The Museum of Archaeology, founded in 1833, is a museum of the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The museum has collections ranging from the prehistoric,

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of Classical Antiquity, classical antiquity ( AD 600), th ...

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

History

In 1833, the year after the University opened, an old

fulling Fulling, also known as felting, tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelled waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven or knitted cloth (particularly wool) to elimin ...

mill of the

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

estates was converted to house the museum. It was the second University Museum in England to open its doors to the public. By 1880 it had moved to Bishop Cosin's Almshouses on

Palace Green Palace Green is an area of grass in the centre of Durham, England, flanked by Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle. The Cathedral and Castle together form a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Although initially not part of the site itself, Palace Green ...

. By 1917, the University had reduced its collections and the remainder were stored in adjacent lecture theatres. In 1931 The university appointed Eric Birley as its first lecturer in Archaeology and he added material to the collections from his excavations at Hadrian's Wall. In 1956 the University re-leased The Old Fulling Mill to house their Archaeology Department. In 1986 the museum re-opened to the public with the permanent exhibition that would remain until 2013.

Collections

As well as the collections from various periods of history, the museum also houses the results of the Durham City Survey. The Survey was undertaken by the University, in collaboration with

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

from 1988 to 1991 in order to summarise all known sites and finds within the greater Durham area.

Move to Palace Green

In June 2013 the Museum closed to the public to allow for a move to a larger gallery in the redeveloped Palace Green Library. This move was in part motivated by the flooding it has suffered in the preceding years and also to increase access to the displays. The new galler
''Living on the Hills''
opened in July 2014.

External links

Museum of Archaeology

References

{{authority control University museums in the United Kingdom Archaeological museums in England Buildings and structures of Durham University Museums in Durham, England Museums of ancient Rome in the United Kingdom