The Beck Isle Museum of Rural Life is a social history museum in Pickering, North Yorkshire, England. The museum features period business displays including the shops of a barber, blacksmith, chemist, cobbler, cooper, printer, gentleman's draper, dairy, and hardware store. There is also a Victorian-era pub and parlour, and a historic costume gallery.

Beck Isle Museum of Rural Life
Beck Isle Museum
Map
Established1967 (1967)[1]
LocationPickering, North Yorkshire, England
Coordinates54°14′47″N 0°46′53″W / 54.246332°N 0.781317°W / 54.246332; -0.781317
AccreditationArts Council England (AN:1359)[2]
Collection size60,000 objects[1]
Public transit accessPickering (NYMR)
Websitewww.beckislemuseum.org.uk
Listed Building – Grade II*
Designated12 May 1969
Reference no.1315853
Puppets on display

Its collection is housed in a fine regency period Grade II* listed mansion with farm outbuildings. Among the collections are the photography and photographic equipment of Sydney Smith (1884–1958), noted photographer of Pickering.[3] Despite poor eyesight due to a childhood affliction with measles, Smith developed a love of photography, opening a photographic business in the 1900s and operating it with his wife, Maud, until World War I.[3] Maud ran the shop while Smith fought in World War I, and after his return from the war he "gave up photography in order to run a garage on Park Street", though he continued to "spend all his spare time taking photographs".[3]

The images from the collection number several thousand, and a number are on display throughout the museum. Most of the images date from the 1920s to the late 1940s and are of Pickering and the surrounding villages, events, and local people.[4] Smith's collection was described in 2000 as presenting "a remarkable picture of the Rydale area as it was more than half a century ago."[5]

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Beck Isle Museum". North York Moors National Park Authority. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  2. ^ "List of Accredited museums in the UK, Channel Islands, and Isle of Man" (xlsx). Arts Council England. 5 April 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  3. ^ a b c Gordon Clitheroe, Ryedale From Old Photographs (Amberley Publishing, 2013).
  4. ^ "Beck Isle Museum". Rydale on the Net. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  5. ^ Barbara Vesey, The Hidden Places of England (Travel Pub. Ltd., 2000), p. 677, ISBN 1902007433.
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