Hull and East Riding Museum Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
Hull and East Riding Museum of Archaeology

Established	1989
Location	Kingston upon Hull, England
Visitors	76,792 (2014)
Public transit access	Hull Paragon Interchange (10 minute walk)

The Hull and East Riding Museum of Archaeology is a cool place to visit in the Museums Quarter of the Old Town in Kingston upon Hull, England. It first opened in 1925 as a different museum, but in 1989, it got its current name after a big makeover. This museum shows off amazing items from way back in time, from prehistoric days to the Middle Ages. Many displays use life-size scenes or rebuilt rooms to show you what life was like long ago.

History of the Museum Building
Exploring the Museum Galleries
See also

History of the Museum Building

A plaque on High Street showing the building's history.

The entrance to the Commercial Museum in 1925.

The building where the museum is located, at 36 High Street, has a long history! It was first a customs house, which is where taxes were collected on goods coming into the city. In the 1850s, city leaders decided to build a new place for trading grain, called a corn exchange. The building you see today was finished in 1856.

Over time, people traded less grain there, especially after a tough time for farming in the late 1800s. The building wasn't used much and started to fall apart. But in 1925, it got a new life when it opened as the Museum of Commerce and Industry.

During World War II, the building was damaged by bombs. After the war, it was fixed up and reopened in 1957 as the Archaeology and Transport Museum. In 1989, the museum changed its name again to the Hull and East Riding Museum. This happened because the transport exhibits moved to a new museum next door, called the Streetlife Museum of Transport.

The museum had another big update between 1998 and 2003. This was part of creating the "Museums Quarter," and the main entrance was moved to a central courtyard. Like many places, the museum had to close for a while during the COVID-19 pandemic in England in 2020 but happily reopened in May 2021.

Exploring the Museum Galleries

The museum has several exciting galleries where you can see real items found in the local area. These items are often displayed in scenes that show what life was like at different times. Some displays even include full-size rooms or buildings!

Discovering Fossils and Early Animals

When you first enter, you'll be greeted by a giant woolly mammoth! You can also see other ancient animals that once lived in this region. There are even interactive displays, including real fossils you can touch and explore.

Learning About Prehistoric People

This section shows you what life was like for early humans. You can see a scene with a woman gathering food and learn about what people ate and the tools they used. There are stone tools, Bronze Age pottery, metal items, and old wooden carvings. Many of these were found by a famous archaeologist named John Robert Mortimer. You can also see the mysterious Roos Carr figures here.

Stepping into Celtic Worlds

Imagine walking into an Iron Age village! This gallery has a recreated part of one. If you need help understanding what you're seeing, you can get a translation at the reception desk.

The Ancient Boat Lab

Here, you'll find the amazing Hasholme Logboat. This boat is about 12.78 meters (42 feet) long and 1.4 meters (4.6 feet) wide, carved from a single oak tree around 300 BC! You can also see a piece of one of the three Ferriby Boats. These boats are from about 2000 BC and are the oldest known boats in Europe made from planks sewn together.

Journey to the Roman World (AD 43–410)

This gallery lets you step back into Roman times! You can see a recreated part of a Roman town called Petuaria (which is now modern-day Brough, East Riding of Yorkshire). There are large, real mosaics displayed just as they would have been in Roman homes.

You can also explore a Roman bath house with an original mosaic and a life-sized statue of a bather. There's even a workshop, office, and shop, showing what items might have been sold back then. A funny detail is the Latin graffiti Romani ite domum ("Romans go home") on a wall!

The museum has some of the best collections of late Roman mosaics in Britain. These beautiful artworks were found at Roman villas in places like Rudston, Brantingham, Harpham, and Horkstow.

Exploring the Upper Galleries

The upper galleries show you what life was like in East Yorkshire after the Romans left (around AD 410) up to the start of the English Civil War. You'll learn about the Saxons, the Vikings, and what Hull was like in the Middle Ages. This section includes old coins, weapons, stone carvings, and everyday objects from those times.