Discovery Museum

The Discovery Museum stands in Blandford Square in Newcastle upon Tyne. It began in 1934 as the Municipal Museum of Science and Industry in a temporary pavilion built for the 1929 North East Coast Exhibition. After forty years the collections outgrew the pavilion and in 1978 the museum moved to Blandford House. Designed by Oliver, Leeson & Wood in 1899, Blandford House had once served as the Northern Region headquarters of the Co-operative Wholesale Society. In 1993 the museum reopened as the Discovery Museum and the Turbinia was brought from Exhibition Park. The museum is worth the journey for its local history displays and science exhibits. Charles Algernon Parsons built the Turbinia to test steam turbines for ships that could reach 34 knots. The ship measures 104 feet 9 inches long and visitors can see how it helped prove turbine power at sea. The museum also houses the regimental museum for the Light Dragoons and the Northumberland Hussars. Joseph Swan’s early lightbulbs, invented on Tyneside, are among the hands-on exhibits designed for both children and adults. Visitors find a mix of rooms and displays across the former warehouse and offices. The Turbinia occupies a central space where its three propellers and turbine engines can be examined closely. Hands-on science exhibits let people try simple experiments that show how light and motion work. The regimental museum tells two centuries of army life through uniforms, medals and personal stories. The building itself, with its high ceilings and large windows, adds to the sense of space and light throughout the galleries.