Stunning new £23million 'The Story' facility at Mount Oswald Manor House bring's Durham's history to life

A stunning new £23million facility The Story opens to the public this weekend bringing 900 years of County Durham history to visitors’ fingertips, all under one roof.

The former Mount Oswald Manor House on South Road now holds five important historical collections and houses the County Registration office which records births, deaths and marriages.

And excited staff, led by County archivist Carolyn Ball and superintendent registrar Anne Robson can’t wait to show the state-of-the-art site off.

This week the pair gave the region’s media a sneak preview of the restored and redeveloped building on the outskirts of Durham, most recently used as a golf club before planning permission was given for The Story in 2020.

They jokingly vied for attention with Carolyn making the case for how important The Story was for historical records while Anne praised the new and attractive wedding venues.

But they were both united in pride that County Durham now has as good an archive and records centre as anywhere in the country.

“The oldest document in the collection dates back to 1122, a deed of land transfer from the Bishop of Durham, a site near Holy Island,” revealed Carolyn. 

“But I’m slightly taken by the fact that when Anne’s team holds a wedding here, that too becomes a historical record on the very same day!

“It reminds us that this is not just about static history, it’s an ever-changing story.”

The new cultural venue, which offers a gateway to the history of County Durham and its people, is a marriage in more ways than one.

The elegant Grade II-listed Mount Oswald Manor, built at the start of the 19th century has been lovingly restored and now adjoins an ultra-modern glass-fronted facility specifically designed with modern needs in mind.

The building is warmed by 60 ground-source heat pumps and powered by 291 solar panels and, as a result, saves enough energy to power 50 average homes a year.

The measures also reduce the amount of greenhouse gases The Story produces by more than 50 per cent, while climate-controlled strongrooms - which house the collections - use very little energy for heating and cooling.

Work was carried out remarkably quickly - beginning on site in March 2021 and completed in October 2023 - but there has been nothing rushed in terms of construction or in ensuring the collections were impeccably transported and stored in the purpose-designed facility.

The building contains more than six miles of archives across 11 strongrooms bringing together five important collections, while reuniting the entire Durham Light Infantry (DLI) Collection with the DLI Archive for the first time since 1998.

A home to ancient documents, archaeological finds, records of bravery, and life-changing events associated with County Durham and beyond, The Story has a free, interactive exhibition space just in from the glass-fronted entranceway where visitors can browse and learn..

In the vaults, as well as miles of record books, newspapers, magazines and almanacs there are artefacts like the Durham Light Infantry drums, honours, banners and portraits and on display to the public is the famous Second World ‘Wakenshaw Gun’ where Private Adam Wakenshaw lost his life and earned a Victoria Cross for his heroism.

Wakenshaw's VC was the last of 11 earned by the DLI and six of the medals are in The Story’s collection as well as encyclopaedic detail on how they were won.

Within these collections, an exciting programme of activities will offer new ways for people to discover and learn more about the people and events that shaped the county.

Inside, visitors can experiment with audio and visual devices to interact with exhibitions, and a specialist digitisation studio is allowing The Story team to expand the collections that are available digitally.

A state-of-the-art online collections search is also available both on-site and online, meaning people can discover The Story’s treasures from the comfort of their own homes, as well as taking advantage of AI features.

The digitisation of so much of the collection will transform and enhance local history searches with AI features able to make connections across thousands of different sources, including photographs.

But it should not be forgotten that The Story is also the new home of the County Registration Service, where between 2-2,500 births and up to 5,000 deaths a year will be recorded.

As well as that important legal duty though, the building will provide a place for current and future generations to make their own happy milestones - whether that is registering a birth or getting married in one of the venue’s elegant Georgian ceremony rooms where weddings, civil partnership ceremonies and vow renewals will be held.

Superintendent registrar Anne Robson said: “We already have more than 400 weddings booked at The Story, the first due to be held this week.

“It’s a wonderful building with picturesque views and a fabulous facility for the people of County Durham.

“Now that it is complete and open, we’re looking forward to people enjoying it for many years to come.”

Step into The Story in County Durham this weekend

• Durham County Council has organised a series of special activities to mark the opening of The Story on Friday, June 14th and across the weekend.

Historical re-enactments, pop-up theatre performances, live music and a teddy bears’ picnic are among the free activities, along with the chance to be the first to see inside the eagerly awaited new venue.

The Story will officially open on Friday, June 14th with a programme of activities for people of all ages from 9 am to 4 pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

This will include opportunities to get up close to items from the archives, demonstrations on how to search the digital archives and family activities in the learning studio, including fancy dress and family name research.

Visitors can:

• Look around the beautifully restored Georgian ceremony rooms.

• Explore the learning and collections rooms and try out the AI-assisted online search facility, which includes touch-sensitive map screens that can be enlarged, minimised and viewed through different decades.

• Take in the permanent exhibition space and a temporary exhibition about the Battle of Kohima.

On Sunday, activities will also include:

• Pop-up comedy performances from the Time Travellers and Edmund and Hilary.

• Historical re-enactors from John Sadler’s Time Bandits.

• A chance to look around the restored ceremonial rooms.

• A teddy bears’ picnic and an opportunity for children to register their teddies.

• Live music including the Durham Army Cadet Force Band and Bugles and the first

public performance of a specially commissioned song about The Story by the

Citizen Songwriters.

• A competition to name The Story mascot.

• An exhibition trail.

• Refreshments in the café.

The Story is open from Monday to Friday, from 9 am-to 5 pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 10 am-5 pm. 

The Collections Room is open Monday to Friday from 10 am-4 pm.

It is based at Mount Oswald, South Road, Durham, DH1 3TQ, approximately two miles from Durham city centre, with a free, 70 space, car park for visitors with entry via South Road and exit via The Drive

Several bus routes regularly stop near The Story, including number six and number 42, with the nearest bus stop at the bottom of The Story’s drive.

For further details on bus routes and times visit Durham County Council’s Bus Timetable information website.

To stay up to date with the latest news, events, exhibitions and visitor information from The

Story, visit www.thestorydurham.org and follow @TheStoryDurham on Facebook and X.

Durham County Council has received support from a number of organisations to make The Story possible including:

• The European Regional Development Fund providing more than £1.5 million to allow environmentally friendly features to be included.

• The National Lottery Heritage Fund awarding a £1.2 million grant to deliver a five-year programme of countywide activities and temporary exhibitions.

• The Wolfson Foundation giving a £150,000 grant towards The Story’s exhibition space.