Sunderland Museum – The People’s Palace in the Park

Brand New - revised and extended Second Edition published to celebrate 180 years of Sunderland Museum.

Sunderland Museum, one of the city’s grandest buildings, has stood in Mowbray Park since 1879. It is, however, only the latest in a line of buildings that have housed the Museum in a tradition going back to 1810.

When the pioneering Sunderland Corporation took ownership in 1846 it became the first local authority museum in the country outside of London.

This book tells this story, including…

·         ‘Free Born’ John’s boots and a fossil fish from Pallion…

·         the curator who reported police for not saluting…

·         the beautiful Winter Gardens, their destruction by bombs, and their rebuilding in the new millennium…

·         a far-sighted Corporation, the first in the country to run a museum…

·         the janitor’s wife and her two daughters who saved the building from burning down…

·         a well-known, but mythical, tale of a Walrus and Carpenter…

·         and more, on buildings, displays and exhibits, curators and janitors, tales of the past and plans for the future…

·         not forgetting the story of that lion.

Paperback : 172 pages

ISBN-13 : 978-1036951023

Dimensions : 29.7 x 21 x 1.1cm

Publisher : Sunderland City Council (27 May 2026)

Language : English