One of Newcastle-upon-Tyne’s leading museums is a significant depository of its history, social progress, and industrial and maritime development.

The Discovery Museum is housed in a large Victorian brick building on Blandford Square, and spans three floors with a glass-covered atrium dominated by the Turbinia, the world’s first ship powered by steam turbines.

It was designed by Tyneside engineer Charles Parsons in 1894.

The ground floor features the Newcastle Story, a time tunnel tracing the social history of Newcastle from Roman times to present day.

It highlights social issues over the past couple of centuries such as poverty, unemployment, health problems, pollution, drunkenness, poor housing and so on.

The first floor of the museum contains a gallery that shows the major role played by Tyneside in the nation’s maritime and industrial past.

In addition to making ships for the Royal Navy, Tyneside constructed many warships for foreign navies. This included the Japanese cruiser Yoshino, built in 1893 at Armstrong Whitworth’s Elswick Shipyard.

Ships such as the Yoshino, along with training provided by the Royal Navy, helped the Japanese to crush the Russians in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05.

The Yoshino’s end, however, was less glorious – it sank after colliding with another Japanese cruiser in thick fog.

The Discovery Museum is well worth a visit. Entry is free but donations are welcome.

This article first appeared on Thrifty Traveller.