Captain Cook Birthplace Museum is a public museum located in Stewart Park in Marton,

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

within the borough of Middlesbrough and the

ceremonial county Ceremonial counties, formally known as ''counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies'', are areas of England to which lord-lieutenant, lord-lieutenants are appointed. A lord-lieutenant is the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarch's repres ...

of North Yorkshire, England. It is one of two institutions managed by Middlesbrough Council, along with the Dorman Museum. The museum opened on 28 October 1978, the 250th anniversary of the birth in the same spot of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

naval

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

and circumnavigator Captain James Cook. It is a biographical museum that surveys Cook's life and journeys. Captain James Cook Birthplace Memorial

] Prior to the museum's establishment, there was a granite urn in Stewart Park commemorating the grounds of Marton Hall, Cook's residence. The urn was erected in the 1850s by local industrialist and

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Henry Bolckow Henry William Ferdinand Bolckow, originally Heinrich Wilhelm Ferdinand Bölckow, (8 December 1806 – 18 June 1878) was a Victorian industrialist and Member of Parliament, acknowledged as being one of the founders of modern Middlesbrough. In a ...

. Marton Hall was destroyed by fire in 1960 during demolition, with only a stone loggia surviving. The museum itself comprises some of the modest Cook-related collections outside of the ownership of the major national and international collections, including household items and a speculative reconstruction of Cook's birthplace cottage that was swept away amid the landscaping process for the Marton Lodge, home to the Rudd family, which stood here until 1793. There are a series of interactive displays and temporary travelling exhibitions as well as a cafe, gift shop, education suite and resources and archive room. A second major refurbishment was undertaken in 1998, which included the commission of two modern works of art by

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award). ...

nominee Simon Patterson. The museum was reopened to the public by Sir David Attenborough. Outside the museum is an information board in deference to Marton's position as the starting point for the Captain Cook Country Tour, a product of the

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

-wide Captain Cook Tourism Association.

References

External links

Official website

Captain Cook Country
Biographical museums in North Yorkshire Cook, James Maritime museums in England Middlesbrough Monuments and memorials to James Cook Museums in North Yorkshire {{UK-museum-stub