Great North Museum: Hancock

We absolutely loved the museum — it’s such a pity we couldn’t stay longer. The staff were extremely friendly, welcoming, and always willing to help. The atmosphere was calm, inspiring, and very well organized. Everything was clean and beautifully maintained, which made the experience even more enjoyable. The exhibitions were engaging, educational, and thoughtfully presented. It was clear that great care and attention to detail had gone into every part of the museum. We truly appreciated the effort put into creating such a meaningful and memorable visit. We would definitely love to return and spend more time exploring everything. Thank you for such a wonderful experience!

Absolutely fabulous place for young and old. Lots of interactive stuff for the youngsters. Great selection of things to see and do. Really enjoyed our time there on a wet and windy day! Fabulous cafe too with a good selection of cakes and other foods. Definitely recommend. Free entry but a donation is a must to keep this wonderful place going!

It was fab! They have such a varied collection of objects, starting with sealife, then Romans, through to dinosaurs and that's just on the ground floor!! Very well suited for disability with plenty of toilets, places to sit, a huge lift and cafe. You probably wouldn't spend an entire day but it's definitely good for a few hours to half a day. Definitely worth a visit

Review: This review is specifically about the Hadrian’s Wall section of the museum. It was exactly what I had hoped for before beginning my exploratory journey through the Hadrian’s Wall area. The displays offer superb descriptions and are very well laid out. There were only a few visitors in that part of the hall; I was able to take my time and really enjoy the exhibits. One small note: many of the information panels are positioned very low, near the base of the displays, and the lighting in that area isn’t always ideal for reading them, so you often have to crouch or kneel to see the text clearly—something that can be a bit challenging after a while. To be thorough, it takes approximately 90 minutes to go through the Roman and Anglo-Saxon areas of the museum. One plus is that, by seeing where along Hadrian’s Wall the items I was most interested in were discovered, I was able to add several more locations to visit on my trip here. Still, it was everything I’d hoped for. Having visited the area some 30 years ago, I’m simply happy to be back again and to see it presented with such care and detail.

Oh my word!!!! A MUST VISIT museum. Absolutely loved our time spent absorbing everything that was on offer for us to view/touch/ interact with. Found it extremely enjoyable and informative. CANNOT BELIEVE THAT IT'S FREE!!!! ( you can make a donation, if you're able to but not compulsory)

What a great museum! There is so much packed into it. The dinosaur/ fossil exhibition and the Egyptian part were particularly great. Plus, it was free. I'd definitely recommend.

This is one of Newcastle's free museums. It was a quiet weekday when I visited. Not been since childhood some 40 years ago, so it was good to go back. Spent a few hours looking at the different aspects of the museum. The Ancient Egypt section was my favourite. Well worth a visit to the Planetarium if you have an interest in the planets, stars and the universe. We watched from Earth to the Universe. Can recommend it.

A fantastic place to go and a rare thing in this day and age ITS FREE 😁 So many amazing things to see, from the natural world to the Roman empire and more. Very educational for all ages, with very helpful staff. Lovely cafe also 😋 A gem of a place right in the centre of Newcastle 👏

Very good free museum at the University of Newcastle. The Great North Museum focuses on natural history for the most part, with interesting sections on world cultures as well. The exhibits are interesting and informative, but also interactive enough to keep everyone's attention. When we visited, there was a special exhibition on the amazing Gertrude Bell. It tells her life story, including her fascinating archaeological work in the middle east, and her efforts to establish a National Museum in Baghdad. A truly interesting woman. There is a good shop and a café on site, so you can definitely spend a few hours here and not get bored. Highly recommended in Newcastle.

Fantastic free museum for adults & children. Well worth a visit if there m the city. Some interesting items on display. Shame about screaming kids during school holidays!

A really great couple of hours spent wandering around. The refurb quite clearly, and rightly focussed on interaction with children in mind dumbing down some of the exhibits. Cafe was OK; just about OK.

Although closed till the spring of 09,The Hancock Museum was a favourite place for my kids when they were young.It's central to the Haymarket so easy to get to,although parking is very limited at the museum itself.They tend to have something different going on throughout the year apart from the usual displays.They always do a good egyptian display and included in this is an unwrapped mummy which may kids were always fascinated by and a lot of realy good other artifacts of Egyptian origin.They tend to lean towards natural history and have a vast collection of butterflies,moths ect as well . I'm looking forward to visiting again after the makeover and can honestly say that if it was as good as before then it'll be worth it.Interesting for kids although obviously not the very young ones.

I am an optimist! This museum is closed and will be closed till spring 2009 (if no delays). Previously full of interesting displays but with some emphasis on stuffed birds (the favourite ast tme of Mr Hancock). It is going a multimillion makeover which will increase display size. Hope it is going to be good

My first visit and I will be back. Interesting layout and displays I only scratched the surface. The wildlife photography exhibition was a real highlight. There is plenty variation to suit all tastes and my Great Grand daughter aged 8 loved every minute of it. No entry fee but the suggested donation is well worth the money.

I had expected the re-vamped Hancock to be fantastic, full of innovation and a great day out. How wrong could I be!! OK, so it was the school half-term holiday so I had been ready for it to be busy, however I wasn't ready for the unruley kids with lack of parental control. Ok so this is beyond the control of Museum Staff but having said that there didn't seem to be many of them around, other than serving in the 2 shops and 2 Cafes. OK, let's deal with the good points first. 1. It's free to get in 2. It has a full size T-Rex skeleton (or copy of one!) 3. Nope, can't think of any more. Bad points 1. There is no 'Flow' to the differing areas. It seems that little thought has been put in to taking the visitor on a journey, unless I just didn't 'Get It'. 2. Having just been open 3 days quite a lot of the 'Hands On' gizmos were already broken. Many of the interactive touch screens were covered and all of the industrial 'Magnadoodles' were trashed. 3. There was a distinct lack of signage explaining exhibits. Some were mis-identified or just plain missing. 4. Internal layout seems confusing, I have had little trouble in the past finding my way around places but I couldn't even find the Mens toilets! 5. There seemed to be a lot of empty space where either exhibits had not been put out or the items had been nicked, this being Newcastle I'll leave it up to you to decide which! 6. Most of the live animal exhibits seemed to be in 'Quarantine'. Which I find surprising as the management have had 3 years to get the timing right and still didn't manage it. 7. The Roman Exhibits: Lots of roman Altars and stone dedications but no translations that I could see. Now I don't know about the other visitors to the museum but my Latin is a little rusty! 8. Although free to walk round the museum, the prices being charged in the shops were verging on extortion. My daughter wished to buy a small, leather (ish) bookmark - the cost of which was £2.75!!! Needless to say she left in tears. 9. To visit the Planetarium you need to obtain a seperate ticket from the upstairs shop. I spied the Planatarium through an open door and was so dissapointed with how it looked I didn't bother getting a ticket so I'm not even sure if it costs extra (Although I would suspect it does) Would I go again? No Would I advise someone else to go? No, unless they are curators and want to know how NOT to do it or major changes are made. Was it worth the expense of refurbishment? Not in my opinion.

I read the review of a greedy gentleman from Bradford, that was willing to take his child to the museum as long as it was free, did not want to purchase a ticket for the planetarium show, or even pay the measly price of £2.50 for a gift for his child, I know from experience passing through Bradford it is a depressing place to visit, so therefore paying a little price for a child's happiness is not going to break their bank, The Hancock museum is a fantastic place to visit, and is considered a jewel in our beautiful city, and Its FREE ENTRY WHAT MORE DO THEY WANT?.