Name: Captain Cook Schoolroom Museum
Rating: 5.0

Captain Cook Schoolroom Museum

101 High Street, Great Ayton, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire TS9 6NB, UK

1-99 Years

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Description

The Captain Cook Schoolroom Museum is a museum in Great Ayton, a village in North Yorkshire, in England. The building was constructed as a school, on the initiative of Michael Postgate. It was completed in 1704, and was extended and partly rebuilt in 1785. Captain James Cook was educated at the school.

The Schoolroom Museum in Great Ayton is housed in a building once used as a charity school which was founded in 1704 by Michael Postgate, a local landowner. It was here, between 1736 and 1740, that Captain James Cook received his early education.

Admission is FREE in Captain Cook Schoolroom Museum. If you are looking for Best place for day out with kids and families then this is the perfect destination offering fun, adventure, and unforgettable memories for everyone.

Features

Free
Host birthday parties: No

Features

Educating an Adventurer: The Museum explores methods of teaching in the 18th century and the foundation of Charity Schools. We follow Cook’s early life on the farm, to his important voyages and untimely death. A great place to visit for all of the family.
The attractive village of Great Ayton (population 5000) is centred on the banks of the River Leven. It is ancient in origin, having several Neolithic sites within the parish boundary, and is mentioned in the Domesday Book. In former times its industries included linen making, tanning and brewing; and the mining industries of whinstone (a hard igneous rock used in roadmaking), ironstone, alum and jet were important locally. Nowadays most of its residents work outside the parish boundary while farming remains an important local industry.
Great Ayton has two village greens. The High Green is the centre of the village while the Low Green, with the river running alongside, is a popular picnic place in the summer months. To the north of the village the view is dominated by the 330 metre high Roseberry Topping. This hill, and the adjacent whinstone outcrop, are of geological importance.
Great Ayton has many connections with Captain Cook. His father worked for Thomas Skottowe, the lord of the manor, and lived at Aireyholme Farm on the side of Roseberry Topping, Thomas Skottowe paid James Cook’s fees at the Postgate School. In All Saints Church (a fine twelfth century building) one can see Thomas Skottowe’s memorial tablet and, in the churchyard, the gravestone of Grace Cook, the explorer’s mother. A cottage, built in the village by Cook’s father, was transferred to Melbourne in Australia in 1933; an obelisk now marks the site. A statue representing Cook as a boy, by the sculptor Nicholas Dimbleby, commissioned by Hambleton District Council and Great Ayton Parish Council, was unveiled on the High Green in 1997.

Facilities

Parking: There is street parking close by, as well as a car park just before the High Green.

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Price

Price: Free

Birthday Parties

Offer Birthday Parties: No

Wednesday to Sunday
Closed Monday (except Bank Holidays) and Tuesdays

Address: 101 High Street, Great Ayton, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire TS9 6NB, UK

Post Code: TS9 6NB

Council: North Yorkshire

County: North Yorkshire

Bus: Bus 28A Middlesbrough Bus Station to Stokesly via Great Ayton. The No.18 Guisborough to Stokesley via Great Ayton. Ask the driver for High St, Great Ayton.
Train: Trains run from either Middlesbrough Railway Station or from Whitby along the beautiful Esk Valley.
Car: Sat Nav: TS9 6NB.
Parking: There is street parking close by, as well as a car park just before the High Green.