Northumberland Archives

12/06/2026

Check out this article from BBC North East about our WW2 Project - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8d2qjq0909o

Please contact us on 01670 624 358 or [email protected] with enquiries! 📞📩

12/06/2026

Tomorrow is the Northumberland Miners' Picnic! To celebrate here are just a few of the photographs from the archives that document the Picnic over the years.

The earliest Picnic took place at Blyth. It was held in Morpeth, Ashington, Tynemouth and on the Town Moor , Newcastle but was largely associated with Bedlington where it was often held during 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

Traditionally held on the second Saturday in June, the Picnic included banner parades, brass band competitions, the Coal Queens, speeches by the big names of the Trades Union movement and a fun day out for the family!

The Picnic has been held Woodhorn Museum since 1992. Have a fab day to any of you that are gannin this year!

Ashington Town Council Northumberland County Council National Union of Mineworkers

10/06/2026

Last night we were visited by History Wardrobe at Stannington Village Hall as part of our WW2 project, 'At War and In Peace'.

The Two Lucy's were absolutely fabulous, and I'm sure we speak for everyone when we say the evening was entertaining and educational. Thanks to everyone who attended, and to the Lucy's for coming to visit us.

We have a few more events left as part of the project - see our Eventbrite page for information, https://tinyurl.com/4ua2wrer

Our next event is this Saturday at Ponteland Memorial Hall - join us for a morning of talks highlighting the research we've carried out over the last year, https://tinyurl.com/bdzjm39r

Northumberland County Council

09/06/2026

Our Estates Cataloguing Project now has another strand to it...

We've started to look at the uncatalogued Hughes collection up at our Berwick office. The Hughes family were mainly associated with Middleton Hall, near Wooler, and married into the Simpson family in the 19th century.

The first job is to make a box list so we know exactly what we have in each of the 20+ archive boxes of material - some gems we've spotted so far are a letter from Rudyard Kipling, and some beautiful photographs of Australian sheep 🐑 (several members of the family moved across to Australia in the 1800s).

📌 The Estates Cataloguing Project is funded by a grant awarded by Northumberland Archives Charitable Trust via support provided by The Sir James Knott Trust

Northumberland County Council

07/06/2026

Join Northumberland Archives for a morning of talks at Ponteland Memorial Hall on Saturday 13th June, 10am-1pm.

Tickets are priced at £2 (plus booking fee) and can be purchased on Eventbrite, https://tinyurl.com/bdzjm39r, and also on the door on the day of the event (cash and card - WiFi willing!)

Parking available, and refreshments will be served.

05/06/2026

We're all set up and ready for Northumbrian Revival this weekend at West Benridge Farm! 📍 Will you be coming along to see us? 👋Here's what we have planned:

➡ See a pop-up display of our WW2 Home Front Exhibition
➡ Make a cardboard air raid shelter (and test it's strength!)
➡ More interactive activites including weighing out your rations and exploring maps
➡ Chat to members of staff about our WW2 project and wider archive service

🎟 Tickets are still available - https://checkout.wescantickets.com/2bjp1c3

04/06/2026

Last year we were thrilled to host BBC Radio 3 and Dr Steph Carter who were recording content for the series The Song Detectorists. The series is based on research undertaken by researchers on the AHRC funded Music, Heritage, Place project which is identifying and showcasing some of the wonderful 16th-19th century manuscript and printed music held in County Archives.

Dr Carter's latest blog focuses on the manuscript music held by Northumberland Archives.

Newcastle University BBC Radio 3

With cataloguing of Northumberland’s music sources almost complete, Steph Carter delves into the cataloguing process and the initial results for this county.

03/06/2026

02/06/2026

A local Civil Defence Corps re-enactment group visited our exhibition, 'Ready for the Unthinkable', at County Hall in Morpeth recently ❤️

The exhibition is on show at County Hall until Thursday 11th June if you haven't managed to catch it yet.



Northumberland County Council I The National Lottery Heritage Fund I Civil Defence Living History Group

01/06/2026

Grab your gardening gloves and trowels, here are your tasks for June according to the 1765 Rider’s British Merlin almanac. The almanac was discovered as part of the ongoing Riddell cataloguing project, which is generously funded by the Northumberland Archives Trust.