History & Heritage

March alongside the Roman Wall, hop on a steam train or imagine you actually live in one of our 25 castles. History isn't just in the past, it's living and breathing - inviting you to come and be part of it.

North East England has a rich and fascinating history, and it's laid out in the landscape, museums and artefacts just waiting to be visited.

You can walk for miles "reading" the landscape, from Roman paths along Hadrian's Wall World Heritage Site to the grounds of our 25 castles, a legacy of the marauding cross-border battles that raged for centuries between English and Scots.

Our superb museums really bring history to life. Try your hand at chores in an 18th century seaport at the Hartlepool Maritime Experience, or step back in time to sample life in the 1800s and 1900s at Beamish, the North of England Open Air Museum. You can even put on a hard hat and go down a mine at Killhope, The North of England Lead Mining Museum!

At Darlington Railway Centre and Museum you can discover how George Stephenson kick-started the industrial revolution with the world's first railway, and you can also visit his birthplace in Wylam, one of many National Trust properties open to visitors across the region.

Contemplate our Christian heritage at another World Heritage Site, Durham Castle and Cathedral, or walk the Pilgrim's Causeway to Holy Island. Also nominated for World Heritage Site Status in 2009 are the twin monasteries of St Peter's and St Paul's in Monkwearmouth and Jarrow.