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Beck Isle
Museum |
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In the centre
of Pickering, housed in a Grade II* listed Regency Mansion, is Beck
Isle Museum of Rural Life. Fifty yards or so from the railway station,
the award winning Museum stands in its own grounds in a pictorial
setting, with Beck side Picnic area, and a large Display Area to
the rear. Opening Times & Special Party Rates Phone 01751 473653. |
The 27 Gallery Museum is a time machine back to Victorian life.
As you step through the portal, one is transported to a long gone
period, pass through a Printers Shop of the turn of the century,
with its magnificent Columbian Press of 1854, and cases of type,
producing posters for the Museum. In the next Gallery models of
farm carts, on the walls start of the "Sydney Smith" exhibition,
photographic images ,capturing the atmospheric beauty of this rural
area , and a way of life that was to disappear with the Second World
War, the work of the late S. Smith the noted Pickering Photographer,
an artist with a camera.
He had a feel for his subjects on a par with Frank Meadow Sutcliffe
. More of his work is seen in the gallery of Photography ,with a
collection of cameras and photographic equipment from I880. Further
galleries, all set out as rooms or shops include Dairy, Cobblers,
Village Pub, Chemist's, Costumes, Nursery, Village Store, Gents
Outfitter, Victorian Parlour, Hardware Shop, Blacksmith, etc. |
Gordon
Clitheroe's wonderful book Most of the photos are by Sidney Smith and the book can be obtained from The Beck Isle Museum of Rural Life., and good book shops. The time scale is around 30 years and the pictures are of the highest quality and are a marvelous document of Pickering, it's people and it's surrounding countryside. |
More Pictures from the Museum
