Beasts and Legends: Adventures through North East Folklore, Palace Green Library

Beasts and Legends: Adventures through North East folklore’ is a free exhibition which explores the development of storytelling throughout Historic County Durham. This family friendly exhibition features a selection of artefacts from across the Durham University collections to help tell the stories of local folktales. 

For those both familiar or new to the stories of the beasts and legends on display, the exhibition poses the opportunity for visitors, especially younger people, to connect with folktales through the displays. The exhibition also features objects on loan from Durham Cathedral, in addition to artworks created by collaborative work with local artist Ruth Flowers.

Visitors are also invited to join the selection of public activities, including story-telling workshops for younger visitors, and an afternoon lecture series to talk about themes of the exhibition in more detail. 

This exhibition, including the events and resources on this webpage, has been created by MA Museum and Artefact Studies students, under the Archaeology Department, Durham University. 

The exhibition is showing from 14th June – 2nd November 2025 at Palace Green Library.