Gateshead Heritage @ St Marys
As one of Gateshead’s oldest buildings, St Mary’s Church has borne witness to many social, cultural and industrial changes. Situated above the quayside, it has seen this rural area transformed by coal mining and the growth of industries fuelled by the coal. As people streamed in from near and far to work in these new industries, the population exploded, and the small market town became a sprawling industrial borough. Residents old and new adapted to the changing face of Gateshead. St Mary’s, regarded as the town’s Mother Church, welcomed all.
Appropriately, the church is now at the heart of a new development by Gateshead Council to celebrate the area’s heritage and the ongoing regeneration of the quayside. The aim of Gateshead Heritage@ St Mary’s is to give access for everyone to Gateshead’s rich and changing history, through formal and informal learning opportunities. At the same time, the heritage centre has to be a flexible space which can be used for major events and functions.
Among the solutions we came up with were free standing bespoke mobile units, which create a timeline interpreting the changes in Gateshead from Roman times to today through graphics and interactives. The units incorporate coloured glass to mimic the stained windows once present in the church and inject colour into the space. They also replicate the shape of the graceful archways in the church. Other elements include an audio-visual with footage of the historic characters featured in the timeline mixed with images, and CD ROM games exploring the lives of Victorian residents.
The scheme has been well received, according to Anthea Lang, Local History & Heritage Manager: “This was not an easy project. Our building is Grade 1 listed and there were a number of restrictions on what could be done. Also, the fact that the building not only serves as a heritage centre but also as a civic function space meant that all installations had to be moveable. Imagemakers provided us with some really interesting design concepts and worked hard to provide us with what we needed. Customer and council feedback since we opened has been very positive”
“Imagemakers provided us with some really interesting design concepts and worked hard to provide us with what we needed. Customer and council feedback since we opened has been very positive”
