Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery
Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery is Carlisle's finest visitor attraction, and houses considerable collections of fine and decorative art, human history and natural sciences. It also boasts a wide range of exhibitions and events, brought together in one impressive museum and art gallery.
Being the premier attraction in the North West means that Tullie House is recognised for its first class customer service, and for exciting, varied events and exhibitions programmes.
A fusion of old and new awaits you, from the beautiful Old Tullie House, a classical Grade One Listed Jacobean building to the Border Galleries, full of exciting exhibits and interactive displays.
There is something for everyone at Tullie House. Children and adults of all ages will find fun, hands-on exhibits and even games: fire a Roman weapon, climb our life-sized section of Hadrian’s Wall or visit the badgers’ sett!.
A changing programme of temporary exhibitions compliments permanent displays; contemporary arts are featured in the purpose-built Art Gallery, and exhibitions inspired by collections or the local community appear in the Special Exhibitions Gallery upstairs.
The main displays will take you on a journey through the ages, from the present day back to the Romans and before. You will also encounter Wildlife of the Eden valley (set under a changing audio-visual ceiling display) and local history over the past century in the new Carlisle Life gallery. Set in attractive and well-planted gardens, Old Tullie House (1689) still retains its beautiful Jacobean facade. Inside there is an impressive Jacobean staircase and fireplace. The wood-panelled first floor room shows Pre-Raphaelite art and Arts & Crafts items.
The award-winning family-friendly restaurant serves a variety of snacks and meals, while the Tullie House gift shop is the perfect place to find unique gifts and souvenirs, featuring locally crafted goods.
Tullie House has extensive and important art collection including Fine Art, Decorative Art and Textiles.
Fine Art:
The Fine Art collection includes 4800 mainly British paintings, watercolours, drawings, prints, sketchbooks and a small collection of sculpture dating from around 1650 to the present day.
Special strengths include:
North Cumbrian artists and views dating from the 18th century to the present day including William James Blacklock, Sam Bough, Winifred Nicholson, Sheila Fell, Donald Wilkinson and Julian Cooper.
19th century artists including Samuel Palmer and the Pre-Raphaelites: D G Rossetti, Elizabeth Siddal, William Morris, Ford Madox Brown, Burne-Jones and Arthur Hughes.
20th century artists including Charles Ricketts, Paul Nash, Wyndham Lewis, Stanley Spencer and Peter Blake.
21st century artists including Keith Tyson.
Nature's Collections:
Tullie House Museum collects and preserves objects and information concerning the wildlife and geology of Cumbria.
The museum holds large and important collections of zoological, botanical and geological material.
Tullie House Museum also maintains a local biological records database with over 200,000 records of wildlife sightings in Cumbria.
A display of the wildlife of the area from the Lakeland and Pennine fells to the Solway Firth can be seen in our Wildlife Gallery.
The Carlisle Millennium Gallery houses a display of some of the beautiful and spectacular Cumbrian mineral crystals from our collections.
The Human History Collections:
In order to record and interpret the lives and activities of the people who have lived in northern Cumbria over the last 10,000 years, Tullie House collects a wide range of material. This includes objects, ephemera (printed material), photographs and associated information files.
All of these collections share a common theme, but for practical organisational reasons the convention has long been to separate all formally excavated material and everything dating to before the Tudor period (the Archaeology collection) from everything later (the Local History collection).
The Tullie House Restaurant and Garden:
The garden has had an historical make-over. New additions include a Roman and Jacobean themed features and planting. The historical planting includes nectar rich native plants to encourage insects and bring in wildlife to the area. The Roman planting, includes a variety of herbs, which will be used for teaching Roman cookery and making Roman medicines.
VISTIORS INFORAMTION:
Opening Timings:
Open daily, all year round
Except 25th/26th December and 1st January
November-March: Mon-Sat 10am-4pm, Sun 12pm-4pm
April-June and Sept-Oct: Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 12pm-5pm
July and Aug: Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 11am-5pm
| Admission Charges |
| Adults |
£4.00 |
| Children 18 years and under |
FREE |
| Concession |
£2.50 |
Restaurant Opening Times:
Mon to Sat, 9.30am - 5pm
Sun, 12 noon - 5pm
We also cater for weddings, business functions and other private parties
By Bus
Leave the station heading towards the main shopping centre on English Street. At House of Fraser bare left onto Castle Street. Tullie House is at the end of Castle Street on the left after the Cathedral. It is about a 10 minute walk from the bus station.
By Train
Leave the station heading towards the main shopping centre on English Street. At House of Fraser bare left onto Castle Street. Tullie House is at the end of Castle Street on the left after the Cathedral. It is about a 10- 15 minute walk from the station.
By Car or Coach:
Enter the city following the M symbol until this brings you to Hardwicke Circus roundabout. Take the exit signed A595 Workington. Keeping in the outside lane of the dual carriageway, drive past Tullie House.
Go straight on at the traffic lights. When you reach the roundabout at McVities factory double back on yourself and drive back along the other side of the dual carriageway keeping in the inside lane. Go straight across at the traffic lights and turn left at the sign for Devonshire Walk car park. Tullie House can be reached by using either the footbridge or the underground walkway situated just in front of the Castle
Address:
Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery
Castle Street,
Carlisle, Cumbria,
CA3 8TP