As Tullie House takes its first tentative steps towards reopening following redevelopment, we’re looking back at the much-loved museum in the heart of Carlisle.


Launched by the Carlisle Corporation in 1893, the original building is a converted Jacobean mansion, with extensions added when it was converted.
At first the building contained the museum and also a library, an art school and a technical school.
The building itself, including the extensions, is Grade I-listed and the wall, gates and railings in front of the house are separately Grade I-listed.
The two schools were moved in the 1950s and the library in 1986. The museum expanded into the city Guildhall in 1980 and with new space available from 1986, it underwent an extensive redevelopment from 1989-90 and again in 2000-01.
The latest work began in December and will result in a new main entrance on Castle Street to its north-east.
While the museum has yet to fully reopen, it is currently staging the exhibition Backing the Blues: 120 Years of Carlisle United, marking 120 years since the club’s official founding, 50 years since its sole season of top-flight football and 25 years since goalkeeper Jimmy Glass’s last-minute relegation beating goal. 
The museum will be making use of its Exhibition Gallery, Lecture Theatre, Function Room and gardens to host a number of activities and a temporary café.
Our main picture shows Little Monster, part of the Eden Rivers Wonder World exhibition at Tullie House in 2018.

(Image: Jim Davis)

(Image: Newsquest)

Above is museum director Andrew Mackay and seven-year-olds Maise Sykes and Owen Ridley taking part in a pumpkin carving workshop.

(Image: Newsquest)

In 2016, members of Flood Re stopped off at Tullie House on their cycle ride from Lands End to John O’ Groats.

(Image: Newsquest)
The same year, the museum launched Carlisle’s first-ever exhibition of LGBT history. Pictured are married couple Lisa and Sue Chapin-Wickwar.

(Image: Newsquest)

(Image: Newsquest)

Anne-Marie Knowles, curatorial manager at Tullie House, appealed for photographs for an exhibition called Carlisle in the Great War: Munitions, Mobilisation and Mayhem and, in 2016, Kate Parry took over as the new Cumbria museums consortium manager.

(Image: Newsquest)

(Image: Newsquest)

Much fun was had at a summer exhibition entitled A Viking’s Guide To Deadly Dragons.