mowbray Park National Glass Centre Roker Park Sunderland Empire Theatre St Peter's Church, Monkwearmouth Sunderland International Airshow Washington Old Hall Monkwearmouth Station Sunderland Aquatic Centre The Bridges WWT Washington Keel Square Northern Spire Bridge Beacon of Light
Economy	Doxford International Business Park Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK The Bridges Sunniside The Galleries Vaux Site
Local media	Sunderland Echo Sun FM Spark Sunderland Sunderland Global Media
Twinned places	Essen Saint-Nazaire Washington, D.C. Harbin
Sport	Sunderland A.F.C. Sunderland A.F.C. Women

Listed buildings in the City of Sunderland

v t e Grade I
Sunderland	Holy Trinity Church Hylton Castle & Chapel Phoenix Lodge St Andrew's Church St Peter's Church
Washington	Washington Old Hall
Houghton-le-Spring	Penshaw Monument St Michael and All Angels Church

v t e Grade II*
Sunderland	Doxford House Fulwell Acoustic Mirror Fulwell Mill Sunderland Minster Monkwearmouth Station Old South Pier Ryhope Pumping Station & Chimney St George's Church Empire Theatre 11 Church Street East
Houghton-le-Spring	Houghton Hall Houghton Rectory Kepier School Victoria Viaduct

Grade II

Sunderland

City Centre	Sunderland Museum St Mary's Church Mowbray Almshouses Sunderland County Court Corder House and Sydenham House Elephant Tea Rooms Green's Public House The Isis Sunderland Gas Board Galen Building Fitzgerald's Public House Wearmouth Bridge River Wear Commission Building St Mary's Building Monkwearmouth Railway Bridge Sunderland Magistrates' Court Hawksley House Victoria Hall Disaster Memorial Sunderland War Memorial Burdon Road Masonic Temple 4–25 Foyle Street 28–40 and 43–48 West Sunnside Medieval Arch & Wall Central Buildings Former General Post Office Former Custom House Maritime Buildings 19, 20, 29 and 30 Villiers Street West Park Church 17–29, 32–42 & 45–58 Frederick Street Mowbray Park (certain buildings) Midland Bank National Westminster Bank Barclays Bank Lloyds Bank 11–17, 20–23 25–28 and 45–58 John Street 2 & 3 Mary Street 3–5 Albion Place 19 & 31–33 Norfolk Street 3 & 22 Athenaeum Street Hutchinson's Buildings The Londonderry The Dun Cow 1–7, 105–112, 114–118, 145, 170–173, 176, 211, 212 and 214–217 High Street West 49–51 High Street East
Monkwearmouth and Southwick	Monkwearmouth Library Monkwearmouth College Wheatsheaf Hotel North East Railway Stables Holy Trinity Church St Columba's Church Hebron Church 6 Back North Bridge Street 57 and 58 Barclay Street Southwick Limekilns The Tramcar Inn Thompson Memorial Southwick War Memorial 65–95 James Armitage Street All Saints' Church
Ryhope and Burdon	Railway Inn Ryhope Grange Farmhouse St Paul's Church The Chestnuts and The Wilderness Burdon Hall The Railway Inn 14 Cliff Road Ryhope War Memorial Coqueda Hall Ryhope Rent Office Ryhope Pumping Station
Ashbrooke and Thornholme	Bede Tower Sunderland Synagogue Christ Church West Hendon House St John's Church Carlton House Langham Tower Ashburne House The Crofts Gray House St George's House 3–7 Douro Terrace Valebrooke Gardens Westburn House 1–29 Thornhill Terrace 1–15 Grange Crescent 1–9 The Esplanade Burdon House 1–16 St Bede's Terrace 1–24 Park Place East and West Park Road Methodist Church
Hendon and Grangetown	Hendon Gas Works Quayside Exchange St Aidan's Church Trafalgar Square Merchant Seaman's Almshouses St Ignatius Church Tavistock House Sunderland Orphanage 10 Church Street East Salisbury Street Steps Sunderland Cemetery (certain buildings) Former Methodist Manse Bethesda Free Church 17–23 Murton Street 3–19 Ridley Terrace North Dock (walls and mooring posts) Hudson Dock (certain buildings) Sunderland Harbour South Pier Whylam Wharf Bonded Warehouse
Barnes and Humbledon	Barnes School St Gabriel's Church Kayll Road Library Children's Hospital Humbledon Pumping Station Hill House Bishopwearmouth Cemetery (certain buildings) Barnes Park Bandstand
Deptford, Millfield and Pallion	The Mountain Daisy Public House St Joseph's Church Queen Alexandra Bridge St Mark's Church St Luke's Church Laing Fountain Webster's Ropery
Silksworth and Tunstall	Silksworth Hall Tunstall Lodge Silksworth Cottage Tunstall School Tunstall Hope Lodge
North Hylton and South Hylton	The Shipwrights South Hylton War Memorial The Golden Lion Hylton House 41 & 42 High Street St Mary's Church
Fulwell, Roker and Whitburn Bents	Fulwell Pumping Station The Bents Mere Knolls Cemetery (certain buildings) Roker Park Bandstand Roker Park Drinking Fountain Roker Pier & Lighthouse Andover Fulwell Limekilns 160, 162 & 164 Newcastle Road
Middle and East Herrington	Crow Lane Farmhouse Greystones Ivy House

Washington

Certain buildings in/on: Peareth Hall Road
The Avenue

Houghton-le-Spring

Houghton-le-Spring	Davenport and Lilburne Almshouses Lilburn House Gilpin House The Villa The Rectory St Michael's Church The Old Mill Laburnum House Houghton Mines Rescue Station High Farm House St Cuthbert's Church Stoneygate Pumping Station Philadelphia Power Station Certain buildings in/on: Nesham Place Front Street, Newbottle Philadelphia Lane
Hetton-le-Hole	St Nicholas' Church, Hetton-le-Hole St Nicholas House Easington Lane War Memorial Pithead Baths Smithy Primitive Methodist Church
Newbottle	Russell House Newbottle Working Men's Club St Matthew's Church, Newbottle Cellar Hill House
Penshaw	All Saints' Church Penshaw House Alice Well Accommodation Arch Boundary Stone

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