A growing community-led campaign to establish a permanent shipyard heritage museum in the North East is continuing to gather momentum, with increasing public support, university involvement and regional interest in preserving one of Britain's most important industrial legacies.
The proposed Shipyard Heritage Museum aims to create a permanent home dedicated to celebrating, preserving and teaching the story of shipbuilding on the Rivers Tyne, Wear and Tees; industries that helped shape not only the North East, but the modern world.
At the centre of the campaign are Bronwyn Mogie, Andrew Leslie, Dr Mark Stoddart and historian Prof. John Wilson, a group brought together by a shared passion for protecting the North East’s industrial heritage while helping create opportunities for future generations.
The campaign itself was founded by Bronwyn Mogie after researching her own family history and discovering generations of relatives who had worked in shipyards along the Tyne.
“At the end of 2025, we found out through family tree research that all of the men in our family had worked in the shipyards from the 1870s onwards,” said Bronwyn. “We realised we were probably the last generation with direct family connections to the yards.”
That discovery inspired her to launch a public petition supporting a permanent shipyard museum and heritage centre.
“It quickly gained community support. We met local MPs who were supportive, and then Andrew got in touch through LinkedIn because our interests lined up so well.”
For Andrew Leslie, the campaign has both a deeply personal and regional significance. His ancestor, Andrew Leslie, founded Leslie’s Shipyard, later known as Hawthorn Leslie, one of Tyneside’s most important shipbuilding firms building around 800 ships between 1853 and the early 1980s.
Andrew originally began researching his family history with plans for a book and documentary project before becoming involved in the museum campaign.
“These industrialists didn’t just build ships – they built communities,” he says. “They funded churches, schools and hospitals. It was a period of massive entrepreneurship and industrial development when the North East really was a global powerhouse.”
He believes the region’s influence on world shipbuilding has never truly been recognised.
“We’ve been using the phrase that Tyneside was the Silicon Valley of shipbuilding, and it really was,” he says. “At one point between 30 and 50 percent of the world’s ships came out of this region.”
For Dr Mark Stephenson, whose background is in engineering and technical management, the campaign grew out of frustration at how little physical evidence remains of Tyneside’s industrial importance.
“I worked on Newcastle Business Park, where the Armstrong site used to be, and I was constantly amazed by the lack of any real evidence showing what once existed there,” he says. “You could arrive there and have absolutely no idea how important engineering and shipbuilding once were in that area.”
Mark later completed a PhD focused on shipbuilding and engineering on Tyneside, uncovering what he describes as extraordinary stories about the people and industries that shaped the region.
“One of the biggest revelations was how little material survives to explain the scale and significance of what happened here,” he says.
Now working alongside Prof. John Wilson on a forthcoming book about the history of shipbuilding and the entrepreneurs behind it, Mark says the museum campaign has accelerated rapidly in recent months.
“It’s gone from zero to 200 miles an hour very quickly,” he says. “But everybody you speak to seems to have a family connection to the yards. People have stories, photographs and memories that need to be preserved before they disappear.”
The group has been working continuously to build support, speaking with councillors, heritage organisations, businesses, educational institutions and potential funding partners. The petition has already attracted more than 1,300 signatures, while thousands more engage with historic photographs, memories and shipyard stories shared through the project’s social media pages.
“We are the region that helped build the modern world, yet we still have no permanent venue dedicated to preserving and teaching our extraordinary shipbuilding history,” said Bronwyn.
“This project is about making sure future generations understand the skill, sacrifice, resilience and innovation that came from our communities. The yards fed families-built cities and supported the country through war, trade and engineering excellence. That legacy deserves a permanent home.”
Although no final venue has been identified, the group hopes the museum can be located on the banks of the Tyne, but they remain open to opportunities elsewhere if necessary. Importantly, the vision extends far beyond a traditional museum space.
“We want this to be much more than somewhere displaying artefacts,” Mark explains. “There’ll be educational opportunities, apprenticeships, spaces for the community to gather and hopefully somewhere that helps young people gain engineering skills.”
The long-term ambition includes educational programmes, digital archives, community storytelling projects, apprenticeships, events and opportunities to reconnect younger generations with the North East’s industrial heritage.
The project has also received offers of support and donations from members of the public, including historic artwork, shipyard memorabilia and personal collections connected to the region’s maritime past.
The group recently visited the A&P shipyard facilities on the Tyne and were encouraged to see that shipbuilding capability still exists within the region.
“It would be fantastic if one day ships were being built on the Tyne again,” Andrew says. “But right now our focus is creating a centre that preserves the past while helping shape the future.”
Supporters can learn more, share stories or donate artefacts through www.shipyardheritagemuseum.org.uk and via the project’s Facebook page.
