SAY NATIONAL TRUST Charity given a rocket as Stephenson home closes
“We are absolutely committed to telling the story of George Stephenson and so we will be doing something but whatever that something is, it is likely to be different.”
The charity said it hopes to have the new experience in place by 2018 – the year of the Great Exhibition of the North.
The trust’s spokesman added: “We’ll explore ways to better link up the offer of the birthplace and the museum in Wylam and the Stephenson Museum in North Tyneside.
“We’ll also be developing a programme of walks over the 2017 season to provide access to the birthplace as well as bringing to life the wider story around Wylam.
“At the moment, we’re undertaking a feasibility study to assess options for creating an inspiring visitor experience, which also best uses the National Trust’s limited charitable funds.”
The trust blamed rising costs and a decline in visitor numbers for the cottage’s temporary closure.
But the parish council believes improved signage and better links with the Stephenson Museum could help the attraction thrive.
The parish council said in its newslet- ter: “We consider this property to be a valuable part of our local heritage, in an area where some of the most important pioneering railway developments took place.
“Although small, the cottage offers a fascinating insight into domestic living in the early part of the 19th century.”
Mr Stephenson was a pioneering railway engineer and inventor of the Rocket, the most famous early railway locomotive.
Born in 1781, he was said to have played a major role in industry on Tyneside and around the world.
With his Forth Banks works, Mr Stephenson created an engineering legacy opening the first purpose built locomotive works in the world.
When he died in 1868 aged 67, he had managed to invent a safety lamp which helped reduce the number of accidents in coal mines, he’d created the world’s first public railway and the Rocket. Stephenson’s Rocket at the Science Museum in London