We are free to visit and open to everyone, providing a warm welcome to visitors of all ages, including children and family groups. Make sure to keep up to date on our featured rotating exhibition.
Featured Exhibition | All Change! The Social Impact of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in the 200 years after 1825
Opened May 2025 | Free
All Change! is a colourful new exhibition focusing on the impact of passenger railways on North-East life. Celebrating the 200th anniversary of the first locomotive passenger train – a local invention that transformed the world – the importance and magnitude of the birth of the Stockton and Darlington Railway on transport systems around the globe cannot be measured.
Drawing on collections from The Story, visitors have the chance to explore the remarkable changes brought about by the railway system since the early 19th Century, including: industrial growth; work opportunities; seaside holidays; the war front; the diversification of goods in shops; the impact on news and even the influence railways had on where we would call home.
All Change! aims to tell the story of how the railway redefined life for local people and communities; making travel faster, more comfortable, and more accessible to a broader segment of the population.
Unlike other phenomena of the modern age, railways exert a powerful emotional appeal on us, perhaps through nostalgia, or maybe just with the excitement of being on board! We hope that visitors enjoy the ride!
Permanent Exhibition
Our exhibition space is free to visit and shares stories of County Durham’s varied and exciting past throughout its full history.
Meet individuals who have left their mark on the county and explore their life stories using our records and collections. Discover the global connections County Durham has and witness how its landscapes have been transformed through time.
Encounter unusual and unexpected items – objects shaped by conflict, treasures recovered from the ground, and documents that mark moments in time. Our digital interactives will help you step into the past and explore our collections like never before.
Learn about the people of the county’s past and how they lived, worked, celebrated, and commemorated. We’ll show you how you can explore your own deep and exciting stories of the county as we continue to make history every day.
Can children visit your exhibitions?
Yes! Everyone is welcome to visit our both our permanent and temporary exhibition space, although some of the topics covered may be more suitable for children and young people than others.
Our exhibition space tells the story of County Durham’s history and the people who have called it home. The exhibition uses objects, written text, tactile interactives and digital interactives to share stories and information in different ways for our visitors. Though the exhibition is open to everyone, lots of elements are children and young people focused.
