At the last count in 2015 there were 2,635 museums in England; the majority of them are charities, and those that operate as businesses or are run by local authorities usually benefit indirectly from charitable status through a friends or supporters group that is registered as a charity. There are a huge variety of museums, ranging from 40 national institutions such as the world-famous British Museum, the National Gallery and the Natural History Museum, to 245 museums run by local authorities, 145 armed forces museums, 55 university museums and 1,640 independent museums covering subjects ranging from transport to industrial heritage, local history and the lives of famous individuals. The numbers have expanded considerably since the Second World War.

Most museums, however, are financially insecure. More than half of them charge for entry, if only to special exhibitions rather than their permanent collections, but this is rarely sufficient to keep them afloat. Many regional and local institutions rely on grants from local councils, which were whittled back in the years of austerity after the global financial crisis, or on hardwon awards from the Arts Council. Even flagship national institutions that receive about half of their income from the state do not always find it easy to earn the rest or raise it from philanthropists and the public. This endemic insecurity was compounded in 2020 by the collapse in visitor numbers caused by the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, many museums face an uncertain future, and a unique institution in County Durham is a case in point.

‘The Victoria and Albert of the North’

On a slope above the river Tees on the edge of Barnard Castle stands a building that would look more at home in the Loire valley: the Bowes Museum, built in the style of a 17th-century French chateau, with a grand parterre garden, an elaborate façade and an imposing entrance hall and staircase. It was purpose designed, with high galleries lit by glazed roofs, and it houses a high-quality collection of European fine and decorative arts, including paintings by Canaletto, El Greco, Goya and van Dyck. Its special attraction – used in the museum's logo – is the Silver Swan, a glittering, life-sized automaton built more than 200 years ago.