Beck Isle Museum

This museum was founded in 1967 by a group of local people who were intent on preserving the history of Pickering and the surrounding rural area in North Yorkshire. The building was once owned by a famous agriculturalist  William Marshall,  who inherited it from his brother in the late 18th century. He immediately started to develop the building to form what would have been England's first agricultural college but he never brought  the project to fruition before he died in 1818. In the  19th up to the mid 20th century  the building was used to house a series of of doctors who also used part of the building as their surgery. The last was Dr John Findon Murphy  who had won the Military Cross in WW1. He operated his surgery from the building until 1966. In 1967 the building  was converted to a museum  and art gallery and the rather eclectic collection has been growing ever since. In the outside area is a collection  of machinery, mainly  agricultural and horticultural. Within the buildings are a series of displays  of historic themed installations including  a Pharmacist's shop, a printer's, a wheelwright, a cobbler's shop,  a gent's hairdresser, a men's outfitters etc. alongside more generally  themed displays such as the childrens' room and a room dedicated to fashion. One of the most impressive displays is a replica of the bar in Pickering's former Station  Hotel. The blacksmith's shop display area is operated  as a real smithy a couple of days per week.

There are also displays relating to local notables including   photography pioneer Sydney Smith and artist and soldier Rex Whistler. 

Overall the collection may seem to be an eclectic  accumulation of mid-late 19th century and early 20th century  artifacts but the themes and local connections  are  cleverly  maintained. The museum  is a real tribute to the group of volunteers  who run it.