Recently Yarm’s historic Town Hall, which sits proud in the middle of the High Street, was refurbished and reopened with a new ground floor heritage centre.
The aim of the centre was to display items and stories relating to Yarm’s past for the local residents and visitors to come and learn from.
I visited the Heritage Centre recently to see what it was like.
The space is now a modern exhibition area accessed through glass doors off the High Street, and immediately inside you’re faced with a large wooden canoe replica with various screens hanging above showing videos.
The Heritage Centre is small, but each of the videos being shown lasts for over 6 minutes, so you’ll be able to spend a while here learning about the different stories of people and heritage in Yarm if you want to.
Also hanging above the canoe include a replica of the famous Yarm Helmet, of Viking origin, plus a lion scuplture from the former Tall Trees nightclub, an original fire & flood warning bell, polearms, and Thomas Meynell’s original ceremonial sword.
Other items include replicas of Tom Brown’s nose (he famously lost his in the battle of Dettingen) and Yarm Town Hall clock hand pointers.
The films on show each represent and tell a story about one of the items on display, often with local figures starring in them. There are headphones to use when watching and listening to the films.
Known as Island in a River, this display was put together by Matthew Rosier, with help from local communite groups.
Yarm Heritage Centre Opening Times
The Heritage Centre in Yarm Town Hall is currently open at the following times:
- Thursday 1-5pm
- Friday 1-5pm
- Saturday 1-5pm
- Sunday 1-5pm
It is manned by volunteers who are on hand to talk to you about the items on display, or Yarm’s past.
Have you visited? What did you think? Leave a comment below.