We are delighted to announce that Reece Foundation is funding a feasibility study to test ideas for the restoration of Jesmond Dene Banqueting Hall and the long-term sustainability of the building.
This comes on top of generous grants from Barbour Foundation and the Architectural Heritage Fund for important surveys and an architectural assessment.
After 50 years of neglect, this treasured heritage building in Jesmond Dene, a public park in Newcastle upon Tyne, is coming back to life. Talks are also taking place with Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The Banqueting Hall was given to the people, along with the Dene itself, in 1883, by Newcastle’s foremost benefactor, Sir William Armstrong. A century later, the roof of the original structure – the Dobson Hall – was removed, but other parts of the building remained intact.
The Banqueting Hall has been facing an increasingly uncertain fate, in spite of valiant efforts to maintain its fabric by a group of artists who have occupied the building for four decades.
Now, the Armstrong Project CIO has been set up to secure an exciting future for the Hall as a place of learning and discovery that will be open to everyone.
The trustees invite you to share practical and visionary ideas as the project evolves.
Jesmond Dene’s waterfall, its bridges, rapids and stepping stones, were shaped by William Armstrong with the help of landscape architect John Hancock.
Reece Foundation backs The Armstrong Project
Spring into spring: join a volunteer working party
Volunteers are invited to join a working party at the Banqueting Hall during the weekend of 21–22 March 2026. Its purpose is to clear vegetation from the site, in preparation for preliminary restoration to begin.
To sign up, please contact Peter Jamieson: pcjamieson42@gmail.com
Volunteers at a previous Banqueting Hall working party, in October 2025, take a break from their labours.
Lit & Phil bicentenary in its magnificent library building
Down on the farm: pioneering hydraulics at Cragend
Armstrong crane in Venice: work starts on restoration
In the media
See Eddy Hope’s take on Jesmond Dene in Tyneside Life
Lit & Phil reaches a milestone. The view from The Yard
Listen to Henrietta Heald talking to Lucinda Hawksley on Inside Story
Experience Jesmond Dene in the 1950s. Watch the film here
Discover Armstrong’s Elswick Works in World War One. Learn more
Armstrong and shipbuilding: an article in Maritime Foundation
‘Armstrong’s Admirable Speech’, as Charles Darwin called it, was delivered in 1863 to the British Association for the Advancement of Science. It was re-enacted 150 years later at the British Science Festival, with Chris Connell in the role of Armstrong, and introduced by Chi Onwurah MP .
With more that 50 five-star reviews on Amazon, William Armstrong, Magician of the North is also available from Waterstones, Bookshop.org, Booksetc. and other online outlets.
‘The tendency of progress is to quicken progress … We may expect therefore to increase our speed as we struggle forward; but however high we climb in the pursuit of knowledge we shall still see heights above us, and the more conscious we shall be of the immensity that lies beyond.’
Armstrong’s Admirable Speech, 1863
‘They used to call me the Kingfisher.’