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Norwich Printing Museum pressed to find new home

Andrew Turner
BBC News, Norfolk
Reporting fromBlickling Hall Estate
Andrew Turner/BBC A print and its printing block, showing the correct and reverse of the same image. It shows pictures of striped bell tent marquees and advertises "The Last Night but Three; Benefit of Mr Kite and Mr J Henderson", promoting a circus show including "Trampoline leaps" among the distinguishable text.Andrew Turner/BBC
The Norwich Printing Museum has been temporarily sited at Blickling Hall, but the National Trust has plans to redevelop the building it uses

A museum telling Norfolk's history of printing and publishing has warned its material could get lost forever if it cannot find a permanent home in the next few months.

Norwich Printing Museum has been temporarily housed in a barn at Blickling Hall, but has to vacate by October as the National Trust plans to redevelop the building.

Formerly the John Jarrold Printing Museum, it was forced from Jarrold's Whitefriars' site in Norwich due to the former printing works becoming housing.

Museum chairman Paul Nash said: "We don't want this material to go back into storage. That would be a disaster. The risk in the long run is it will be lost if we don't find somewhere to put it on display."

Andrew Turner/BBC Paul Nash holding an ink roller covered in gold ink. He has short dark receding hair, and has a grey beard and moustache. He is wearing a grey jacket and an orange shirt. He is in the process of inking a chase of type metal on a printing proof press. Behind him are walls of the barn at Blickling Hall, which are painted orange and yellow, and there are other presses and equipment in the background.Andrew Turner/BBC
Paul Nash said the museum would have to close if an alternative location could not be found

Mr Nash said the material at Blickling was only about a seventh that it owned, with the rest in storage.

"What we really want to do is get that out into a home in Norwich where we can have it on display and in use as far as possible," he said.

"We have to think big. We've got a lot of equipment, not just printing but bookbinding as well. We've got a huge library of technical literature and examples of printing, and want to get all of that out and available."

Mr Nash said six potential homes had been viewed since the museum began its search, but a big hurdle had been the cost of rent.

"We are looking for a building that is ideally in the middle of Norwich, somewhere with a good solid floor with a large enough entrance so we can get our big machinery in, so we can set up the museum we've been dreaming of since the John Jarrold Museum closed," he said.

Listen: Norwich Printing Museum pressed to find new home

In 1823 the Jarrold company moved to Norwich and developed into a printing, stationery, publishing and retail business that still exists in many parts today.

Some of the original equipment and material used in the printing process was put into a museum, which opened in 1982. However, the site was demolished in 2019 and its objects were temporarily moved to Blickling, near Aylsham.

Andrew Turner/BBC Lacey Law holds a chase of type metal near a compositor's desk. She has shoulder length ginger hair, is wearing glasses, has a nose piercing and is wearing a black round-neck jersey. Tattoos are visible on her neck, arm and both hands, with printers' ink on her left fingertips. There are racks of type metal and spacers, and a tray of type on the desk. On the back wall of the barn is a ladder and a couple of posters.Andrew Turner/BBC
Artist Lacey Law said the museum was a resource that helped people with creative careers and hobbies explore new uses for old technology

On a visit to the current site, Lacey Law, an artist in residence at the museum, told the BBC she had been working on typesetting a poem by Rudyard Kipling.

She said Norwich had a creative history with "young, new and enthusiastic creatives both at the art school and UEA [University of East Anglia]".

She hoped the museum, in a new city home, would provide them with a valuable resource to use.

A National Trust spokesperson said: "We were pleased to be able to support the Norwich Printing Museum by providing them with a temporary space in their time of need.

"The museum and its collection is helping to preserve the history and skills of printmaking.

"We wish them luck in their search to find a permanent home and fully realise their project ambitions."

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