Captain Cook Memorial Museum
Description:
The Museum, at Grape Lane, Whitby, YO22 4BE, is open to the public. Details of opening can be found on the Museum’s website www.cookmuseumwhitby.co.uk the phone number is 01947 601900. The Museum also has a Facebook page.
Entry is via a courtyard at the side of the house, with a view overlooking the river Esk, and site of the boatyards where Cook’s ships were built.
The ground floor rooms are furnished and decorated according to an inventory of 1754, as they would have been in Cook’s time. The rooms on the first floor exhibit many original documents, paintings and artifacts relating to different periods of Cook’s life. The second floor displays many pictures, prints and engravings relating to Cook’s voyages, and the attic, where the young Cook would have slept, annually displays a special exhibition.
The Museum gift shop sells Cook related postcards and books, museum guide, and souvenirs.
The Museum provides educational facilities for visiting school parties, as well as facilities for higher education students and researchers.
History:
The building was purchased by the Cook Museum Trust in 1985, set up for the purpose by Grania, the late Lady Normanby. It is administered as a non-profit making charity, endowed by Lady Normanby.
In 1986 it was a Scheduled Class 1star Building, being of both special architectural and historic interest. A white plaque on the wall referred to the first builders and occupiers in 1688, Moses and Susannah Dring. It was the Dring family who assigned the property to John Walker in 1729.
The Museum opened on 1st May 1987, and officially on 16th May, 1987. It was restored to its original mid-18th century state, having been in private ownership for many years.
It is staffed by many volunteers.
In 1992 the Museum was accepted by the Museums and Galleries Commission as a registered museum. Its articles of registration were presented by Mrs Barbara Woroncow, the then director of Yorkshire and Humberside Museums Service.
In June 2001, it was announced that the Museum had been awarded almost £348,000 of Lottery money in grants.
On 3rd May 2002, after major refurbishment over the past six months, the Museum was reopened by Mr Neil MacGregor, the then Director of the National Gallery. Costing a total of £464,000, the majority of which was funded by the Lottery Grant, the Museum could now be entered via the harbour-side courtyard, providing access to the Museum via the cottage wing, which had been incorporated into the complex.
Archaeological work uncovered an original 17th century slipway to the harbour, and the herringbone patterned brick floor of the original kitchen.
The building was the house where young James Cook lodged when not at sea on Captain Walker’s ships.
It was restored to its original mid 18th century state, having been in private ownership for many years.
When John Walker died in 1743 he left the house jointly to his sons John and Henry, and it was to this John, in 1746, that James Cook became apprenticed to as a 3 year servant.
John Walker was a ship owner and Master Mariner, the yard and staith at the back of the house would have be busy.
Awards:
In 2005 the Museum won two awards – the first was the White Rose Award for small visitor attractions (under 100,000 visitors), which was organised by the Yorkshire Tourist Board.
The above award was capped by winning the local Scarborough District “Discover Yorkshire Coast” award in the small visitor attractions class.
In 2008 the Museum was a finalist in the White Rose Award, and in 2012 the Museum won the award once more for the Best Small Visitor Attraction.
In 2013 the Museum received the ‘Visit England’ Gold Award for the Best Small Visitor attraction.
Inscription:
Plaque commemorating the Museum’s opening in 1987:
THE CAPTAIN COOK
MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Opened on 16th May, 1987 by
Admiral of the Fleet
LORD LEWIN
K.G., G.C.B., M.V.O., D.S.C.
“I, whose ambition leads me not only farther
than any other man has been before me, but as
far as I think it possible for man to go ….”
Charity Number: 517546
Heritage Listing:
Historic England List Entry No 1148246, first listed 23.2.1954, Building listed under Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
GPS Coordinates: 54.486872, -0.612034
References:
Cook’s Log, page 323, vol. 8, no. 1 (1985)
Cook’s Log, page 419, vol. 9, no. 1 (1986)
Cook’s Log, page 524, vol. 10, no. 2 (1987)
Cook’s Log, page 548, vol. 10, no. 3 (1987)
Cook’s Log, page 667, vol. 12, no. 2 (1989)
Cook’s Log, page 867, vol. 15, no. 4 (1992)
Cook’s Log, page 950, vol. 16, no. 3 (1993)
Cook’s Log, page 1872, vol. 24, no. 3 (2001)
Cook’s Log, page 1967, vol. 25, no. 3 (2002)
Cook’s Log, page 2, vol. 26, no. 4 (2003)
Cook’s Log, page 44, vol. 29, no. 1 (2006)
Cook’s Log, page 44, vol. 35, no. 4 (2012)
Website: www.cookmuseumwhitby.co.uk