The wall paintings in the Tea Room were the work of local residents and Vi form students from Wolsingham School. (March-August 1991) The various paintings depict diverse scenes of Weardale history. Many of the paintings are self explanatory, but some require a brief word of explanation. Roll over the images below to view larger versions

The Carboniferous Forest
Shirley Douglas’ painting shows the scene at the time when Stanhope’s famous fossil was a living tree. Strictly speaking Weardale did not exist 300 million years ago, as the area was covered by primeval forests and seas.

The German Gun
This painting by Bob Charnock depicts an episode from 1919. A captured German Cannon was erected at West End in Stanhope. Several disgruntled war veterans took exception, wheeled the gun off and deposited it in the river at Stone Bridge. They were arrested and locked up, however they were soon released when a large angry crowd gathered outside the Police Station.

Bishop Hatfields’ Hunting Party
This shows a medieval hunting scene from around 1380, a time when Weardale was merely a playground for the Bishops of Durham.

Lead Mining
Dorothy O’Donavan’s painting of miners at work also includes a portrait of her late father, Mr Arthur Elliot, who spent his working life in the mines of Weardale.

Burnhope Reservoir
Construction, in the 1930’s involved the inundation of Burnhope village as shown in this painting by Gillian Rowell.

The Roman Altar
Now kept in Stanhope church the altar bears the inscription

“Sacred to the god Silvanus, C.Tetius Veturius Micanus prefect of the Sebosian Cavalry freely sets up this in fulfilment of a vow, because of the capture of a boar of outstanding size which many of his predecessors could not bag.”

The altar was found on Bollihope Common in 1747.

Heatheryburn Cave
The cave, near Stanhope, contained a large hoard of Bronze Age artefacs, unfortunately not discovered until quarrying operations began to destroy the cave. Many items were collected by Canon W Greenwell, between 1843 and 1872, he is shown here surrounded by some of the items from the cave. The hoard is now in the British Museum.

A leaflet on the Murals is available from the Tea Room or the Tourist Information Centre.